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A comment on I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them. Parent comment

Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by oneeyedpigeon on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:18AM (#27023335)
Sure, I get that "poisoned penne" is a pun on "poisoned pen", I was just wondering if there was a real meaning to the complete phrase. In a UK crossword, the answers all have to be legitimate words/phrases.
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Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by DoomHotel on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:24AM (#27023365)
Penne is a type of pasta, so the phrase does make sense on its own. Does "poisoned spaghetti" mean anything to you?
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Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by austinjp on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:38AM (#27023454)
(Not arguing, just adding some perspective.)

Penne is pronounced "pennay" in the UK in my experience, making this pun kinda dysfunctional.

Also as pointed out, UK cryptic crossword answers are phrases in actual use, not new word combinations.

Edit to add relevant example:

See 9 across ("Rotten people sin to produce malicious missive") here: https://www.fifteensquared.net/2021/03/08/independent-10733-...

I also noticed that "poisoned pen" isn't a phrase in British English, instead it's "poison pen" or more typically "poison pen letter".

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Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by StavrosK on Monday May 03, 2021 @07:00AM (#27023569)
Is it pronounced "pen" anywhere? That sounds very wrong to me.
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Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by austinjp on Monday May 03, 2021 @07:05AM (#27023606)
Indeed... it seems that the consensus is tending towards this being so bad a pun that it isn't even a pun :)
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Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by StavrosK on Monday May 03, 2021 @07:15AM (#27023661)
It's a poisoned punne.
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Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by whoisburbansky on Monday May 03, 2021 @04:59PM (#27030565)
Leads right into a clue hinting at Canadian origins, a la "poisoned pen, eh?"
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Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by boffinism on Monday May 03, 2021 @07:38AM (#27023815)
So in the UK 'poisoned spaghetti' would not be acceptable as a cryptic crossword answer, because it's not a _recognisable_ standalone phrase, even if it's a thing that could exist.
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Re:I was terrible at crosswords so I built an AI to do them by oneeyedpigeon on Monday May 03, 2021 @06:37AM (#27023445)
It doesn't make sense outside of the pun. "Poisoned spaghetti" makes as much sense as "poisoned penne", in those terms.
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