The BASCAAs – (Best Adverse Solving Condition Acronyms and Abbreviations)

Author   sotiraPosted on Categories Announcement
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the inaugural, and probably last, BASCAAs.

A few words on the genesis of the BASCAAs. It has been pointed out that some of us are a little obsessive about solving times … (cruciverbalists obsessive, imagine!). Mr Don Manley (who I’m sure will take this in good sport – apologies, Don) expressed a certain irritation with the practice of explaining disappointing solving times with reference to the quotidian circumstances beyond a solver’s control (and probably beyond anyone else’s remotest curiosity). We’ve all done it. We will do it again. So was born the notion of creating an array of handy abbreviations and acronyms for getting one’s excuses in with merciful brevity.

Here is the shortlist haphazardly compiled from a week’s offerings. Some are pithy. Some aren’t. Some are funny. Some are downright useful. Perhaps none will ever be used again but since when did we allow pointlessness to stand in our way (we ARE crossword solvers, after all)?

And the nominations are …

ARCADIA (A Random Caller At Door Interrupts Activity) – janie_l_b
BN (Blowing Nose) – justinwestcork
NATDHSPW (Not Accurately Timed Due to Having Simultaneously Pretend to Work) – crypticsue
NCP (Noisy Children Present) – keriothe
HO (Hung Over)
SMP (Saying My Prayers) – SP in Nairobi
LNS (Late Night Solve) – penfold_61
FK (Fairly Knackered) – tony_sever
WA (Wasp Attack) – penfold_61
ESCORT (Eating Soup, Curry Or Runny Taramasalata) – penfold_61
SC (Sans Caffeine) – sotira
ULP (Unaccountably Losing the Plot)
AG[18] (After Golf – 18 holes) – dorsetjimbo
AG[19] (After Golf – 19 holesh) – dorsetjimbo
DWW (Drinking White Wine) – chrisw91
BLAST (Broadband Lost At Submit Time) – mohn2
SWAK (Submitted While Absolutely Knackered) – oliviarhinebeck
DLAAK (Done Like An Absolute Kipper) – ulaca
AGONY (A Group Of Noisy Youngsters) – tony_sever
WUNIS (Woke Up Naked In Skip) – chris_gregory01
TOBACCO (Troubled Once By A Colleague Coming Over) – penfold_61
DOH (Dozed Off Halfway) – phmfantom
DRIMP (Drug Reference Induced Mental Paralysis) john_from_lancs
CAMP (Club Ate My Puzzle) – a late (and rather wonderful) entry from OliviaRhineb

Apologies to any whose offerings I overlooked in my hasty compilation.

I was going to include my own (frequently applicable) Cat On Keyboard but only realised (really, my innocence runs that deep) after deploying it in anger the other day that it sounded rather rude.

10 comments on “The BASCAAs – (Best Adverse Solving Condition Acronyms and Abbreviations)”

  1. My vote goes to ESCORT for the image of the leggy blonde draped over the keyboard.

    BASCAAs certainly as the official title, but they will always be the Dons for me.

  2. I’d like to divide my 100 points equally between AGONY, ARCADIA and BLAST.
    1. Honestly, bloc voting.. it’s Eurovision all over again. I bet the UK (Unexpectedly Kissed) gets nul points. Talking of which, I was surprised no one offered FA (Fell Asleep). [On edit, as I was posting this phmfantom posted a far better equivalent for today’s puzzle which I’m adding as a late nomination.]

      Edited at 2013-07-05 12:54 pm (UTC)

      1. Only just seen UK (Unexpectedly Kissed). Definitely a worthy excuse, though sadly one that I’m unlikely to be able to use these days (though I have fond memories of the occasional Leigh Hunt moment from the past :-).
  3. I particularly like:
    BLAST (best acronym – but please note that I’m prepared to accept a stopwatch time for my Neutrino-free Weekly Leaderboard, provided of course that the puzzle was solved correctly);
    DOH, ULP, SWAK (most useful, though I suspect that the first may sometimes provide the explanation for the second).

    DOH gets my vote for the overall winner.

  5. My main excuse could also be considered slightly rude (twice!)- DICOC, Drunk In Charge Of Crossword. I’ll also admit to DOH, FK, SC and SWAK, but they’re all related really.
    1. Thank you. That is about my level of swearing – if ever I say bloomin’ people who know me tend to make themselves scarce (it means I’m really very cross indeed).
  7. I like JudithT’s variant – Computer Ate My Puzzle – even more than OliviaRhineb’s original, but obviously most of the credit should go to Olivia.

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