Ban Ki-moon has been the ‘Secretary-General of the UN since 2007’ and featured in the Mega Mix contest No. 58 at 46dn. If you spelt WEIRD with the weird spelling of WIERD at 59ac then you had BAN KE-MOON.
Ban is the family name and Ki-moon his given name. In Korean families it is usual for married women to retain their own names but for children to inherit the father’s family name. For example, the son of Ban Ki-moon and Yoo Soon-taek is Ban Woo-hyun.
Another misspelling spotted in the Mega Mix was at 11dn. This was ARCHITECT not ARCHITECH. If you had the latter you also had MARHTA instead of MARTHA, first name of home hints guru Martha Stewart.
The other spot for confusion was at 36ac where the ‘Sex determinant (1-10)’ was Y-CHROMOSOME. A couple of you tried to fit PHEOROMONE while a few had the misspelling CHROMOSONE.
In the Stinker we had a query about COUNTERSINK or COUNTERSUNK at 65dn for ‘Recess (bolt)’. We expected COUNTERSINK, reading ‘recess’ as a verb, but see that it is possible to read it as an adjective and therefore we accepted either answer.
At 1dn PATOIS and not PATIOS was the answer to ‘Jargon’. The word comes from French. In France patois has been used in a slightly derogative sense to refer to non-Parisian French. English dialects, pidgins or creoles such as those spoken in the Caribbean are also called patois. In fact patois is used to describe any non-standard language. In an article from London’s The Times newspaper about animals having regional accents, the birds in Buckingham Palace were said to be ‘developing a distinctly urban patois’.
At 59ac was the unpleasant sounding clue ‘Lethal nerve gas’. SARIN was developed by the Nazis during World War II. It made it into the news again in 1995 when members of a Japanese sect called Aum Shinrikyo, used it in a terrorist attack in the Tokyo subway, killing eight people and injuring thousands.
TARIN was incorrect as was SABIN. TABUN is a nerve gas but didn’t fit in with DISLIKE at 55dn.
On a brighter note, if you have seen the film The Devil Wears Prada starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, you might remember a scene at a function where the junior assistants have to provide their boss with the names of any famous folk before conversation begins. This is the role of a nomenclator, or ‘name crier’. This job goes back to Ancient Roman times when a slave had the job of announcing visitors and prompting his master with the names of people encountered.
Nomenclature was a list of names, then a system of naming and now means the ‘Terminology used in a particular field’.
Clue 41dn required the answer NOMENCLATURE not NOMENCULTURE, as one entry had.
No pain no gain, and the Stinker can be a bit of a ‘Painful 
journey’ (120dn), or via DOLOROSA at times, but of course is always a very rewarding experience. A few entries had DOLOROMA. The Via Dolorosa, or ‘Way of Sorrow’, was the path that Jesus followed to his crucifixion. Oxford also lists via dolorosa without initial capitals.
AAH was the ‘Satisfied sigh’ at 57dn in the Mighty Mega contest. If you put AHA then unfortunately you had ANCHOR incorrect at 64ac as ANCAOR.
Back at 45ac ‘Lens opening’ needed APERTURE not APETTURE and 100ac was GAWK not GAUK for ‘Gape stupidly’.
Clue 106ac was ‘An OLDIE but a goodie’ – some of you didn’t remember this expression and put an ODDIE, perhaps thinking of TV Goodie, Bill Oddie.
We accepted both DEMILITARISED and DEMILITARIZED at 159ac (but not DEMILATARISED) and both FAMILIARISE and FAMILIARIZE for 132dn. At 58ac ‘Drench’ could be either DOWSE or DOUSE.
A slip of the pen at 76dn saw a couple of you put RENIMISCE instead of REMINISCE for ‘Remember’ – oops! Similarly BLANCMAGNE appeared at 36dn when BLANCMANGE was correct for ‘Wobbly dessert’.
Well done to all who battled the MEGA! contests. Enjoy the new challenges.
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