Crossword Help Forum
Forum Rules

Confirmation please.
9d One`s obviosly been fired in a situation involving criminality 7&3 S.o.ing/.u.
Has to be smoking gun but please explain. Thank you.

Hi - smoking gun is a phrase indicating evidence of wrongdoing and a smoking gun has obviously just been fired

I take it that a smoking gun is evidence that a crime has just been committed - one that has been fired. 2 indications of the same phrase

In law, A smoking gun is a term used to mean a piece of evidence that leaves no doubt as to somebody's involvement in a crime.

Thank you both very much.

Thanks to you all

I was going to say that it's a metaphor,
But I seem to come unstuck sometimes by using that word because I once got pulled by a learned gentleman who said that I should have used the word Simile, this went into a full debate about what is a Metaphor, a Simile, or even an Idiom.
It's a quandary I often reflect on.
What do you guys think?

Les40,

From schooldays I seem to remember that a simile uses 'as' or 'like' but a metaphor doesn't.

Cheers Tim,
So lets get this right,
A Simile would be "As strong as an ox" or "As quick as a flash".
So would "A smoking gun" be a metaphor?

Also, would I be correct in saying "It's raining cats and dogs" An Idiom?
I would appreciate some feedback on this if it's not too much trouble
Cheers Les40

Agree with Tim:

A simile compares two things using the word like or as.

Simile: My father grumbles like a bear in the mornings.

A metaphor also compares two things, but it does not use the word like or as.

Metaphor: My father is a bear in the mornings.