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Good afternoon, Rusty!
I have been watching the Diamond League events that took place in Lausanne.
I think you have already see these?
It's getting confusing with Eurosport and BBC transmitting at different times!
Nothing much there to report......
Eilidh Doyle came second in the 440m hurdles.
Your bete noire, Lynsey Sharp, came third in the 800m.
She ran a good race.
Why is she so disliked in Scotland?
(I am sure you will have told me before, but I have forgotten)
It is a great pity that the US tennis isn't being shown by the BBC - leastways, I don't seem able to find it?
I wonder if I will be able to watch it on my computer?
"Mrs. Mike" came from the US through Amazon!

Hi again,

Re my post 9416, I have just checked the two words skewer and skua written in phonetic alphabet.
Almost identical except that in skua, the 'u' sound is longer (long vowel as opposed to short ones)

Hello, Elle!
Eurosport transmits "live" coverage, and BBC must buy them from Eurosport, I'd imagine, and edit the content to get the bits they want.
Sharp had a Twitter account on which she posted stuff which showed her to be a sectarian bigot.
The vast majority of us up here have no time for that.
Eurosport has two channels, Elle, both showing the tennis.
I do not see it on BBC.
I would think you could see the tennis on your computer but do not ask me how to go about it!

Pigale, thanks for the update on skua/skewer. I meant to reply to your earlier post - really just to say that I could cope better with the homophones if there was some indication that they were not always nationwide. The assumption always seems to be that we will all recognise the supposed similarities - this is simply untrue.

Hello, Pigale!
The thing is, none of us speak like the phonetic alphabet!
There will be geographic variations in our speech depending on where we learned English.
Possibly the same for any language?
Big differences between Estuary English, American English, and Australian English.
And huge differences between all the different parts of the UK.
That's why I think the setters should steer clear of homophones.
An acceptable homophone to someone from Bristol, may not be to someone from Berwick.

Malone and Rusty,

I agree with you both - phonetics is only there to guide mainly foreign people (It is an international alphabet and therefore can be used by people to pronounce a foreign language correctly from the phonetics given in brackets in dictionaries.
But of course it does not take into account local accents/variations etc.
It is the same for the French language - there is a huge difference between the North of the country and, say Marseilles, which is different again from the South West (Rugby country) - In both places, the language 'sings', whereas Paris for instance is much more flat.

In theory, maybe we are supposed to base homophones on how they would be pronounced in "BBC English"?
Only I don't think that that works either, when you listen to some of these elocutional links!
Yes, a better option would be if all crossword compilers stayed clear of them, as Rusty says.
It would make for a more equal playing field!

Hi, Rusty!
I didn't realise that Eurosport was always "live"!
I suppose because I am not used to that with our (limited) channels!
Miss S. does not sound a very nice person - I can understand why you do not like her!
(Now that I know that about her, I don't think I like her much, either!)
I watched most of the Olympic athletics and tennis on the BBC Sports website.
I shall see if it is possible to view the US Open that way.
It may well be.
Amazon have just sent me yet another email - this time they tell me that my books are being delivered this afternoon!
We have glorious sunshine now and the temperature is rising again.
For a little while, it was very pleasant and much fresher.
Ah well!

Hello, Elle!
Good service from Amazon!
I remember the time when if you ordered something by mail order, they said delivery within 30 days or somesuch!
Now, the goods are here before you can turn round!
Yes, maybe you can watch the Open on BBC website.
You can't miss your Andy!
It is a fine day here, but there is a hint of a chill in the air!

Hi, Rusty!
Remember, tolerance is the name of the game as far as Mr. M is concerned - not liking!
And that only because he smiled while carrying the flag!
My two books have arrived!
I think I shall read the Jeffrey Archer first......
You are fortunate......would that there be a chill in the air here!
It is better than the last few days, but is becoming much warmer than earlier - and the humidity is gradually building up again!
I think before it gets any worse, we shall take the dog out for a walk.........