Spoilers for Thursday 9th October 2025 - Series 92, Heat 74

[Philip A]

Very good scoring from Jase and is certainly within contention of taking the series against the likes of Brett and Ciaran. But I have a couple of questions:

1) In Round 11(?), Susie only gave the adjectival definition of the suggested word OPALINE, but she really ought to have explained why she did not add the S to the end of the word which can also be a noun. For the record, OPALINES does score on Apterous, but might not necessarily score on Countdown. This is because OPALINE is another term for “milk-glass” which is a mass noun. Looking up ‘opaline’ in Oxford Dictionaries Premium returns the following definition:

opaline
Pronunciation: /ˈəʊpəlʌɪn/
ADJECTIVE

Opalescent.
Example sentences Synonyms
NOUN

1
Another term for milk-glass
Example sentences
1.1
Translucent glass of a colour other than white.


As you can see, there is no mention of it being a mass noun. HOWEVER, the bit where it says “milk-glass” can be clicked on, and return this definition:

milk-glass
Pronunciation: /ˈmɪlkɡlɑːs/
NOUN

[MASS NOUN]
Semi-translucent glass, whitened by the addition of various ingredients.
Also called opaline:
[AS MODIFIER] : milk-glass jars

So why does Susie not add an S to a noun without explanation as to why you can’t put the S on? Also, should OPALINES be deleted from the Apterous dictionary?

Secondly, I wondered if the challenger was originally thinking of an incorrect guess of “hangering” before he uttered “rehanging”. Either way, it looks like he only just got it in time by about a tenth of a second; any later and he might have been timed out, giving the opponent a free shot.

[Gavin Chipper]

I remember this being a debate in about 2002 when we had the NODE (I'm not exaggerating). I saw OPALINES today and was hoping when I came here that you would have already posted.

If opaline is just another term for milk-glass then surely it should take on all the same baggage, including being a mass noun. If it doesn't explicitly say mass noun under the opaline entry, I can see why it could be seen as ambiguous, but surely it's just an omission - a dictionary error. I can't see how it can be not a mass noun when it's just another term for something that is. So yeah I'd say it should be deleted.

[Fiona T]

opaline
Pronunciation: /ˈəʊpəlʌɪn/
adjective
opalescent.
Example sentencesSynonyms
noun
1
another term for milk-glass

1.1
translucent glass of a colour other than white.


Arguably, the 1.1 definition is countable.

[Gavin Chipper]

Good point.

[John Garcia]

opaline
Pronunciation: /ˈəʊpəlʌɪn/
adjective
opalescent.
Example sentencesSynonyms
noun
1
another term for milk-glass

1.1
translucent glass of a colour other than white.


Arguably, the 1.1 definition is countable.

https://premium.oxforddictionaries.com/ ... milk-glass

milk-glass
Pronunciation: /ˈmɪlkɡlɑːs/
noun
[mass noun]
semi-translucent glass, whitened by the addition of various ingredients. Also called opaline:

https://premium.oxforddictionaries.com/ ... al%20glass

opal glass
noun
[mass noun]
a type of semi-translucent white glass.

Both the "milk-glass" and "opal glass" entries list them as mass nouns. So I would err on the side of it not being allowed (unless we can come up with another use-case).

[David Williams]

Although it's known as the restaurant rule, doesn't it actually list all sorts of mass nouns that can be pluralised? I'm pretty sure, for example, that minerals (granites?) can be. Incidentally, I was convinced that when Julian Fell famously lost to Graham Nash it was because he'd had OPALINES disallowed. Turns out it was GAMBIERS, though I'm pretty sure there was quite a debate about that.

[Fiona T]

The current guidelines don't include any examples, but I don't think minerals were included. The last time granites was allowable on apterous was 2013.

OPLALINE has a definition that is not milk-glass

1.1. translucent glass of a colour other than white

There's nothing to say that these different coloured opalines aren't countable, so I'd say it should stay unless explicitly ruled out by DC

[Philip A]

Although it's known as the restaurant rule, doesn't it actually list all sorts of mass nouns that can be pluralised? I'm pretty sure, for example, that minerals (granites?) can be. Incidentally, I was convinced that when Julian Fell famously lost to Graham Nash it was because he'd had OPALINES disallowed. Turns out it was GAMBIERS, though I'm pretty sure there was quite a debate about that.

It used to list mass noun groups which may be pluralised, but not any more. They were given when I recorded in 2017 but they’ve scrapped these. I think they were getting too confusing. The dictionary would need to give count noun sentences in these cases. So granites, mohairs etc won’t be accepted now. Restaurant rule still used for dishes such as tempuras but otherwise they are definitely tougher now.

[Gavin Chipper]

The current guidelines don't include any examples, but I don't think minerals were included. The last time granites was allowable on apterous was 2013.

OPLALINE has a definition that is not milk-glass

1.1. translucent glass of a colour other than white

There's nothing to say that these different coloured opalines aren't countable, so I'd say it should stay unless explicitly ruled out by DC

I suppose the thing with this is that it's 1.1 rather than 2 so if anything it's just a different shade of meaning and still the same type of word. Both seem to just be a type of glass. I mean, it is basically the same except not white and apparently translucent rather than semi-translucent.