EWER /YOO.ur/ n. a wide-mouthed jug traditionally used for carrying water, but now used more as an ornament

And here is a more famous one you might recognize…

I showed you that one for a reason. It is rather popular for crossword constructors to clue our word of the day as something like [America's Cup Trophy, e.g.] or the slightly less direct [Prize cup, maybe]

In years gone by, the ewer was a very popular object of paintings; especially of the so-called “Still Life” art form. That’s why you’ll also need to recognize it as a likely answer to clues like [Common still-life subject] or the slightly more demanding [Item in Cassatt's "Woman Bathing"].

What? You haven’t heard of Cassatt’s “Woman Bathing”? Me neither…

You can also see from that painting why the ewer is often clued as [Washstand vessel], [Basin accompanier], or [Ablutionary vessel]. (Although Scrabblers will probably associate the word ABLUTION with ABUTILON, its floral anagram, rather than the act of washing).

And speaking of women bathing, how charming is this little excerpt from Don’t Cry Alone by Josephine Cox…

“In no time at all, the fire was blazing cheerfully, the curtains were drawn against the night, and Beth was pouring the water from the kettle into the bath; a spill of cold water from the ewer, then another drop from the kettle, and the water was just the right temperature, the warm steam rising nicely and filling the room with a comfortable warm smell.”

Now that’s not just defining a word; that’s experiencing it!

Current Theme: Crosswordese

ETUI /ay.TWEE/ n. a little ornamental case for holding small jewellery or other useful items, especially those required for emergency sewing jobs

The word is occasionally spelled ETWEE, which is pronounced exactly the same way, but in my humble opinion lacks literary distinction ;-)

I kicked off April’s Crosswordese theme with this one for a very good reason. No crossword solver, Scrabble player, or spelling bee contender can escape this little gem.

You see, crossword constructors are always on the lookout for words with a high vowel to consonant ratio, because there just aren’t very many of them in the English language, and the grid always requires them. As a result, the ones that do exist in our lexicon occur with a much greater frequency than consonant-heavy words .

In Scrabble, players (well, the ones who know what they’re doing at least!) are always trying to ‘balance their racks’, which means unloading surplus vowels in moves known as ‘vowel dumps’. As a quick way to dump an E-U-I combo through an existing T on the board, ETUI is pretty cherished by this crowd.

And even in spelling bees, this charming little word gets a good workout. After all, if nobody told you how to pronounce this word, would you have worked it out? Probably not from its lineage: “French, from Old French estui, prison, from estuier, to guard, from Vulgar Latin estudiāre, from Latin stadium, study..” Sheesh!

Scott Firebaugh will certainly carry this one to his grave…

Scott is a multiple place-getter, and one-time winner, of the world’s largest senior Spelling Bee, run by the AARP association in Wyoming every year. Now trust me, this guy knows virtually every word in Merriam Webster.

But compare the word he spelled correctly to become the 2010 AARP National Spelling Bee Champion, to the one that relegated him to second place in 2009, and I think you’ll agree that you should never judge a word by its length ;-)