I'm thinking of a word that rhymes with Bastille.

Bastille Day, July 14th, is my birthday. Let's hope this round is over by then!

Not Bastille

Just a little more of a hint, please, since there's more than one common pronunciation?

Does your Bastille rhyme with til or tij? Off with my head...

I didn't know that there was more than one way to pronounce Bastille and I have absolutely no idea how to pronounce 'tij' so that it may even approximate Bastille.

Some IPA research later...

Crambo's word rhymes more with 'steel', less with 'fee'.

Not Bastille, steel

Shabbily polite, and strictly Frank Zappa?

"how to pronounce "tij . . .", aproximating) "bastille".
I donʻt know how either. With all these decades of
foreign language study, I never did learn a phonetic alphabet; my teachers made us do it by ear. I understand there are several rival alphabets.
"Tij" in Dutch is something like "tay" (rhymes with "way".) In English it could be something like "tidge" (rhymes with "ridge").
I think Krolik (2) may mean something like "tea+ a y-consonant sound" pronounced as all one syllable, recalling what we learned by ear in beginning French.
But thanks for the "rhymes mre with ʻsteelʻ" hint.

Sorry, didn't mean to confuse things. Anyway, now we're off...

Is it my favorite activity that I sit down to three times a day?

A high-pitched noise, possibly made by a police informant?

a hussy, slattern or drab?

" __ __ __ __" used to be a
snappy, literary, almost biblical* way of saying "enthusiasm", "pizzaz". It seems to have
lost much of its own pizazz, and you donʻt often read it, still less often hear it.

*Jehu, a bibical bad guy --
youʻre almost sorry that heʻs "on our side" -- in revealing his plan for trapping a building full of the pagan enemy at a religious ceremony and burnng them to death, he says,
"You shall see
my __ __ __ __ for the Lord."

My weak spot, metaphorically speaking.

Good morning, Crambologists!

4) Strictly Genteel; great album, not so great guess.
5) Just discussion, I think, no guess?
6) It is said that breakfast is the most important meal. I suspect that is because it is the meal most likely to contain bacon. Mmm, bacon. Not correct though.
7) You dirty rat! Not squeal.
8) Is it how such a person may be dressed that you're hinting at? If so, it's not dishabille.
9) Such Zealots we don't need, that's for sure. Not zeal.
10) If I were Achilles, I would have forsworn the sandals of the day and worn the biggest, heaviest, strongest armoured boot I could find! Not heel.

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel

Give us the answer!

I was amused to read that this xylophone-like instrument had been used on Jimi Hendrix's recording of Little Wing.

12) Sorry, no. It's up to you guys to reveal the answer.
13) I recognised the word straight away, but had to go and hunt up the spelling! Not glockenspiel.

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel, reveal, glockenspiel

These bedspreads remind me of my grandmother!

Yay for caterpillar bedspreads! Not the right word, I just like them.

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel, reveal, glockenspiel, chenille

RE: #8 - The word I was looking for wasn't deshabille. It's a synonym for the terms in my clue, equally perjorative and equally antiquated.

I'm sure you're familiar with this small crested parrot from your part of the world.

17) Right. I'm onto that. Haven't found it quite yet. Fairly sure that it's not Crambo's word, so feel free to keep guessing.
18) Bigger than a budgerigar but smaller than a Norwegian Blue. Not a cockatiel

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel, reveal, glockenspiel, chenille, cockatiel

17) You're not hinting at Jezebel, are you? That would not only not really rhyme, but it's a scandalous slander as well.

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel, reveal, glockenspiel, chenille, cockatiel, Jezebel

So what should we get you for your birthday: a melting pocket-watch, or a pipe that's not a pipe?

That would be bizarre! A lovely thought, but not a winning one.

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel, reveal, glockenspiel, chenille, cockatiel, Jezebel, surreal

Curiously, the prickly pear was introduced into Australia for the production of this! Not the brightest idea.

That stuff is everywhere around here. You can still see some in rows where they tried to farm it, but it has escaped and gone feral.

Anyhoo! Crambo's word isn't cochineal.

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel, reveal, glockenspiel, chenille, cockatiel, Jezebel, surreal, cochineal

When my wife was growing up, her small town didn't have its own library, but it was served by one of these from a neighboring burg.

It's a wonderful concept, the book-mobile (almost a cool as the bat-mobile), but not Crambo's word.

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel, reveal, glockenspiel, chenille, cockatiel, Jezebel, surreal, cochineal, bookmobile, batmobile

ps Hint already?

Perhaps a hint is in order. We wouldn't want this to become a drawn out, painful experience.

We definitely wouldn't want it to be like what the poor citizens of Southhamption went through, with bombing raids and cholera and all, in Nevil Shute's 1938 novel.

I don't want anyone to go through What Happened to the Corbetts, so I'll be back shortly with a clue. And the NOT list!

ps. I take it 27/28 are both "ordeal"?

Hint: Relevant to the remnants of the British Empire, or, in the USA, to Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, but not to the original Texas.

Not Bastille, steel, genteel, meal, squeal, dishabille, zeal, heel, reveal, glockenspiel, chenille, cockatiel, Jezebel, surreal, cochineal, bookmobile, batmobile, ordeal

a variant word for the body politic, or public welfare, the good of the community?

I suspected that the hint was a bit too full of hintiness!

Crambo's word was indeed Commonweal which means, well it means what James said.

Glad we got through it before Bastille day though.

Take it away, James.

The hint was indeed very generous - thanks for the hand!

The next round can be found HERE