Generator Puzzle #5

Imagine the sentence "Two months' rent was owing". Used as an adjective, 'owing' means 'yet to be paid.'

How you interpret the clue is subjective; sometimes you'll see a clue that plays on that ambiguity of perspective. For example, a clue might be "novel", and the answer is "new", whereas you were frustratedly typing in "book", "story", "tome" etc. Others might interpret the clue correctly and enter "new" straight away! I'm sorry you didn't get the answer, but there is nothing wrong with the clue as it stands.

And also....there's no 'D' in the grid, so 'owed' is not even a possibility.

Or... "Your mortgage is yet to be paid," therefore the remaining money is still owing. I think the difficulty is realizing that the answer is an adjective, and the clue is a definition of that adjective. People instinctively want to add a subject (themselves, of course) before the clue, as in "I am yet to be paid", thereby logically implying "I am owed". If a subject must be put before, it would be 'money', as in "the money is yet to be paid", thereby logically implying "the money is owing." I can't think of a clue that would remove all ambiguities; it's just a tricky one and the brain either clicks or doesn't click into the necessary interpretation.

Ok, well after all this squabble I've added an extra bit to the clue, including that it's an adjective. :) But you're really just speculating and generalizing; while I am from New Zealand (but live in the US) and don't want to make us Kiwis look bad, I can assure you that the average NZer is no more erudite in his/her usage of language than the average American. "Owed" and "owing" are essentially synonymous, and their usage just depends on context: "There's still $500 owing on the account", for example. "There's still $500 owed on the account" sounds weird to me, although there's nothing really wrong with it I guess. To each one's own.