The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread.

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First time I've ever attempted writing a clue, does this work for WOTD?

Excessive loss of energy after dark creates wave (8)

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 13 September 2012 14:47 (eleven years ago) link

works for me.

ledge, Thursday, 13 September 2012 15:11 (eleven years ago) link

Yay me!

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 13 September 2012 15:15 (eleven years ago) link

yeah that's a decent clue :)

syntax evasion (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 13 September 2012 15:18 (eleven years ago) link

Thanks, I was proud that it it incorporates three elements that often trip me up as a novice solver: having to solve one word and then subtract from it, single letter abbreviation, and noun/verb mismatch for wave.

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 13 September 2012 16:12 (eleven years ago) link

Polite hero turns purple (10 wotd)

koogs, Thursday, 13 September 2012 19:02 (eleven years ago) link

(tried working in the creator of brazilian jiu jitsu but just couldn't)

koogs, Thursday, 13 September 2012 19:05 (eleven years ago) link

Light brown tops of elegant chiffon, raw, unbleached (4,wotd)

ledge, Friday, 14 September 2012 14:35 (eleven years ago) link

Wow, I got that one quickly. I'm getting better at these.

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Friday, 14 September 2012 14:41 (eleven years ago) link

nobody tempted by 'diapason', 'coetaneous' or 'tartuffery'?

koogs, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 15:50 (eleven years ago) link

I'll give one a (maybe farfetched) shot:

Organists' group reject help, loudspeaker systems activated. (8)

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 16:18 (eleven years ago) link

not at all bad

ledge, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 19:28 (eleven years ago) link

Thanks, this is really fun, I've never attempted to think up my own. I'd never heard of diapason. Rules-wise, could 'with' be added before loudspeaker to improve the surface reading?

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 20:24 (eleven years ago) link

sure, with works in the 'put these together' sense.

ledge, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 21:51 (eleven years ago) link

I can't come up with anything for those other two, though.

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 22:01 (eleven years ago) link

Pious fakery! Roxy Music singer entangled in a clump of trees. (10)

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 22:20 (eleven years ago) link

You'll have to explain that one...

Ate one half portion of cous-cous, digested at the same time (10)

ledge, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 22:27 (eleven years ago) link

FERRY + A TUFT, entangled = TARTUFFERY

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 22:30 (eleven years ago) link

maybe it's nitpicking but that 'entangled' reads to me as only applying to ferry, then put it inside a tuft (unentangled). 'entangled with' would work, although not as well on the surface.

also never come across 'tuft' used for trees before!

ledge, Tuesday, 18 September 2012 22:34 (eleven years ago) link

Confused Roxy Music singer entangled with a clump of trees... enh, it's still not that good.

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 18 September 2012 23:45 (eleven years ago) link

Word of the day, down clue:

Sick coming up in a to-go container to make a mess of things. (6)

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:05 (eleven years ago) link

Hip-hop's great comeback getting into fight leads to ruin (wotd, 6)

ledge, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:24 (eleven years ago) link

v much not loving wotd stuff, so there ilxwordians

Randy Carol (darraghmac), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:49 (eleven years ago) link

it's all a load of bollix if you ask me

Arvo Pärt Chimp (Neil S), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:52 (eleven years ago) link

Not loving the words themselves, our attempts to set them, the whole concept?

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:53 (eleven years ago) link

thread was dead before so <shrugs>

ledge, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:53 (eleven years ago) link

yeah I'm not really worried, couldn't resist a terrible pun though. Happy to keep up the word of the day thing, I've learnt some new words!

Arvo Pärt Chimp (Neil S), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 14:54 (eleven years ago) link

the attempts are ok, but only ok, tbh i'm not able to keep great track of what wotd is a lot of the time which is more the issue

Randy Carol (darraghmac), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 15:10 (eleven years ago) link

practice makes perfect.

http://dictionary.reference.com/wordoftheday
http://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day

right-click, bookmark this link.

ledge, Wednesday, 19 September 2012 15:12 (eleven years ago) link

i am once again reminded how much of a 2nd class ilxor i am while surfing on my shitty nokia ;_;

Randy Carol (darraghmac), Wednesday, 19 September 2012 15:19 (eleven years ago) link

Jesus H Christ on a (numerical spoiler) I thought today's Graun was a bastard.

Crossword: http://www.guardian.co.uk/crosswords/cryptic/25746
The answers explained: http://fifteensquared.net/2012/09/20/guardian-cryptic-25746-crucible/

And yes I do see that most of the commenters on the second site declare it "easy"! I do not know what stimulants they had to ingest to get 13A.

(Admittedly I was never very good at these and am quite out of practice)

still small voice of clam (a passing spacecadet), Thursday, 20 September 2012 21:36 (eleven years ago) link

Yeah we had to cheat with 13a and a handful of others.

ledge, Friday, 21 September 2012 08:13 (eleven years ago) link

Goblin takes letter to underworld visitor (wotd, 6)

ledge, Friday, 21 September 2012 09:17 (eleven years ago) link

nonononono

ledge, Friday, 21 September 2012 09:17 (eleven years ago) link

Goblin takes letter referring to underworld visitor (wotd,6)

ledge, Friday, 21 September 2012 09:18 (eleven years ago) link

tinkering...

Goblin clutches letter concerning visitor to the underworld

ledge, Friday, 21 September 2012 09:27 (eleven years ago) link

(ha, watched the film yesterday...)

'a letter' isn't specific enough, i don't think. needs to specify that it's greek.

koogs, Friday, 21 September 2012 11:08 (eleven years ago) link

idk, it *is* a letter, and greek ones are common enough in crosswords. overspecifying it would give the game away too much imo.

ledge, Friday, 21 September 2012 11:15 (eleven years ago) link

would go for "... letter in greek ..." if necessary tho.

ledge, Friday, 21 September 2012 11:15 (eleven years ago) link

mystical? or sounding stupid? (6 wotd)

koogs, Friday, 21 September 2012 11:30 (eleven years ago) link

Probably pretty easy, wotd:

To begin with, kitten starting school is tacky (6)

The specifics are these, which is those principles I described (Dan Peterson), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:04 (eleven years ago) link

:) quite like it tho

syntax evasion (Noodle Vague), Monday, 24 September 2012 19:53 (eleven years ago) link

Ooh, just got it

kinder, Monday, 24 September 2012 21:11 (eleven years ago) link

Today's wotd, keeping with my feline theme!

Hypothesis, for the sake of argument: needle the kitten takes energy (11)

Baked. And yet so soupy. (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 20:11 (eleven years ago) link

Dammit, that's not what I wanted.

Assumption, for the sake of argument: needle the kitten takes energy

Baked. And yet so soupy. (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 25 September 2012 20:42 (eleven years ago) link

It's a verb so I'd change that to 'Assume'.

ledge, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 08:18 (eleven years ago) link

All suggestions for improvement welcome:

One furiously torn by anger without any conclusion - put these together?! (wotd, 11)

ledge, Wednesday, 26 September 2012 13:29 (eleven years ago) link

Fun quiz, can you guess what in this clue I'm not entirely happy with?

Southern parvenu finally getting in with the stars (wotd, 7)

ledge, Thursday, 27 September 2012 10:36 (eleven years ago) link

(yesterday's wotd was 'interrobang' wtf!?)

'the stars' suggests a noun, where you want the adjective?

koogs, Thursday, 27 September 2012 10:55 (eleven years ago) link

you unhappy with 'with the stars' as an indicator for the key adjective? I don't think it's bad.

woof, Thursday, 27 September 2012 11:01 (eleven years ago) link


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