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

sounds like you need to... take a chill pill.

i got just over halfway thru at 3 this morning, still got about 8 to go

anyone had any success with the Guardian's Bank Holiday puzzle? I got some of the clues but am nowhere near being them able to slot them into the grid...

Managed to finish it with copious help from thesaurus, google, parents. I started putting words in the grid before I was absolutely certain the positions were correct. Have you got the theme?

no, any hints appreciated, that might give me a helping hand!

yeah, 9ac took a lot of getting but once i had it things cleared up a little, bottom half has some wicked words in it tho i suspect

the theme is (rot13) cynagf naq sybjref

and here are the more obscure themed answers my folks helped me with (also rot 13): puevfg cynag, rybqrn, znzzrr, nenyvn, arahcune (jngre yvyl), enzfba, hqb, dhvgpu tenff

xp, 9ac definition seems unfair or wrong, unless i'm misunderstanding. 13d a bit off as well, 8d a cheap trick, if fairly common. still got four to go.

i think 9ac works properly: the def is a little vague until you realise what it refers to but fine then i think?

still missing: 15, 21, 22, 25 across, 13, 16, 19 down, tho i think i know that last one, just can't parse the clue

6d is a 9ac is all i can think. but it ain't? stuck on 16, 21, 15, yeah i couldn't (be bothered to) figure out 19d.

oh i've got it. last three words of the clue are the key instruction.

think of the definition as a quantity rather than a clue number

ohmygod 19d yes, nasty!

21 across is lol, slightly unfair

ok i looked at fifteensquared to figure out 9ac, *that's* nasty!

i'm right about quantity, yeah?

just 15 and 25 to go

finished

xxp yep. finished too, lol at 21.

good crossword tbf, some of the clues on the edge of unfair

13d especially, as you said, is not a good clue

enough good ones to make up for it though. 1 and 12 my faves, 21 lolworthy as noted, 26 comes together nicely.

1 is really nicely done

finished the everyman in the pub on sunday for the first time in months.

I came up with this one, and I think it works pretty well if I do say so myself:

American who composed "Green Onions" seen around city in France. (7, 4)

Aw man, did I break the cryptic thread? Charles Ives.

Stumped by corset? There's a surprise! (6,2)

I've been happily doing lots of Everyman puzzles lately, but this combination of cricket abbrev., unknown-to-me synonym and Britishism answer I had also never heard before proved that, yes, I am American.

and yet you still worked it out because you had more than half the letters.

finished this week's this morning.

last week's included the name of a scottish oil refinery, but one i'd seen before.

Sullom Voe! I had actually heard of that somewhere, but couldn't remember it for the puzzle. I cheated on that, and the corset. Also needed to cheat on: Welsh lake = Bala, and Coastal Vessels = Grabs.

we've not done the word-of-the-day thing for a while (coming up with a clue for a word from one of the many word-of-the-day sites, like the homemade jokes thread but less funny and for crossword clues)

Rad peanut shaped like a leaf (9, wotd)

(actually, looking again, i'm not sure i read the definition correctly. but it'll do)

this page is no help: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaf_shape

nor this one: http://wordsmith.org/anagram/

got it tho.

yeah, it's actually 'violin-shaped', especially when applied to descriptions of leaves, not 'shaped like a leaf'. 8(

everyman 3550:

Joker, male, is seen on Baghdad river (9)

easy to work out from the bits (especially as i had 3 of the letters) but a word i'd never heard before.

my favourite this week:

Arms race participant? (9)

that's gotta be one of the easier everymen, finished in ten mins. btw everyman, is that the setter's name or a target audience description in need of degendering?

Always assumed the latter

i have 1.3 left to get.

cashier? minister of *space*?

cashier, yep. other meaning is obscure but flickers dimly in my brain. not space. c'mon. you can do it.

i don't see why cashier is cashier.

Dismiss teller (7)

ok, teller = definition. where does 'dismiss' come in? oh, synonym - http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cashier didn't know that...

to tell = state.

http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2011/0726/576x324_hifive.jpg

why does that bloke clapping have two right hands?

I had never seen the Baghdad river answer either. Was that the same puzzle that had a bizarre clue about Italian leader (DUCE) involved in something, that just didn't work?

I came up with this one at the train station this morning, I think it works.

Dad can attempt beginning film. (6)

(everyman 3550 was this week's)

It was: Gathered action involves Italy's leader (7) = DEDUCED. I see DEED and DUCE, but the 'involves' part just didn't work in this imo.

3548 was the italian leader one

Gathered action involves Italy's leader (7)

action = DEED
italy's leader = DUC
DE(DUC)ED = gathered

Yes, but Italy's leader was DUCE not DUC. The setter actually admitted he got that one wrong.

i think you are right, i'm trying it on there with DUC

(google turns up some hits but if you look at them they are nonsense)

I thought involves was somehow meaning 'includes a part of' or 'shares a vowel with' or something else I didn't understand, but I had no idea it was actually an error.