i done got it, it's good. don't think it's strictly ximenean though, apologies for nit-picking. it's good, it's fun, that's all that matters \o/
― home, home and deranged (ledge), Thursday, 23 August 2018 21:53 (five years ago) link
presumably summat to do with first violin
― flaneur brayin (darraghmac), Thursday, 23 August 2018 21:54 (five years ago) link
there was another great clue in today's Graun:
Let's take most of Harrison Ford's fantastic film (7, 2, 3, 4, 3)
― Neil S, Thursday, 23 August 2018 22:02 (five years ago) link
I don’t think I’ll ever understand what ximenean means because I don’t see anything remotely cheaty about the jimmy carr clue
― jeremy cmbyn (wins), Thursday, 23 August 2018 22:18 (five years ago) link
I looked up the Jimmy Carr one. I'll forever be a newb at these but what part hints at the meaning of the answer? I was doing what i always do which is madly guessing the word then trying to retcon the clue.
― kinder, Thursday, 23 August 2018 22:56 (five years ago) link
oh nm I see it now
― kinder, Thursday, 23 August 2018 22:58 (five years ago) link
one day i will understand a single cryptic crossword clue
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Thursday, 23 August 2018 23:03 (five years ago) link
> I looked up the Jimmy Carr one. I'll forever be a newb at these but what part hints at the meaning of the answer?
SPOILERS
With the Jimmy Carr one, "Carr with offshore banking" contribute letters to the answer and "primarily fiddled" tells you how to get and what to do with those letters which leaves "Jimmy" as the definition. Then you just have to rely on your knowledge of Victorian criminal slang 8)
― koogs, Friday, 24 August 2018 00:30 (five years ago) link
Well it's the worst kind of old-fashioned prescriptivist pedanticism which even i rmde at; but although the words are in the right order, Carr, with offshore banking, primarily can't really mean carr & wob. The second comma is the problem - Carr, with offshore banking primarily, would be ok, and more or less leave the surface reading intact.
― home, home and deranged (ledge), Friday, 24 August 2018 07:13 (five years ago) link
some kind of anag, 'something of the something something', need letters!
― home, home and deranged (ledge), Friday, 24 August 2018 07:14 (five years ago) link
ok duh
― home, home and deranged (ledge), Friday, 24 August 2018 07:15 (five years ago) link
p great I think
― Neil S, Friday, 24 August 2018 07:50 (five years ago) link
agreed!
― home, home and deranged (ledge), Friday, 24 August 2018 08:23 (five years ago) link
is it not just the name of a very famous movie he was in
i mean
― flaneur brayin (darraghmac), Friday, 24 August 2018 09:12 (five years ago) link
It's an anagram tho
― the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Friday, 24 August 2018 09:13 (five years ago) link
is it?
of what
― flaneur brayin (darraghmac), Friday, 24 August 2018 09:17 (five years ago) link
and i mean i can see it kinda is if you dont mind it kinda being one
but i mean rly
― flaneur brayin (darraghmac), Friday, 24 August 2018 09:18 (five years ago) link
sorry for disappointing clue
― Neil S, Friday, 24 August 2018 09:25 (five years ago) link
SPOILER
let's take harriso ford
It's a cryptic clue. If the clue was just "Harrison Ford film" then it would be a quick clue. The clever thing is that the definition is just "film"
― the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Friday, 24 August 2018 09:25 (five years ago) link
its imo a copout clue
(i know what a cryptic clue is btw)
― flaneur brayin (darraghmac), Friday, 24 August 2018 10:19 (five years ago) link
It’s perfectly cromulent and very good
― jeremy cmbyn (wins), Friday, 24 August 2018 10:41 (five years ago) link
in what way is it a copout?
xp
― the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Friday, 24 August 2018 10:54 (five years ago) link
some of, part of, most of are lazy anagrams
nb yes i recognise the irony here
― flaneur brayin (darraghmac), Friday, 24 August 2018 11:00 (five years ago) link
koogs yeah I got everything on that one except Jimmy being the definition. It did dawn on me eventually.
― kinder, Friday, 24 August 2018 11:44 (five years ago) link
“Most of” to mean “all but the last letter” is standard wordplay that nobody would balk at if it were just part of the construction of the word, using it to get anagram fodder is acceptable because you can have more than one kind of wordplay in a cryptic clue. Also if you see that you can get “raiders of the lost ark” from “let’s take Harrison Ford” with the simple addition of the word “most”, you take the damn shot; that’s not lazy, that’s elegant
― jeremy cmbyn (wins), Friday, 24 August 2018 12:08 (five years ago) link
one of my objections is that the clue is a simplex one, the anagram (or if i prefer, pseudoanagram) is mere reverse-engineering merely to suit requirements
lookit thats long enough on the subject im glad everyone else enjoyed it
― flaneur brayin (darraghmac), Friday, 24 August 2018 13:34 (five years ago) link
Fuck usefulness - what’s the use in it? (8)
― coetzee.cx (wins), Wednesday, 12 September 2018 17:42 (five years ago) link
i have no idea where to begin, but, letters?
― Winner of the 2018 Great British Bae *cough* (ledge), Friday, 21 September 2018 12:51 (five years ago) link
futility
― Dmac TT (darraghmac), Friday, 21 September 2018 13:00 (five years ago) link
all the letters, sure, that'll do.
― Winner of the 2018 Great British Bae *cough* (ledge), Friday, 21 September 2018 13:33 (five years ago) link
inspired by real life events:
Place where they stockpile organs (9)
― koogs, Friday, 5 October 2018 17:06 (five years ago) link
(spoilers - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alder_Hey_organs_scandal although it's in the news again today)
― koogs, Friday, 5 October 2018 17:08 (five years ago) link
cold
― Toss another shrimpl air on the bbqbbq (ledge), Friday, 5 October 2018 17:29 (five years ago) link
lolThis week’s prize had “dollar” as a clue for the letter S which doesn’t seem quite kosher but whatever Mainly I came here to note that the wasteperson who’s doing the Monday xwords lately is fucking dreadful and almost makes me pine for rufus RIP. Just a load of dumb pure cryptic clues (or whatever they’re called) that are both basic and sloppy - there was one that was “put a sock in it (4)” and the answer was SHOE. That’s like a “cryptic clue” a 10 year old would come up with!
― coetzee.cx (wins), Sunday, 7 October 2018 14:16 (five years ago) link
Why would 'Slaughter in the theatre' be "BLOODSHED"?
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Saturday, 26 January 2019 12:57 (five years ago) link
operating theatre? pretty weak.
― large bananas pregnant (ledge), Saturday, 26 January 2019 14:59 (five years ago) link
Unless there’s some clever thing I’m not seeing that clue makes no sense
― gray say nah to me (wins), Saturday, 26 January 2019 15:33 (five years ago) link
I made this one up this morning:
Nora is in bra, nervously holding breakfast. (6,4)
― I don't come off well (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 31 January 2019 15:13 (five years ago) link
raisin bran®
Head chef is a knob (4)
― large bananas pregnant (ledge), Tuesday, 5 February 2019 09:03 (five years ago) link
Man, I got nothin' on that one.
― I don't come off well (Dan Peterson), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 16:11 (five years ago) link
Boss, possibly?
― Your dad's Carlos Boozer and you keep him alive (fionnland), Wednesday, 6 February 2019 18:14 (five years ago) link
correct. it's legit, right?
― large bananas pregnant (ledge), Thursday, 7 February 2019 09:03 (five years ago) link
Is it a triple definition?
― gray say nah to me (wins), Thursday, 7 February 2019 09:24 (five years ago) link
yep.
― large bananas pregnant (ledge), Thursday, 7 February 2019 09:38 (five years ago) link
Where does chef come in?
― the word dog doesn't bark (anagram), Thursday, 7 February 2019 09:41 (five years ago) link
it's french for chief. maybe a little sneaky...
― large bananas pregnant (ledge), Thursday, 7 February 2019 09:44 (five years ago) link
The nit I’d pick there is that two of the definitions are essentially the same. I’d have kept it simple and gone with “knob head (4)”
― gray say nah to me (wins), Thursday, 7 February 2019 09:52 (five years ago) link
good to see a thread revive here. A nice clue in today's Guardian:
All welcome here, but we have not decided on kind of dance music (4, 5)
― Neil S, Thursday, 7 February 2019 11:26 (five years ago) link
ha i was trying to parse acid house for a while there
― nxd, Thursday, 7 February 2019 12:21 (five years ago) link
Got one in the Saturday Guardian for the first time today
Keep your chin up to apply warpaint (3,2,1,5,4)
― paolo, Saturday, 9 February 2019 13:38 (five years ago) link