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

Pregnant pause (9,5)

expecting delay. just throwin it out there, tbh

Not what i had in mind....

fully aware of that. i'm typing out loud here, gimme a break.

Maternity leave

oh ffs, open goal

You're too damn good ailsa. Do you do them in the newspaper every day too?

shoulda got that, what with everyone i know being on it.

One isn't that woman, but someone else (7)

another?

aye

Played in the round? (5,2,3,7)

has anyone got anywhere on today's araucaria in the guardian? it's very araucaria-ish.

"Tyre problem - the same by Shakespeare (I'm amazed at your boast!) when year off - brings humourous acceptance of sweet talk (8, 4, 3, 3, 8)"

brevity is the key to a good cryptic crossword clue. that's rubbish.

long ones are good when they make sense. unlike that one.

I'm a huge Auracaria stan but that looks a bit unwieldy. Otoh, it's generally hard to take 1 clue from his puzzles without context.

I have enjoyed a few Araucaria puzzles immensely, but I hate it when more than one or two clues contain references to other answers, which Araucaria puzzles almost always go overboard on and the Guardian seems to love in general.

Generally if I turn to the crossword and see a sea of "2 15 3" in the clues I cannot be bothered to start it at all, because it limits your starting points so severely, and you don't even get anything to puzzle over or admire in half the clues until you've cracked the other half.

(Also because I am shit, and so am probably never going to get enough of the referenced clues to have any chance. OK, mainly that, really)

what all crossword do we do, folks? crosaire in the irish times would be my drug of choice, for obvious enough reasons.

I tend to fail terribly at the Guardian one Monday to Friday. I think other setters might be more amenable to me but I can't be arsed changing paper at this point.

The answer to the Araucaria clue above was really disappointing.

"Tyre problem - the same by Shakespeare (I'm amazed at your boast!) when year off - brings humourous acceptance of sweet talk (8, 4, 3, 3, 8)"

Flattery will get you anywhere

(crap clue as it's not a common phrase)

I don't do a crossword on the reg any more. There was a couple of years in the early 90s when the best half of my day consisted of beers and working through all of the broadsheet crosswords with a friend.

Times in pub @ lunch @ work with two colleagues. Probably my fave just 'cause it's the most consistent. Observer on sun, if I've bought it or there's someone else's to deface. Good 'cause it's easy, mostly, usually. Guardian if I'm bored at work and I remember - tho I generally don't do too well.

well done onimo, i had to check fifteensquared for that

I try and fail to do the Guardian almost every day.

rufus is the only setter I know I have a good chance at and he's by far by favourite. I haven't really got a handle on anyone else just yet.

I don't do newspaper crosswords any more, mostly because I just read the news online. the skills remain though. last year I bumped into a guy I used to share a flat with about fifteen years ago and he introduced me to his friends as "the girl who taught me how to understand cryptic crosswords" :-)

I find Rufus kind of annoying because I know if I get stuck it's probably not actually worth the effort, but that anyone that was actually good at crosswords I wouldn't be stuck

I like it when they get a more-easy-than-usual Araucaria on a Monday, because he generally rewards the work put in. Today's definitely is an off moment for him, though.

"but that if I were someone that was actually good at crosswords i wouldn't be stuck," rather

I completed a whole one once.
It was in the Metro :(

well done onimo, i had to check fifteensquared for that

Just googled that, good to have a bunch of solvers out there just solving stuff for people! I don't seem to have time for the papers any more so this thread is pretty much all of my crossword solving.

Unexpected bonus for sailor (5)

Bosun

I suck at making up clues.

In the hopes I got the above right here is a clue I ...er... lifted...
Treks on TV pricey, when broken down, leaving us destitute (7-8)

poverty stricken

I too am terrible at making up clues, so someone else can have a go.

haha was that one from the radio times menelaus

there's one of noodle vague's still unsolved. i am also terrible at making up clues, viz. this attempt:

single father (spooner's) was a horse made of fruitcake (4,3,1,6,5)

A little help

Played in the round? (5,2,3,7)

__S__ __ ___ ___E__S

how does that help?

there's not even a 9 letter word in the clue.

"Tyre problem - the same by Shakespeare (I'm amazed at your boast!) when year off - brings humourous acceptance of sweet talk (8, 4, 3, 3, 8)"

Flattery will get you anywhere

(crap clue as it's not a common phrase)

obv you've not been flattered enough then or live in the wrong part of the country or you haven't watched enough 'carry on' films.

a beautiful clue, just 'flattery' as 'tyre problem' = anagram plus flat.

araucaria rules. (i hate him though)

it's far from beautiful to my eyes - the word play is neat indeed, but the surface reading is horrendous.

Isn't the more common version of that phrase "flattery will get you everywhere"? And yes, it's a horribly convoluted clue.

no the phrase is anywhere, not everywhere.

Results 1 - 10 of about 238,000 for "flattery will get you everywhere"

Results 1 - 10 of about 13,500 for "flattery will get you anywhere"

but arguing whether it's horrible or not - the cleverness is shoving shakespeare into it hence we might be looking for a quote from a play. when all it's for is 'will'. and if you can get 'flattery' from the first part of the clue you're away with 'flattery will...'

love him or hate him you'll miss him when he goes (viz. bunthorne)

you trust google? xp

Yes, I am being entirely serious.

I like the first "Tyre problem - the same..." bit, but it's a totally unwieldy clue overall.

I think the phrase is "anywhere", not "everywhere".

"nowhere".

Yes, that's the really common one, but the clue says acceptance of sweet talk, so it's the everywhere/anywhere thing. I'm going with the Mae West version of "everywhere".

but the clue says acceptance of sweet talk, so it's the everywhere/anywhere thing

yes but the letter count is the thing