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

Later TL!

The Chicago clue is not original- I've seen it and its variants in puzzles many times.

S_S_P_U_

New clue! Ailsa you there?

Heats sacks (5)

Id's involved in painful, er, mistake. (8, 4)

Country with its capital in Czechoslovakia (6)

(xpost, yes correct)

x-post :)

I can't think of any more just now - will go trawling through my newspaper recycling box and come back later.

(this thread has saved work)

x-post okay: 'I have recognized my son!' he said proudly (5,2,3)

For a cooking pot brandname, the French put America in a mixed up Greek island. (2, 7)

loved this from the minute cryptic a week so back:

Nineties freestyle icon known for his energetic MC work? (8)

yeah that was a good one!
Would never have got the Mark E Smith one

xp amazing!

music coming from place where detectives live? (4,5)

Ha took me a minute

Very nice! I feel like it would be slightly fairer to say ‘from a place where detectives live’ - sorry if that’s a spoiler I dunno how to do the tags

I googled the clue to get the answer (I'm impatient) and I wouldn't have got it on my own. But Google AI Overview would like to let you know that "the answer is a
detective opera. This is a riddle where "detective" refers to a type of musical performance, which fits the (4,5) format for a 4-letter and 5-letter word."

That is no spoiler or help to the actual answer whatsoever, in case anyone's wondering.

never change, LLMs.

Turns sanctimonious bugger in backward glance (8)

I’ve been doing these puzzles a long time, but never in a million years would I have gotten that “sanctimonious bugger” = PI SOD

I vaguely remember learning about pi a long time ago, not sure I've encountered it more than twice. Where would it ever be used outside of a crossword? Sod is common enough over here.

Yeah my problem was treating “sanctimonious bugger” as one thing rather than two separate charades.

Interesting factoid from Wiki: It is derived from Anglo-Norman bougre, from Latin Bulgarus, in reference to Bulgaria, from which the Bogomils, a sect labeled by church authorities as heretics, were thought to have come in the 11th century, after other "heretics" to whom abominable practices were imputed in an abusively disparaging manner.[1]

I'm starting to get into this but am absolutely flummoxed about 80% of the time

Looking at solutions (fifteensquared.net if you're doing uk newspaper ones) is u+k to learn common patterns and recondite lore, e.g. the many different synonyms for 'sailor'. There's a bunch of websites that list abbreviations and synonyms too.

i got hooked on minute cryptic via instagram and and starting to understand the rhythms of it. however i'm getting the impression that compared to UK newspaper cryptics it's quite straightforward. it rarely wants you to replace a group of words with a synonym for example, which seems like a pretty core feature of a lot of cryptics (and i imagine makes them much harder, particularly when you're outside the culture. like cmon i am not going to know that earls are famous for receiving belts etc)

doesn't seem too different to something like the guardian quick cryptic for me

maybe i'll have a go at an actual cryptic crossword one of these days instead of these little snack-sized clues

the requirement of knowledge both general and of every acronym, shortening, military ranking, cricket terminology etc under the sun is what stops me from doing most newspaper cryptics.
I do get the minute cryptic pretty easily now though.

replace a group of words with a synonym for example

If this includes cryptic definitions then they are the bane of my life. I've never heard of earls & belts either! Some setters are easier than others especially in the Guardian, unfortunately since Rufus passed away I don't know their easiest setter is. Monday used to be easier and it got harder towards the end of the week, I don't know how reliable that is now.

The Guardian quick cryptic is a good learning puzzle, as it explains what methods you should be looking for: anagram, charade, sounds like, use the first letters etc.

The weekly Quiptic is supposedly pitched to the easier end but isn’t always. This week’s being a prime example of “isn’t always.”

Yes, Fifteensquared is a great resource for understanding.

Observer Everyman crossword is a good place to start - it's always pitched pretty easy (it's aimed at casuals because real cryptic heads are spending their Sunday doing Azed, the much tougher prize crossword). I haven't been in the game for a while but that should still hold.

The Wordle guy wrote a game to help learn cryptics:

https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-lede/the-creator-of-wordle-tries-to-solve-the-cryptic-crossword
https://www.parseword.com/daily

Honestly I find it baffling but maybe I shouldn't have skipped the tutorial.

it's fun enough once you get the hang of using the interface, which is not very intuitive, but I didn't find I was learning anything new about solving after trying half a dozen or so puzzles

It’s weird that if you know the answer you are unable to just type it in, you have to go through a series of not very intuitive clicks/replacements. It doesn’t mimic the tactical solving process of a cryptic clue for me. But I may not be the target audience.

IMO a daily mini puzzle (5-7 clues max) by a major paper that mimics the structure of the Guardian Quick Cryptic (where all the clue types used are listed) would probably be the best way to get Americans into a cryptic solving habit. But I don’t think there is the interest or the money to support it. The Browser and The New Yorker both tried to gently reintroduce cryptics to an American audience recently, and although the puzzles were good, both outlets found that it wasn’t sustainable.

minute cryptic can't really be improved upon imo. they have got it down to a science.

today's parseword took 30s. now to wait another 23 hours.

I don’t really do the daily cryptic anymore because I spend too much of my time doing xwords as it is but the graun published puzzle no 30,000 on Thursday so I did that, assuming the setter would put something extra in to mark the occasion (she did, & it’s quite a fun idea)

Does anyone do their monthly Genius crossword? It’s a traditional-style blocked xword that has some elements of the listener-style barred ones eg missing letters in clues that then spell out an instruction. It’s a good intro to that style of puzzle and they usually don’t go too crazy with it because they don’t have the degree of freedom that a barred grid provides (tho last months was p hard imo)

I started the 30 000 one but got distracted. y work, I'll give it another go.

Finishes 30,000 - ok I had to reveal a few. And then get fifteen squared to tell me all about the hidden treasure hunt thingy. Amazing, and almost as amazing that people figured it out.

Just had to check to see if there was anything beyond the hint to the quick crossword that gives you the clue to the editorial. Holy shit! I was expecting to use the ACROSTIC hint so should have spotted that message in the editorial but the trail in the last 35 is insane. And a bonus Genius which I was completely unaware of when I posted!

Just here to express my general dislike of Daily Cryptic. They seldom bother to make the surface readings make sense, but also charming is an anagram indicator?

Bream charming tint (5)

very uncharming clue, yes

I always enjoy a surprising non-standard anagram indicator but yeah that one just doesn’t work

had a look at today's and yeah that is a rubbish clue too - nothing unconventional but the surface just doesn't work.

As opposed to Minute Cryptic where the surface is almost always clever but puzzles pretty easily gettable. Today’s:

Praise the Trinity at the end of spiritual retreats with the Right Reverend (4)

agree of the Minute Cryptic, today was fun too:

"Midrange van crashed into circular intersection?" (4,7)

these have been good to help train couple of friends who probably wouldn't have been interested to learn before