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

that was my best guess.

i knew this, honestly, but i've just looked it up to be certain:

cope2 noun a long sleeveless cape worn by clergy on ceremonial occasions. verb (coped, coping) to dress in a cope.
ETYMOLOGY: 13c: from Latin capa.

I was pretty ennhhhh about "to wear it is to cope" but that's good.

I think that's the same meaning that's used for cope-stone as well - to cover.

just general guardian setter chatter, but didn't realise Araucaria had been on Desert Island Discs recently. And enjoying Paul's blog.

oh, I found out about that because a friend (& v occasional poster here) has started a cryptic blog at the guardian. Here's clue of the week from that:

Attempt to prevent child's precious unit trust being misappropriated (6, 11)

That blog looks like it should be good, I've subscribed.

I quite liked this one that was in a novel I was reading

Butcher has ox tongue (5)

From today's Araucaria (I'm always inordinately pleased when I get even one of his clues!):

Semi-automated nun? (8, 2, 5)

perngher bs unovg

pardon?

I rot13'd it as I'm not sure on how spoiler sensitivity works here these days.

http://www.rot13.com/

aha I see, nice site, and correct answer, well done!

cricketer's answer to question fed if bails dislodged (4, 5)

grrr

Asif Iqbal

(needed to do some googling there!)

yes, not so much a name, more a bad hand at scrabble.

(from yesterday's observer btw)

yeah I go that, particularly nasty one if you don't know about cricket.

last one for sunday's everyman.

Couturier isn't rich, radio broadcast (9, 4)

(i have 7 of the letters and it's still making no sense)

dior, baby.

broadcast as an anag signifier?

yup. originally a farming term for sowing or scattering seed.

Yearning for inside knowledge of cuisine (7)

cooking?

our survey says buh-bahhhh

kitchen

brain a bit flat this week, honest

i see now i was trying to solve 8,5 rather than 9,4 and was scratching my head over a word that was

N _ I _ R

yearning normally = yen but not helping here

NV has already grabbed the brass ring.

http://bestforpuzzles.com/cryptic-crossword-dictionary/anagram-indicators/

wow @ how many of these there are.

Boiled?

nice site, but yeah i daresay a full list of potential anag indicators would be near limitless. can easily come up some not in that list: fabulously, facetiously, factorised, faked, farcical...

xp

yeah, think of vegetables bubbling about in a pot they get pretty mixed up

rubbish!

just thinking about a set of base concepts for anag indicators, of which others would be synonyms:

rearrange (duh) - 'boil' a rather poetic version
destroy
construct (!)
false
insane
strange
drunk (or is that under 'insane?)

forget it. i am no roget.

Had a clever one recently: Skin cherry top in papier-mache (7)

epicarp

Good lord. Would have needed Chambers in hand + many filled-in letters for that.

had the letters for the anagram but never heard of the word

i had it for a bit and miscounted the letters. something to do with fruit iirc

Man, you guys are good! New word for me. At any rate, using "mache" as "chewed up" as anagram indicator was neat.

yeah i mightn't've picked up on that so quick if we hadn't already been discussing anagram indicators

i had 'rich' down as the anagram identifier in that christian dior clue... which didn't help.

Or couldn't "radio broadcast" even conceivably be construed as as a homophone indicator, too (like "on the radio?")

it's a strange conventional thing, because "broadcast" so often signifies anagram it's unlikely to be used in another sense i think.

unless it's the actual clue itself

Yeah, I'm pretty new to these things, so I often figure out the word by process of elimination and then backtrack and go "broadcast = anagram?!?!"

Like the "papier-mache" one upthread; I just guessed it was an anagram and then went "WHY? Ohhhhhhh........"

i feel like you acquire a feeling for words that could signify anagrams, but maybe you just learn all the major examples over time

Probably dead easy, but I liked it, from today's Guardian:

Adorable old mongrel (11)

bump- anyone?

hint - Graham Norton. It is a lovely clue.