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

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Tag's is top secret, this one has me stumped...

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:14 (twenty years ago)

I can't work out top secret! :(

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

"s" is the first (top) letter of secret, innit?

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:20 (twenty years ago)

Harsh!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:21 (twenty years ago)

What's harsh is not having any other letters to at least get a starting point for these...

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:22 (twenty years ago)

I might need to check the 'quickie' clue for that last one :-(

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:31 (twenty years ago)

That's my boy!

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:32 (twenty years ago)

That's my boy.
xpost

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:32 (twenty years ago)

Here's one I made up.

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

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:36 (twenty years ago)

La Creuset.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:37 (twenty years ago)

Le, rather.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:37 (twenty years ago)

Too easy!

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:38 (twenty years ago)

Too middle-class!

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

Italy's the spot for a bunch of mentalists. (3)

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:39 (twenty years ago)

Are cryptics more of a working class thing?

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:40 (twenty years ago)

haha

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:40 (twenty years ago)

xpost

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:40 (twenty years ago)

ILX

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:42 (twenty years ago)

haha

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:49 (twenty years ago)

Chris, is it not three in the morning over there?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:52 (twenty years ago)

Madchen's "overworked postman" joke to thread!

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:53 (twenty years ago)

beanz new clue! (I thinka ailsa and Sam still have one saved up too)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:54 (twenty years ago)

Put back strength about advance (8)

Warning: I read this the other day and thought it was a crap clue, but it lodged itself in my head which is why I'm reproducing it now.

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 9 December 2005 11:01 (twenty years ago)

Do they have cryptic crosswords (in this sense) in America?

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 11:05 (twenty years ago)

Put back? Advance? Too generic! Millions of synonyms! Letters please...

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 9 December 2005 11:50 (twenty years ago)

R _ _ H _ _ _ E

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 9 December 2005 11:54 (twenty years ago)

recharge

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 9 December 2005 11:57 (twenty years ago)

bingo

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 9 December 2005 11:58 (twenty years ago)

sorry i've got to go for dinner now and don't have any new clues, someone will have to take my go

― Ste (Fuzzy), Friday, 9 December 2005 11:59 (twenty years ago)

Aw crap, I thought about = re, then discarded it.

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 9 December 2005 11:59 (twenty years ago)

Oh, I don't have any old guardians lying about any more = no decent crossword clues to dispense to you. I'll just keep reading and solving if that's alright with you lot.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:01 (twenty years ago)

I discarded re too :(

Okay supereasy one but I really like the clue: French boulevards of broken dreams (4)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:05 (twenty years ago)

Rues

(too easy, I know)

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:06 (twenty years ago)

I'm gonna jump in with an old fave:
Love will tear us apart, causing grief (3)

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:08 (twenty years ago)

woe! NICE

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:09 (twenty years ago)

Gonna get lunch, I'll try and think of one while I'm out. Feel free to post any you think of...

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:12 (twenty years ago)

OK, another old classic:

H.I.J.K.L.M.N.O (5)

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:30 (twenty years ago)

Water

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:32 (twenty years ago)

A ship that nobody caes about (7)

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:32 (twenty years ago)

cares about

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:33 (twenty years ago)

(to be honest, I stole this one from I'm Sorry I Havn't a Clue, so it's less of a strong cryptic clue, more of a weak pun)

― Come Back Johnny B (Johnney B), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:35 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, I was going to say that's "frigate" - I read it in one of those made-up-definitions-for-words things in the newspaper not that long ago.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:37 (twenty years ago)

Back from LUNCH mm sandwich. Quite proud of this one:

Point at vase, a codename for orgies (11)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

I'm pretty sure that's going to be "bacchanalia" due to alias and and the orgy thing, but I can't quite work out why.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:46 (twenty years ago)

not quite!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 12:59 (twenty years ago)

Do people want some letters?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

Ooh, yes please.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 14:30 (twenty years ago)

S------L--S

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 14:32 (twenty years ago)

saturnalias

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 9 December 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

doh

― beanz (beanz), Friday, 9 December 2005 14:34 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 5680 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

agree of the Minute Cryptic, today was fun too:

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

― nxd, Friday, 22 May 2026 17:56 (one month ago)

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

― nxd, Friday, 22 May 2026 17:58 (one month ago)

one month passes...

Okay, how does this one work?! Is it a Cockney thing?

Trio released, we hear (5)

― cinematic hobo hip-hop rock ‘n’ roll blues-jazz soul-review (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 25 June 2026 16:57 (two days ago)

three / free homophone right?
not sure it works with the th/f replacement tbf

― nxd, Thursday, 25 June 2026 17:05 (two days ago)

That was my only explanation. Another Daily Cryptic fail imo, unless it was “Trio released, we hear from Ian Dury”

― cinematic hobo hip-hop rock ‘n’ roll blues-jazz soul-review (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 25 June 2026 17:12 (two days ago)

Even that wouldn’t work, it’s the wrong way round — free, the wordplay part, is pronounced that way by everyone

― Karmic posing as I always do 🧘 (wins), Thursday, 25 June 2026 17:15 (two days ago)

Are these AI generated? idk what/where the daily cryptic is but I can’t see a regular setter coming up with these

― Karmic posing as I always do 🧘 (wins), Thursday, 25 June 2026 17:17 (two days ago)

https://dailycryptic.co/play/daily

― cinematic hobo hip-hop rock ‘n’ roll blues-jazz soul-review (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 25 June 2026 17:19 (two days ago)

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