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
put on a happy face
saw this one in a 'history of crosswords' book i have -- it's not hard but it has a clue i hadn't seen before:
British flee in all directions, to town in part of Canada (3, 9)
― adam the (abanana), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 05:17 (five years ago) link
Brave face surely
― gray say nah to me (wins), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 08:16 (five years ago) link
yeh it's brave
― nxd, Wednesday, 13 February 2019 09:14 (five years ago) link
"Way to the top - and why you can't get there." - ROAD UP
Is this some kind of phrase I've never heard of? I don't get the second half at all.
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Thursday, 14 February 2019 00:13 (five years ago) link
The road surface has been taken up making it impossible to traverse.
― koogs, Thursday, 14 February 2019 01:08 (five years ago) link
It's a road sign, I think, probably one of those things that cartoons depict that isn't really a thing any more.
― koogs, Thursday, 14 February 2019 01:09 (five years ago) link
Thanks Koogs! I'm really struggling with expressions that I just don't know at the moment, I had "In a pet" just now which I'd never heard of.
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Monday, 18 February 2019 20:41 (five years ago) link
Some others I couldn't make sense of:
Bitter about a man - ALECLower class fare - COMMONS (is fare 'S' for "standard" or something? But then I feel like the whole thing would need to clue "Commons")?Common cleric constantly in pain - REVEREND (I think constantly is 'ever', which leaves pain as... rend? I guess being rent would be painful? Also, why 'common'?Rock a shade of yellowish green - LIMESTONE (It's... a rock? And lime is green? I can't seem to make this one fit together.)
― Gravel Puzzleworth, Monday, 18 February 2019 20:47 (five years ago) link
The first one is ale (bitter) c. (about, as in circa)Third one is exactly as you say (to pain, to rend)Fourth: a shade of yellowish green = lime’s tone
― A funny tinge happened on the way to the forum (wins), Monday, 18 February 2019 21:00 (five years ago) link
I'm always amused by a good, off-color surface reading, and this one was excellent, if a bit convoluted.
Before taking off partner's clothes, firstly extinguish flash lamp (9)
― Dial Alexa, derelict! (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 21 February 2019 16:54 (five years ago) link
Lower class fare - COMMONS (is fare 'S' for "standard" or something? But then I feel like the whole thing would need to clue "Commons")?
iirc "commons" is an oldfashioned word for a meal served communally such as in a monastery refectory, university hall, etc, so it's a double definition - I think
no idea about yours yet, Dan, but I look forward to thinking it over
― a passing spacecadet, Thursday, 21 February 2019 19:19 (five years ago) link
Yeah, in researching it, commons (plural) can mean "the common people" i.e. lower class, and "food provided for meals in common for all members of a group." So it's a double def. Not a particularly satisfying one imo.
Here's another one I liked from the same puzzle as above. Dictator's pampering young swimmer (7)
― Dial Alexa, derelict! (Dan Peterson), Thursday, 21 February 2019 19:37 (five years ago) link
Creole tune originally played as synthesised music (7)
― paolo, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 14:17 (five years ago) link
got it!that's a nice cute one
― nxd, Tuesday, 5 March 2019 16:20 (five years ago) link
lolz
Bones found here in your ass, remarkably (7)
― Neil S, Friday, 8 March 2019 13:01 (five years ago) link
finally got that Creole one!
― kinder, Friday, 8 March 2019 13:20 (five years ago) link
xp is that from a newspaper? either way i approve of this increased ass content.
― large bananas pregnant (ledge), Friday, 8 March 2019 13:49 (five years ago) link