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

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

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)

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

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)

Creole tune originally played as synthesised music (7)

got it!
that's a nice cute one

lolz

Bones found here in your ass, remarkably (7)

finally got that Creole one!

xp is that from a newspaper? either way i approve of this increased ass content.

Yeah today’s Graun

another Graun, from today's

Doubtful The Sting was Peter's kind of film (9, 7)

nice anag though the apostrophe s might make ximenes slightly shuffle in his grave.

still parse-able enough IMO

yeah it's fine. just not perfect :)

lord knows it's hard enough to write good clues without pedants like me sticking their oar in; i hereby rescind all previous remarks and will refrain from all future such.

i like it

lovely clue

Recent clues I don't understand:

An opening celebration or its finale (DOOR)
Cases prepared for Italian consumer groups (RAVIOLI) - I kiiiind of get this one but 'consumer groups' confuses me
Left in charge (OVER)
Baked beans need this lid for protection (TOPI)
Show symbol of authority, namely, before holding exercises (SCEPTRE)
Screen for illness in advance? Imagine! (PRETEND) - this kinda makes sense but... 'screen for illness' doesn't clue tend???

celebration or = DO OR. could it be that obvious / clumsy?

Some of these explanations may be missing something, I'm sure others will correct me if so:

1. celebration = do (party) + or but there seem to be two definition parts, "opening" and "finale"... hmm
2. cryptic definition, ravioli is in a case, consumer groups = eaters of food
3. double definition, left = over (left over?) and in charge of something is to be over it
4. top = lid, other than that I got nothing
5. a sceptre is a symbol of authority, PT = exercises? other than that I got nothing

'_or_ its finale' is descriptive of the word after celebration / 'do'

ha i kinda guess thats what you guys said, it's quite hard with common words like 'or' to pick apart definitions

SCEPTRE relies on you knowing that sc is a less common equivalent to viz (which I didn’t)

A similar expression is scilicet (from earlier scire licet), abbreviated as sc., which is Latin for "it is permitted to know".

So SC (namely) + ERE (before) holding PT (exercises, as in physical training)

lord knows it's hard enough to write good clues without pedants like me sticking their oar in; i hereby rescind all previous remarks and will refrain from all future such.

wtf!

Thanks to everyone on the last batch! 'Sc' namely is hmm.

bit in the observer yesterday

https://www.theguardian.com/global/2019/may/12/anna-shechtman-the-new-queen-of-crosswords

american crosswords are strange things.

I read that whole thing this morning really confused; assumed it was a cryptic setter

the one i couldn't get from yesterday's observer:

Tests idiot about uniform (2-6) and i have the letters _S-_E_E_S

("as sevens" i thought. 'ass' around 'even'. but that leaves an unexplained 's' and also isn't a thing)

AS Levels

though i would say that's 1-1-6

Idiot = Ass
Uniform = level

AS Levels?

Beat me to it

thanks. i should've got that.

was also convinced about similies being an anagram of missle until the other letters got in the way.

>american crosswords are strange things.

This article def made me realise that the weirdly arbitrary set of canonical UK-crossword acronyms are just, like, locked in annoyingly until someone consciously challenges them though - are there setters who just don't use the R.E./R.A. ones or the others that always have to be introduced to learner solvers with an apology?

H.E. (his excellency) for ambassador had me rmde when I learned about it not very many years ago.

made you what, sorry

smdh

Never come across this clue type before:
Cryptic crosswords for beginners: cycling clues

https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2019/may/27/cryptic-crosswords-for-beginners-cycling-clues

Me neither! But seems both fair and useful to me.

loved this one in todays times

rogue cop wearing blue material flicks food (7)

p good

Controversy at 30A: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/cryptic/27852

wow

some cute ones in the times quick cryptic on my week off i enjoyed...

Outfit for the tango follower? (7)
Braved winds bravely, say (6)

cuet, second one v sneaky considering the mechanism is pretty obvious.

Smash up Tracy Chapman's car, it's what you do first thing in the morning. (9)

ooh I got that one

today's Graun

Monk controls a new church in Don's area (2, 6)

No way I could get that without letters. An unstraightforward synonym, an unconventional indicating word and a somewhat cryptic definition. Maybe they'd all jump out at you if you do these things more frequently than I do.

the "a new church" bit in the middle was a good start for me, it followed quickly from that. I had also been thinking about definitions of "Don's area" along the lines of Sicily, and the solution wasn't too far away from that.

From today's grauniad (SPOILERS omg):

Fens used to be drained, Hull also (8)
WASHLAND
WAS=”used to be” + H[ul]L drained of inside letters + AND=”also”

I know I promised upthread to stop being pedantic but this just doesn't ahem wash with me - the comma clearly separates 'drained' from 'Hull' so the former can't apply to the latter. Should just entirely ignore punctuation when reading clues from now on?

I've always believed that most punctuation is to be ignored as it's merely part of the surface reading and is designed even as deliberate misdirection. Of course there are exceptions, but commas are definitely something I try to mentally expunge when reading the clue in the hope of finding the solution.