Author Topic: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread  (Read 111206 times)

Wowbagger

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Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #400 on: 01 December, 2017, 12:18:19 am »
In the Grauniad the other day:

Exhausted by current Tory tactic to stay in government? (4,2)

I never did work that out. Can someone please put me out of my misery?
Quote from: Dez
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Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #401 on: 01 December, 2017, 07:46:02 am »
It was USED UP (use DUP), which is very droll.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #402 on: 01 December, 2017, 08:25:41 am »
I didn't get that one either.

This is definitely a practice thing, I used to be able to get through 2/3 of the times cryptic when I bought the paper regularly.  Nowadays I'm lucky to get 1/3. 

The literary references are the trickiest I think as you either know it or don't, most of the others, once you've seen the solution you can generally work backwards to see the logic.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Wowbagger

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Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #403 on: 31 December, 2017, 12:50:04 pm »
It was USED UP (use DUP), which is very droll.

Thanks! It is very good.

Not cryptic as it was in today's Observer "Speedy" crossword, but included here for comedy value:

"Leather strap that forms the flexible part of a whip: excuse for underwear. (5)"
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #404 on: 31 December, 2017, 04:52:59 pm »
;D
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Wowbagger

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Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #405 on: 17 May, 2018, 12:09:59 pm »
OK - today's Graun quick crossword: "Insincere talk - slope" (4)

(click to show/hide)
I can see the insincere talk, but where is the slope? I've don't know of such a meaning and I can't (ha!) find that definition of the word in any dictionary.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Beardy

  • Shedist
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #406 on: 17 May, 2018, 12:14:37 pm »
OK - today's Graun quick crossword: "Insincere talk - slope" (4)

(click to show/hide)
I can see the insincere talk, but where is the slope? I've don't know of such a meaning and I can't (ha!) find that definition of the word in any dictionary.
I've certaianly heard it in terms of sloping ie Canted and a two second google turned up this
cant2
kant/
verb
verb: cant; 3rd person present: cants; past tense: canted; past participle: canted; gerund or present participle: canting
1.
have or cause to have a slanting or oblique position; tilt.
"he canted his head to look at the screen"
synonyms:
tilt, lean, slant, slope, incline, angle, be at an angle; More
tip, list, bank, heel
"the deck canted some twenty degrees"
(of a ship) swing round.
"the ship canted to starboard"
synonyms:
tilt, lean, slant, slope, incline, angle, be at an angle; More
tip, list, bank, heel
"the deck canted some twenty degrees"
noun
noun: cant; plural noun: cants
1.
a slope or tilt.
"the outward cant of the curving walls"
synonyms:
slope, slant, tilt, angle, inclination
"the outward cant of the curving walls"
For every complex problem in the world, there is a simple and easily understood solution that’s wrong.

Wowbagger

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Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #407 on: 17 May, 2018, 12:18:59 pm »
Thanks. I didn't look far enough down the page (bloody Ipads! ;) )
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #408 on: 17 May, 2018, 03:27:51 pm »
"Insincere talk - slope" made me think of Alan Rickman.

To add to the definitions above, "canting arms" in heraldry include a device that reflects the bearer's name, e.g. a bell for someone called Bell, etc.

A friend of mine once found a book called "The London Cant", which was a 19th-century dictionary of thieves' jargon.  I dearly wanted to pinch it when he wasn't around.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #409 on: 17 May, 2018, 06:02:46 pm »
"Insincere talk - slope" made me think of Alan Rickman.

Great reference! Probably the best thing he ever did, I reckon.

I wonder if that was a deliberate bit of wordplay by Trollope? Seems plausible.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #410 on: 17 May, 2018, 10:06:08 pm »
In the Torygraph yesterday (or maybe the day before).

Coats, bras, pants, jumpers.

(click to show/hide)
Rust never sleeps

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #411 on: 17 May, 2018, 11:10:19 pm »
Pants? Really?
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #412 on: 17 May, 2018, 11:21:50 pm »
Breathless rather than garment?

T42

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Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #413 on: 18 May, 2018, 07:56:52 am »
"Insincere talk - slope" made me think of Alan Rickman.

Great reference! Probably the best thing he ever did, I reckon.

I wonder if that was a deliberate bit of wordplay by Trollope? Seems plausible.

That's a nice thought.  He did go in for canting names, didn't he? Quiverful etc.

BTW, I googled "Quiverful" to check the L-coefficient and found this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quiverfull

And not a mention of Trollope or irony.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #414 on: 18 May, 2018, 09:42:36 pm »
Pants? Really?
Given it's the Torygraph I was quite surprised at that usage, but it's not the first time in the last month or so.
Rust never sleeps

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #415 on: 18 May, 2018, 10:51:44 pm »
Pants? Really?
Given it's the Torygraph I was quite surprised at that usage, but it's not the first time in the last month or so.

Pants as an anagram indicator is decidedly non-Ximenean.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #416 on: 18 May, 2018, 11:40:33 pm »
OK, I don't care about the ridicule, how does one spot an anagram indicator (Ximenean or non-Ximenean)?
Quote from: tiermat
that's not science, it's semantics.

Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #417 on: 19 May, 2018, 09:26:14 am »
OK, I don't care about the ridicule, how does one spot an anagram indicator (Ximenean or non-Ximenean)?
Ooooo. Where to start ?
Try here - http://cryptics.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_anagram_indicators
Rust never sleeps

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #418 on: 19 May, 2018, 01:34:07 pm »
OK, I don't care about the ridicule, how does one spot an anagram indicator (Ximenean or non-Ximenean)?

Look for any word or phrase that suggests change, revolution, agitation, turmoil, confusion...

It also has to be immediately next to a word or group of words that add up to the right number of letters (it would have helped if hatler had given the number of letters when quoting the clue)

The Chambers Crossword Dictionary lists six pages of anagram indicators, four columns per page. The only limit is the setter's imagination. For me, pants doesn't work as an anagram indicator because it's not grammatical - 'pants' can mean rubbish or nonsense, but the clue lacks a verb.

Ximenes was very strict about adhering to the rules - the principle being that you've got to give solvers a chance. Others are prepared to allow more liberties, especially for the sake of a witty or superficially amusing clue. Here's a famous example of a non-Ximenean anagram clue that I admire:
Poetical scene with surprisingly chaste Lord Archer vegetating (3, 3, 8, 12)

"Poetical scene" is the definition, "surprisingly" is the anagram indicator.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Wowbagger

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Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #419 on: 19 May, 2018, 09:36:18 pm »
I liken Ximenes to Bach, Araucaria to Mozart.
Quote from: Dez
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T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #420 on: 20 May, 2018, 09:21:44 am »
Araucaria sounds like a dental problem.

Returning to this:

In the Torygraph yesterday (or maybe the day before).

Coats, bras, pants, jumpers.

(click to show/hide)

How do you get rid of the extra S?  Sacrobats might be acrobats that land on their arses.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #421 on: 20 May, 2018, 02:25:41 pm »
Woops. Good spot. Sorry. I was doing it from memory. It would have been 'coat', not 'coats'.
Rust never sleeps

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #422 on: 20 May, 2018, 04:08:16 pm »
Gotcha. Ta.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Wowbagger

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Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #423 on: 13 August, 2018, 11:39:43 pm »
You learn something every day.

Phyllis and I were doing a 4-year-old Graun quick crossword a few minutes ago (we do two crosswords a day - the current one at coffee time and, ever since P moved in with us in 2016, we have gone backwards through the archive. Anyway:

6 down: Relating to birth or the buttocks (5)

(click to show/hide)
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

hellymedic

  • Just do it!
Re: The Cryptic Crossword Clue Thread
« Reply #424 on: 14 August, 2018, 12:07:04 am »
(click to show/hide)