In the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners series. The setter’s name often links to an interview with him or her, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.
The news in clues
Just before the State of the Union address, Flimsy in the Financial Times offers us this thought-provoking surface …
2d Biden perhaps wrongly pretends to retain information primarily (9)
[ wordplay: anagram of (‘wrongly’) PRETENDS, containing (‘to retain’) first letter of (‘primarily’) INFORMATION ]
[ PRESDENT containing I ]
[ definition: Biden perhaps ]
… en route to PRESIDENT. (If newcomers to cryptics are wondering why a “perhaps” is called for, it’s all to do with examples.)
Meanwhile in the Guardian Genius, Picaroon looks at the man Biden now calls “my predecessor” …
24a Help ex-president Trump, losing seat (4)
[ wordplay: ex-president (in nickname form) + TRUMP – synonym for ‘seat’ ]
[ ABE + TRUMP – RUMP ]
[ definition: help ]
… in a clue with the answer ABET. This being the Genius puzzle, the solver who has worked out that the answer is ABET does not also know that the entry is ABET. All is, as usual, made delightfully clear at the Fifteensquared solvers’ blog.
Latter patter
Solvers will have noticed lots of watery references in Kite’s latest puzzle. The more curious may also have tried to read between the lines, quite literally. And at 14 across we have:
14a Ancient byre repairs happening very infrequently (11)
[ wordplay: anagram of (‘repairs’) ANCIENTBYRE ]
[ definition: happening very infrequently ]
In the clue, BICENTENARY is an adjective, which is also the first sense given in Chambers. A bicentenary is of course also a noun, like the 200th birthday celebrated by the RNLI last week.
“Bicentenary” is one of those perfectly innocent words that rings alarm bells for writers: it’s worth checking that it doesn’t also mean “happening twice a century”. Apparently, there’s not much call for such a meaning and I struggle to think of events that happen every 50 years outside Leviticus …
And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
… and that implausible and unattributed Churchill line. No such luck with “biannual”, which sometimes means twice a year and sometimes once every two years. We haven’t considered “contranyms” for a while; for our next challenge, let’s consider another one which is worth avoiding in many contexts.
Reader, how would you clue SANCTIONED?
Cluing competition
Thanks for your clues for WATERLOO. The audacity award goes to Wellywearer2 for the triumphant self-reference of “Where the original Wellywearer won?”
The runners-up are OKCyuPSkr’s eminently plausible “Drink alcohol regularly in London station” and RobSimmo’s evocative “How Abba got prize over rival Euro disco finalists?” (to which I have added a “?” and in which I have rendered Abba per house style); the winner is the wonderfully effective “Battle later resolved in court”.
Kludos to Croquem; please leave entries for the current competition – and especially non-print finds and picks that I may have missed from the broadsheet cryptics – in the comments.
Clue from elsewhere of the fortnight
“Duck” is doing its usual job in this clue from Donnybrook in the Telegraph Toughie:
2d In duck way to produce quack? (9)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘in’ + cricketing sense of ‘duck’ + synonym for ‘way’ ]
[ HOME + O + PATH ]
[ definition: quack? ]
But “in” is not, so it’s a treat to see its partner HOME in the entry (en route to HOMEOPATH) and not the other way round. Mix it up!
The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book by Alan Connor, which is partly but not predominantly cryptic, can be ordered from the Guardian Bookshop
