![]() When I finally realised that this was HAREM I literally shouted with delight. Oh yes! While we're on brilliant clues, I can't resist mentioning my own current favourite, from a Rufus puzzle a couple of years back: Araucaria) and also investigates some of the best-known classic clues of recent times, like Araucaria's famous ‘Poetic scene has, surprisingly, chaste Lord Archer vegetating (3, 3, 8, 12)’, or this beauty from Bunthorne:Īnswer: MUSH. ![]() In touching on these and similar clues, Balfour meets and interviews some of the most famous setters (including the recently-deceased and much-missed John Graham, a.k.a. To brainwash someone is to bust down their reason but you can also read the answer as BRA IN WASH, which could be seen as the reason for one's bust being down…. The answer to this cheeky number is BRAINWASH. The most tricksy of these are often indicated in the clue with a question mark, which means, as Balfour puts it, that the setter ‘is not being entirely fair, but that you will let him off when you get it.’ His girlfriend's favourite clue is a wonderful example. So ‘Some careless language (5)’ would be SLANG, because slang is some careless language but it's also some of ‘careles s language’. Here there is no definition as such, but the whole clue taken together works both as a cryptic solution and as a definition. Many of the wittiest clues are of the kind known as ‘&lit’, meaning ‘and literally so’. If you get the same grin when you work this out then you'll understand why crosswords can become so addictive. ‘I’ is the definition, ‘say’=E.G, ‘nothing’=O. This is a well-known classic, usually attributed to a setter called Enigmatist. ![]() ![]() It was also nice to read about someone else who sometimes needs to spend days or even weeks trying to work out a difficult clue. As a devotee of the Guardian puzzle, I was happy to see that he, too, found himself gravitating to the Guardian's setters, who, unlike those of some other newspapers, are identified by their pseudonyms so that you can start to get a sense of their different personalities. Put BELLE inside RED and you get REBELLED, which is another word for ‘rose’.įrom there, his journey across the world is mirrored by a journey into the complexities of cryptic crosswords and the people who set them. Another word for ‘crimson’ is RED, another word for ‘pretty girl’ is BELLE. The rest of the clue gives you another way of getting the same letters. In this case, as his girlfriend tells him, the definition happens to be at the end – the answer will be an eight-letter word that means ‘rose’. Crossword clues are designed to mislead you, but they can't cheat. This part has to come at the beginning or end of a clue. What it actually means is “rose”.’Ĭryptic clues always have a definition part, which tells you the answer. What it actually means is either the first word or the last word. ‘That,’ says my girlfriend, ‘is what they want you to think it means. Prettiness, girls, roses – they all go together.’ ‘She is wearing something that suits her prettiness. ‘It means that we have a pretty girl and she is wearing something red, or pink,’ she says. The book's title is the classic first clue that she uses to induct him into the mysteries: Pretty girl in crimson rose (8). It's very sweet and engaging and also serves nicely as a sort of 101 to the uniquely British style of cryptic crossword clue.īalfour is taught originally by his girlfriend on the long journey across southern Africa. ![]() It's a wise, gentle memoir of multiculturalism in which Sandy Balfour, a TV producer, uses crosswords as the unlikely prism through which to write about leaving South Africa and making a new life for himself in London. This is the book I foist on people who are interested in getting into cryptic crosswords. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |