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Favourite crossword clues.
happyvalley
Posts: 8,996
Has anyone any favourites they'd like to share? I came across a good one on Saturday. Liberality of Scottish capital metioned,(8 letters). I'll post the answer later if no one gets it, but I'm sure they will.
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To egg on - 5 letters
(Toast)1 -
I’ve never known where to begin with cryptic crosswords!
Is there a formula to solving the clues?0 -
Largesse (large "S")2
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Correct.Chizz said:Largesse (large "S")0 -
Stripey Wankers (7, 6)27
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HIJKLMNO. (5 letters)0
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All setters follow their own ways of setting up a cryptic clue.sillav nitram said:I’ve never known where to begin with cryptic crosswords!
Is there a formula to solving the clues?
If you want to do them just keep at it but always check the answers next day against the clues. You'll then pick up their style and find you get better.
Like everything practice gets you there.4 -
I hear that you're inconsolable that your neighbour is playing music at this time of night (12)0
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London headwear? 2 letters
At5 - Sponsored links:
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Postman drops mailbag..........
How many letters ?
Hundreds, blowing all over the road.6 -
Get even with Reg (7)0
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A million housewives every day pick up tin of beans and say (5,5)0
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Revenge ?25May98 said:Get even with Reg (7)2 -
An outlook for an orphan. 8 letters.
Pa nor a ma2 -
Borderless land with musical backing gets an F, say. (9).0
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Nutty professor uses two types of drug. (8)
(This was in the Telegraph, I think, many (maybe 25/26) years ago. I went round a lovely girl’s house and her mum was sat doing the crossword and had completed about half of it. She threw the paper on the coffee table to go make some tea and I glanced at it, saw this clue and, despite being not that good at crosswords, somehow immediately got it. Her mum was very impressed. Got brownie points there.)1 -
Yes. Well done.happyvalley said:
Revenge ?25May98 said:Get even with Reg (7)0 -
- Sponsored links:
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IST
(10)0 -
Fricative.happyvalley said:Borderless land with musical backing gets an F, say. (9).0 -
Answer:lordromford said:Nutty professor uses two types of drug. (8)
(This was in the Telegraph, I think, many (maybe 25/26) years ago. I went round a lovely girl’s house and her mum was sat doing the crossword and had completed about half of it. She threw the paper on the coffee table to go make some tea and I glanced at it, saw this clue and, despite being not that good at crosswords, somehow immediately got it. Her mum was very impressed. Got brownie points there.)
Crackpot5 -
This is always best with two ( 3 letters ) S blank X
SOX0 -
Thames haddock....... 6 Letters.0
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There is a formula of sorts which contains numerous types of clue: anagrams; reversals; hidden; 'charades' and containers to name but a few.sillav nitram said:I’ve never known where to begin with cryptic crosswords!
Is there a formula to solving the clues?
By far the best way to learn how to solve them is to sit down with someone who knows the rules and do crosswords together;
I once taught a girlfriend - admittedly, very bright - how to solve a cryptic in a weekend.
You need to be able to think very laterally, and not look at the clue as a whole, but to break it down into its constituent parts. The first rule to learn is that that the definition - answer - is always at the beginning or end of the clue and never in the middle.
That said, after 20 years of solving, I'm still not sure of all the types of clue, and it's rarely that I complete a cryptic apart from 'The Everyman' in The Observer. However, I can think of no better way to while away some idle time wherever one may be.
Give it a go.1 -
I learnt the basics of cryptic crosswords from doing the ones in the Metro and The Standard everyday and checking against the answers the following day. Now have a good base knowledge, which I have used to teach my other half the basics.
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“The Royal Mail at Christmas.”
”How many letters?”
”Thousands of them.”0
