Timeline for Cryptic Clue Guide
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
20 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Sep 15, 2021 at 2:36 | comment | added | Matthew Jensen | I don't think a carrot is a fruit | |
| Mar 3, 2020 at 14:22 | comment | added | Chris Cudmore | For completeness, could you add a sentence about reversals in vertical clues? (up, climbs, etc. as reversal indicators) ? | |
| Feb 6, 2020 at 16:56 | comment | added | Tom | Great guide. Could change the last word in the clue: Reported quality level for fruit (6) | |
| Mar 28, 2018 at 19:52 | comment | added | Deusovi♦ | @JeffZeitlin Huh, really? I've seen it both ways, but I thought including punctuation was more common. I could be wrong on that, then. (And yes, punctuation and spacing is always ignored when entering answers into the grid, unless it's some kind of gimmick.) | |
| Mar 28, 2018 at 19:44 | comment | added | Jeff Zeitlin |
As regards enumerations, I can't recall seeing specific punctuation on British-style puzzles here in the US - multi-word answers are always enumerated with commas: your example "Jack-o'-lantern" would appear as (4,1,7), and the boxes would simply "cast it solid", JACKOLANTERN.
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| Feb 7, 2017 at 20:05 | history | edited | Deusovi♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 234 characters in body
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| Dec 28, 2016 at 1:07 | history | bounty ended | CommunityBot | ||
| Dec 21, 2016 at 2:39 | review | Suggested edits | |||
| Dec 21, 2016 at 2:49 | |||||
| Dec 13, 2016 at 23:55 | comment | added | Deusovi♦ | @RichardRoe: Depends. If it's a puzzle with no non-CD cryptic clues, then I don't think it should be tagged as [cryptic-clues]. But one or two mixed in with other cryptic clues is fine in my opinion. It's entirely up to the puzzle author though. | |
| Dec 13, 2016 at 23:51 | comment | added | Richard Roe | @Deusovi when you say cryptic definitions aren't "proper" clues, would you still accept the cryptic clues tag for them? | |
| Dec 1, 2016 at 16:45 | vote | accept | Deusovi♦ | ||
| Nov 23, 2016 at 16:33 | comment | added | Deusovi♦ | @aPaulT I intentionally left cryptic definitions out. I'm aware of them, but they aren't really "proper" cryptic clues in the same sense. I've only seen them very infrequently, too. (Maybe that's because I don't solve many UK cryptics?) The post was getting long enough as it is, so I felt justified in skipping them. | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 16:26 | comment | added | aPaulT | @Deusovi yes I guess it pretty much does – must have skipped over that on the first read, sorry. I suppose what I meant was that even the definition/wordplay split is more of an emergent general pattern than an inherent rule, and not all clues have it – &lit type clues as you mention, but also 'cryptic definition' clues (eg "Die of cold" for ICE CUBE), which are pretty common in UK cryptics. Anyway this is probably unnecessary nitpicking on my part, this is a great post as is | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 15:54 | comment | added | Deusovi♦ | @Alconja: Unless it's a common abbreviation, it usually should be clued for fairness' sake. | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 15:54 | comment | added | Deusovi♦ | @aPaulT: Doesn't the paragraph under "Wordplay" do exactly what you said? | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 13:04 | comment | added | aPaulT | This answer is great. But I have a general worry about this kind of beginner's explanation of cryptic clues that jumps straight into taking about 'specific rules' without an overall justification ("a cryptic clue is a sort of riddle usually using wordplay to lead to an answer in a deceptive way" or similar). After all, the 'rules' didn't come first, they're just the ways of doing a clue that naturally developed. Otherwise it's a bit like explaining what a novel is by saying "well it will be one of these seven things: overcoming a monster, or rags to riches, or a quest, or..." | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 12:33 | comment | added | Alconja |
Can start/end extractions take multiple letters without additional cluing? For example, could your pig's head => P clue just as validly resolve to PI, or do you need to explicitly call that out (as in your both feet example)?
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| Nov 23, 2016 at 9:10 | comment | added | Deusovi♦ | @boboquack: Typically they indicate that the definition part has some form of alternate intepretation required - for instance, "mental block" cluing a Rubik's Cube, or "flower" cluing a river (flow-er). It's still a valid definition, just one that's tricky to intepret even after separating it from the wordplay part. | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 9:08 | comment | added | boboquack | What about the clues with '?' at the end? Are they anything in particular? | |
| Nov 23, 2016 at 8:56 | history | answered | Deusovi♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |