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This puzzle is part of the Puzzling Stack Exchange Advent Calendar 2024. The accepted answer to this question will be awarded a bounty worth 50 reputation.

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Venn diagram with four categories. Numbers unique to each category, clockwise: 1, 2, 3, 4. Numbers shared by two categories, starting from the pair of 4 and 1: 5, 6, 7, 8. Center region shared by all has a question mark.

  1. Keeping the sound of a clock within chant. (8)
  2. Rudely slam junior reporter's work. (10)
  3. Like the pax joining travellers to North America. (6)
  4. Setter's inwardly fine following sierra mountains' name. (5)
  5. Special one turns grasses around. (4)
  6. Disentangle a bit of a flop. (4)
  7. Setter's taken by car splitter. (5)
  8. Sport with curry. (4)
  • What word goes in the place of the question mark?
  • EXTRA CREDIT: Why did I choose today for this puzzle?

HINT 1:

In my clues, I've used "setter's" in two different grammatical senses.

HINT 2:

I was having a rabbit with my china. They said "The Barney with your last Scooby is that if a septic has a butchers, they'll be scratching their loaf". Also the final answer is not CAKE.

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2 Answers 2

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Okay, I believe the missing word masked by the question mark is:

ROSE, an appropriate word for Sunday 15 December 2024, which is a Rose Sunday in the Christian holiday calendar.

The cryptic clues resolve as follows:

1. Keeping the sound of a clock within chant. (8) STOCKING = TOCK (the sound of a clock) in SING (chant)
2. Rudely slam junior reporter's work. (10) JOURNALISM = anagram (clued by 'Rudely') of SLAMJUNIOR
3. Like the pax joining travellers to North America. (6) ROMANA = ROMA (travellers) + NA (North America)
4. Setter's inwardly fine following sierra mountains' name. (5) SMOKY = S (sierra, in the NATO Phonetic alphabet) + OK (fine) in MY (from the puzzle "setter's" viewpoint...)
5. Special one turns grasses around. (4) STAR = RATS (grasses) reversed
6. Disentangle | a bit of a flop. (4) CARD = ddef (as in combing wool and a poker deal)
7. Setter's taken by car splitter. (5) RIVER = R(I’VE)R (where RR is Rolls-Royce, and the def here revolves around the term ‘rive’, meaning ‘to split apart’)
8. Sport with curry. (4) RUBY = RU (Sport = rugby union) + BY (with)

This makes the filled-out Venn diagram look as follows:

The Venn diagram with solved cryptic clues substituted in

To find the central word, we need to find a connection between the 3 known words in each circle, and then a word that can fit into all 4 circles by satisfying all 4 connections. My suggestion is:

ROSE

Top: STAR, STOCKING, CARD - can follow CHRISTMAS
Right: CARD, JOURNALISM, RIVER - can follow YELLOW
Bottom: RIVER, ROMANA, RUBY - Doctor Who companions beginning with 'R' [Thanks to Rand al'Thor for spotting this connection given 'ruby' was a possibility for the 8th clue]
Left: RUBY, SMOKY, STAR - types of QUARTZ

...with the Christmas rose, Yellow rose, the Doctor Who companion Rose Tyler, and rose quartz providing the connections.

The OP also points out an additional hint in the tag - the Venn diagram also resembles a rose in shape!

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  • $\begingroup$ Some very nice work here, but clue number 8 is wrong. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel S
    Commented 2 days ago
  • $\begingroup$ @DanielS That'll be why I can't spot a connection for the two categories it's in then! $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented 2 days ago
  • $\begingroup$ I can't figure out 8, but perhaps rot(13) "fgrcu pheel" has something to do with it. $\endgroup$
    – Chris Cudmore
    Commented 2 days ago
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ The bottom category has got to be rot13(Qbpgbe Jub), given the two already-found clues. $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented yesterday
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ For the last category (and the check mark) you are looking for a high-scoring Scrabble word that follows each (though one of these turns out to be less common than I had thought). Note also that ROT13(Gur qvntenz vf zrnag gb erfrzoyr n ebfr, urapr gur ivfhny gnt). $\endgroup$
    – Daniel S
    Commented yesterday
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Filling in what Stiv didn't manage to get ... not sure if this is enough for a separate post, but I've got a different final answer starting from a different answer to one of the cryptic clues.

Clue 8:

RUBY (Ruby Murray as Cockney rhyming slang for curry, as clued by Hint 2, and maybe RUGBY without the middle letter? I do actually think JOSH fits better as a solution for this clue, but it's not the intended one).

I figured this out from looking at the bottom category of three words:

RIVER, ROMANA, RUBY are all Doctor Who Companions (all female and alliterative, too).

Then the left category words are:

RUBY, SMOKY, STAR, but I'm not sure what the category is.

and the question mark in the middle connects to

CHRISTMAS, DOCTOR, YELLOW, (and whatever the left category is),

and I think the final answer might be

FEVER?

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  • $\begingroup$ I've been considering that option for the bottom one this morning but likewise can't spot any indication for dropping that G... I think you're on it for the DW connection but I'm now convinced the final answer has to be rot13(ebfr) for a few reasons - thanks for the assist! :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented yesterday
  • $\begingroup$ Correct answer to 8. As a hint to the wordplay 2+2=4. $\endgroup$
    – Daniel S
    Commented yesterday
  • $\begingroup$ @DanielS Ugh, I see it now! :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    Commented yesterday

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