113
votes
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Cryptic Clue Guide
(Throughout this post, I will be using cryptic annotations in code blocks. The answer word is made up of all of the capital letters; the punctuation, lowercase ...
50
votes
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Help! I am infected with the puzzling bug!
This information technology
simply never obeys the leaders. Nasal fluid
begins a big ugly Indian mountain.
A stupid person is the manager of codes.
A locker is secure
in heavy halogen
You are ...
39
votes
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Cryptictionary!
The answers are
Using the alphanumerics gives:
which are additional wordplays, giving us
so:
35
votes
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literally no idea
With much credit to the commenters, the answers are all
Final Answer:
Explanations:
34
votes
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Discover the meaning of life!
So, standing on the shoulders of giants, and adding in the answers to two remaining stanzas, we get the final complete solution (as noted by Quassnoi), to discover that life is indeed:
Looking at the ...
33
votes
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Japanese Fusion Alphabet Soup
The completed dish
The reasons why
The ultimate message
Follow the directions
My answer
28
votes
Please explain this answer: “Fruit from Panama about 20 times.”
Fruit from Panama about 20 times =
26
votes
Why is "lion" the answer to "Take the first left turn at the zoo?"
Maybe "the first" is number one or NO. I (Roman numeral 1), followed by L, an abbreviation for "left". We take all that and turn it around to make L I ON. The definition part would ...
25
votes
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The first Density™ Puzzle!
The dots in between the squares...
These can be interpreted
There are also some other ways to extract similar arrangements of letters:
The data collected:
The next step needed heavy hinting for ...
24
votes
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re-re-reCAPTCHA
The "gimmick":
When you take
This sheet has all of the annotations; here's just the list of answers and how they combine.
(Various parts solved by jagoandlitefoot, Deusovi, durron597, ffao, ...
24
votes
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Which number am I thinking of?
Most of the hard work has been done by James Webster. I think I have the rest.
The first set of clues leads to
where I have
The second set leads to
where I have
So despite the coincidence of ...
22
votes
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22
votes
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22
votes
Accepted
2020 election: The results are in!
The trick to this puzzle is that
At first tolerate, then back winner (5)
Party briefly represented by 500 at the side of reem, regularly (3)
Extremely jaded Ohio electrician's name (3)
Video-...
21
votes
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Aportion blame for this unsolved cryptic crossword clue
I think it's
Always a portion
more than required
21
votes
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The Puzzling Times
Rubio specifically mentioned partial solutions, so I thought I'd start recording information here, starting with the cryptic clues. Unfortunately, I realized that
Number 1:
For the cryptic clues, ...
20
votes
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20
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Circuit Diagram
Initial Notes
This puzzle was co-solved by Deusovi, ManyPinkHats, Reinier, SKOG, and many hints from phenomist.
If you'd like to solve it yourself, here are the errata (in a spoiler-free way):
The ...
20
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Emojional cryptics (slight return)
The country is ...
Solutions to the cryptic clues:
Now ...
We are looking for ...
20
votes
Why is RYE the answer to "Grass over pretty Cambridge backs"?
"Backs" means "last letters of the preceding words" here.
19
votes
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Letter to the Editor
Okay, I have most of the 2-word phrases, haven't started work on the 3-word phrases yet.
The rule is the following:
So you have the answers:
This was a blast, looking forward to tackling the 3-...
19
votes
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The Cryptic Writing On The Wall
I got the easy ones:
Note: The cryptic clues have been completely solved in M Oehm's answer with detailed explanation. The wall is :
I think Group 1 is:
Group 2:
Group 3 (from Paul Evans):
Group ...
19
votes
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Attractive when it's in gravy (7)
It's quite a nice and gettable clue:
But a couple of comments:
EDIT: Similar clue (not quite the same):
19
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18
votes
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Cryptic Poem: a study in what?
An ancient man demolished his estate,
And therefore, with enthusiasm innate,
He was bewildered when a hoax was glued
Somewhere beside where he had said adieu.
The dome where five lone defects lost ...
18
votes
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Chess Fortnight is finally over!
I'm still curious about this puzzle, so here are a couple more of the clues I think might be right but haven't been solved thus far.
Meta 2
Works of parties (6)
Small entraces to functions (4)
...
18
votes
The Cryptic Writing On The Wall
Partial answer for the cryptic clues, definitions in bold:
The wall is:
18
votes
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A printer's imp has run amok
Feral Ulysses S. Grant keeps the troops aroused (6)
A giant horrifies Frankenstein’s monster (5)
Superstitious people consider finding a penny or seeing a shooting star to be greens (4)
After ...
18
votes
Which number am I thinking of?
Answer
Is the answer
Partial Answer
Set 1
Call it sin, and mess it up could be
between θ and κ is
[Unsolved] ...
18
votes
Crossword solution I’m having difficulty in understanding
"Oddly dismissing Carnegie" = remove odd-numbered letters from the word "Carnegie" = _A_N_G_E.
Hall's backer = last letter of "Hall" = L.
ANGEL is a type of investor.
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