120
votes
Accepted
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 ...
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51
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 ...
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41
votes
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Moderation strike: a tired lunatic (4)
I believe the word you're looking for is
Wordplay:
Who knows? Maybe this'll be one small step towards progress.
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40
votes
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Cryptictionary!
The answers are
Using the alphanumerics gives:
which are additional wordplays, giving us
so:
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33
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Japanese Fusion Alphabet Soup
The completed dish
The reasons why
The ultimate message
Follow the directions
My answer
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29
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Please explain this answer: “Fruit from Panama about 20 times.”
Fruit from Panama about 20 times =
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29
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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 ...
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26
votes
Accepted
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 ...
- 145k
26
votes
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Policeman's large Elvish dagger (5)
This is a double definition.
Sting, the musician, was a member of the band The Police, hence a 'Policeman'.
Meanwhile there is a 'large Elvish dagger' called 'Sting' that appears in the books The ...
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25
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, ...
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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 ...
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23
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Why is RYE the answer to "Grass over pretty Cambridge backs"?
"Grass" is the definition of the answer.
"Over pretty Cambridge backs" is the wordplay, in which "backs" means "last letters of the preceding words."
R from &...
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22
votes
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22
votes
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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 ...
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22
votes
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21
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Aportion blame for this unsolved cryptic crossword clue
I think it's
Always a portion
more than required
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21
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Cryptic crossword clue: It detailed visually challenged rodents (7,5)
It's a
The visually challenged rodents are
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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, ...
- 440
21
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-...
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21
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Riley Riddle in the game
The Riley Riddle resolves to clue the board game:
My first can hold flags.
My second lasts three months.
My last is your attention.
My whole is the game you're playing.
We're not done yet. ...
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20
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 ...
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20
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Explain why "A Fate who didn’t finish the material (5)" is Cloth
One of the Fates of Greek mythology was Clotho. If you don't quite finish that word, you get the word cloth (defined by "the material").
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19
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The Cryptic Writing On The Wall
Partial answer for the cryptic clues, definitions in bold:
The wall is:
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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):
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19
votes
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Emojional cryptics (slight return)
The country is ...
Solutions to the cryptic clues:
Now ...
We are looking for ...
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19
votes
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 ...
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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)
...
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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 ...
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18
votes
Accepted
Cryptic Mastermind
The final word is:
I had missed three of the clues, but Silenius has helped me to fill in the blanks.
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Final
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Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible