In the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners series. The setter’s name often links to an interview with him or her, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.
There are, to use the standard measure, only seven regular cryptics between now and polling day. As some return to the question Mona Chalabi asked here in 2016 …
… Pangakupu takes a more avian approach …
20a Old parrot cradling wing? One seeks assessment (7,4)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for ‘old’ + synonym for ‘parrot’, containing (‘cradling’) synonym for ‘wing’ ]
[ O + POLL, containing PINION ]
[ definition: one seeks assessment ]
… to the OPINION POLL. Over at the Telegraph, one of those sentences that could just as well have been in one of the noncrosswordy parts of the paper:
16d Almost nobody supports following PM (9)
[ wordplay: most of (‘almost’) synonym for ‘nobody’, underneath (‘supports’, in a down clue) synonym for ‘following’ )
[ NOONE – E, under AFTER ]
[ definition: PM ]
It turns out it’s the AFTERNOON kind of PM we’re looking for. And with Brockwell, in terms of definition …
9a Start of silly season for Rishi? (4)
[ wordplay: first letter (‘start’) of SILLY + synonym for ‘season’ ]
[ S + AGE ]
[ definition: rishi ]
… “Rishi” is already back to the word it was in 2019, a Sanskrit word for SAGE. Tough game, politics.
Latter patter
On the subject of names – and forgetting them – only one group reacted with anything other than derision when Elon Musk changed one of the most recognisable names on the planet to the missable and clunky X.
Crossword setters were excited by the prospect of adding an alternative to “10”, “Times”, “kiss” – and of course “voter’s mark”. Should we worry, though, that sense might prevail and the old name be reinstated? Or is a little confusion among the solvers of the future – “oh yes, it was called something else for a while, the whim of that idiot, what was he called, was mentioned in a clue for MUSKY I seem to recall” – a price worth paying?
If you are like me, you relish browsing through books such as the Chambers Dictionary of Abbreviations, 1995 edition, and meditating on which entries we still see in puzzles. For X, say:
X abbrev. • Christ (from the shape of the Greek capital letter chi, the initial of Christos) • former film-classification, limiting exhibition to those over 16 years of age [later revised to 18]
The phenomenon of newer cultural references replacing older ones has been entertainingly discussed on Radio 4’s PM, this paper’s Fed (under his noncrosswording name, Dave Gorman) joining Evan Davis and Katie Steckles. From the 51:42 mark and highly recommended.
As we’ve recently had some curt target words, let’s elongate the subject of our next challenge. Reader: how would you clue X MARKS THE SPOT?
Cluing competition
Many thanks for your clues for SET. And despite my agreeing with sentiments expressed so vividly by Wellywearer2 …
It feels like there are too many paths to go down for ‘set’. A bit like standing in a room full of cats and being told ‘pat however many you like’.
… there is, of course, much to enjoy, especially such crossword-relevant clues as Patjberry47’s “Make a crossword predictable?”
I always appreciate a false-flag reference to the Reverend like 10FootClaudicant’s “Spooner’s first and penultimate time to arrange” and the audacity award is Jacob_Busby’s for “Sun… up…, head… off…, hand… on… Are you ready?”
The runners-up are Falconbridge’s “What I am trying to do is deliberate” and “Ready for alien probe? Not I!” from KJBramble, with collegiate intervention from GappyTooth.
The winner is the eye-watering “Direct cast on stage – demand dance troupe get working! ‘Block, present assigned routine (maintain form!) and go down. God!’”
Kludos to Schroduck. Please leave entries for the current competition – and especially non-print finds or picks that I may miss from broadsheet cryptics – in the comments.
Clue from elsewhere of the Fortnight
When we’re lucky we get a cryptic definition so cryptic that we have to run through multiple senses of its words before the penny drops. So it is for me with this Telegraph clue …
10a Agent making for unlikely setting in winter? (10)
[ cryptic definition ]
… for ANTIFREEZE. Unseasonably good!
The Shipping Forecast Puzzle Book by Alan Connor, which is partly but not predominantly cryptic, can be ordered from the Guardian Bookshop