Saturday 22 August 2009

High On E

drug abbreviation The standard abbreviation for "drug" in cryptic crosswords is E, short for Ecstasy.

Such as in:
ET 3503: Talk about drug rip-off (5) CH{E}AT

Today's Financial Times crossword reminded me that it doesn't have to be that every time. Parsing the next clue took me ages even after I'd figured out the solution, as I was trying to replace drug with E. See if you can work it out?

FT 13161 (Alberich): Type of crack from drug company whose assets are constantly soaring (8)

More Non-Es

A few more drug-laden clues that don't use the E substitution.

THC 9514: One who ill-treats a born drug-taker (6)
THC 8369: Actor caught in violation with drug (8)
ET 3154: Drug like hot alkali (6)

Know of other clues that use "drug" differently? Post them in the comments section.

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4 comments

maddy said...

Type of crack from drug company whose assets are constantly soaring (8) - {H}{AIRLINE}

THC 9514: One who ill-treats a born drug-taker (6) - {A}{B}{USER}
THC 8369: Actor caught in violation with drug (8) - {N(ARCOT)IC}*
ET 3154: Drug like hot alkali (6)- {POT}{AS}{H}

- The FT clues that you quote on your blog are invariably interesting and great fun. Guess I will have to start solving the crosswords. Is there an online interactive version available?

Shuchi said...

Good cracks, maddy :)

The latest FT crosswords are available online. Not interactive, PDFs. (There's buzz that they may not be freely available for long!)

Link: FT Crosswords

Here's another from FT:
FT 13143 (Bradman): "Drug-free" fraternity has let drug in (5)

Virtual Linguist said...

Brave woman takes drug to the East (HEROIN+E)
Sell drugs and wood (DEAL)
Mad, taking two drugs (CRACK+POT)

These are all the brilliant John Halpern's clues (Mudd in FT, Paul in Guardian and London Times setter).

Shuchi said...

Hi Susan, Those are great clues, thank you! Mudd is one of my favourite compilers on the FT team.