Monday 3 October 2011

Cluedo Clues

cluedo Among the games invoked often by setters in cryptic crosswords, the board game of Cluedo is not too far behind cricket and bridge. There have been a number of clues and whole puzzles themed around Cluedo in the last few months.

For those who aren't familiar with Cluedo, a quick guide to help you answer clues based on the game.

Suspects, Weapons, Rooms

Cluedo is a murder mystery-solving game. The winner is the player who correctly deduces who killed the victim, in which room, with what weapon.

There are 6 suspects, 6 weapons and 9 rooms in the game. Each suspect is represented using a coloured playing piece. Cryptic clues use the names of suspects and victim most frequently, and you can see why when you look at their wordplay-friendly names:

Suspects Victim Weapons Rooms
Miss Scarlett
Colonel Mustard
Mrs. White
Reverend Green
Mrs. Peacock
Professor Plum
Mr. Black Candlestick
Dagger
Lead Pipe
Revolver
Rope
Spanner
Ballroom
Billiard Room
Conservatory
Dining Room
Hall
Kitchen
Library
Lounge
Study

Examples:

Sunday Times 4387: Colonel sometimes suspected condiment (7) MUSTARD
Double definition; the first definition "Colonel sometimes suspected" is Colonel Mustard of Cluedo.

Times Jumbo 906: Loudly accuse Mrs Peacock? (3,4,6) CRY BLUE MURDER
Cryptic definition; Mrs. Peacock, the blue-coloured murder suspect from Cluedo.

FT 13788 (Redshank): Professor on board with bishop? Exactly (5)
PLUM (Professor on the Cluedo board) B (bishop)

Solve These

Times 24245: Dealt with murder suspect, and went swiftly to bed? (9) P________
Telegraph Toughie (Elgar): Push forward suspicions of Plum and Library, having got weapon (6) P_____
Guardian 24662 (Puck): What you have here is no party game (4) C___

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3 comments

SandhyaP said...

Push forward suspicions of Plum and Library, having got weapon (6){P}{ROPE}{L}

Siva said...

Dealt with murder suspect, and went swiftly to bed? (9) P________
[PLUM][METED]
Bit of guesswork. Seems that there is a problem with the ordering of the charade ?

Push forward suspicions of Plum and Library, having got weapon (6) P_____
[P][ROPE][L]

What you have here is no party game (4) C___
[CLUE] - [DO = party]

Another game which does feature sometimes is Chess of course.
Piece names like K, N, Q, R and B are useful for letter indicators.

Shuchi said...

Good solving, SandhyaP and Siva.

"with" gives some leeway to the setter, I think - A with B can mean either AB or BA.