Wanting a Clue Study?

A word that can take on multiple meanings, and can conform to different parts of speech, becomes a powerful tool in the hands of a cryptic setter. 'Can' and 'about' are classic examples that come to mind. In this post, guest author Chaturvasi (Rishi) writes about another word that shows this kind of malleability.

Recently when I saw a comment by a blogger on Fifteensquared, about the setter of a crossword having used 'wanting' thrice in the same puzzle, I did a search for the term in the website's database and was struck by the various ways in which the word is used in writing clues. Let's take a look at them.

1. Deletion Indicator

'Wanting', in the sense of 'lacking' (e.g. the audience is wanting in attention), is an instruction to delete something to obtain a component in the word breakup.

One way to read 'A wanting B' is as 'A lacking B' (A – B), but if you are willing to give the setter some licence, you can also read it as 'A-wanting B' (B – A). Indeed, as with other double-edged indicators, 'A wanting B' can be seen in popular puzzles working the deletion both ways.

Example of A wanting B => (A – B):
Independent on Sunday 1326 (Commoner): English teacher wanting love wears attractive item of jewellery (10,4) ENGAGEMENT RING
ENGAGING (attractive) around {E + MENTR}. Here, 'teacher wanting love' = MENTOR (teacher) – O (love) = MENTR.

Example of A wanting B => (B – A):
Independent 8678 (Tyrus): British wanting more intelligent prince (7) RAINIER
B-wanting BRAINIER (more intelligent)

2. Containment Indicator

When read as 'needing', 'wanting' may be a signal to take one component of wordplay inside another.

Times Quiptic 262 (Flamande): Better half wanting everyone to join in dancing (6) BALLET
BET (half of 'BETter') wanting i.e. taking in ALL (everyone)

3. Deletion Indicator – with 'not'

Since 'wanting' is 'needing', 'not wanting' is 'not needing' – and this can be called upon to drop letters from the fodder.

FT 14980 (Mudd): Country separating couple, not wanting a loving relationship between men (8) BROMANCE
OMAN (country) in {BRACE (couple) not wanting i.e. dropping A}

Note that - thanks to the different meanings of the word - both 'wanting' and 'not wanting' can lead to the same effect of deletion in wordplay.

Don't be too hung up on reading 'wanting' as clue type indicator, though. The next few sections show why.

4. Part of wordplay component definition 

'Wanting' may just be a definition of a wordplay component that acts as building block for the answer. As in:

Guardian 26370 (Paul): Forger not wanting to be seen around university (6) SMITHY
SHY (not wanting to be seen) around MIT (university)

Independent on Sunday 1332 (Poins): Composer not wanting to embrace Russian leader (4) ORFF
OFF (not wanting) aroun R[ussian]

5. Part of definition

Sometimes 'wanting' may be a part of the (often elaborate) definition for the required solution. See:

Guardian 26350 (Pasquale): Sister's eaten enough – picky type wanting a bit of everything? (7) SAMPLER
SR (sister) around AMPLE (enough)

6. Link between definition and subsidiary indication

In the sense of 'summoning', 'calling upon', 'demanding', 'wanting' is often used as a connector between definition and subsidiary indication (SI).

Here are some examples of its use as <definition> wanting <SI>:

Guardian 26568 (Rufus): Part of the UK wanting tax to come down (8) SCOTLAND
SCOT (tax) LAND (to come down)

Guardian 26649 (Pasquale): Those out for pleasure wanting seductive lady start to finish? (8) TRIPPERS
STRIPPER (seductive lady) with the first letter shifted to the end

Though the connector works far more convincingly in the order <definition>wanting<SI>, one does come across <SI> wanting <definition> too in published puzzles. See:

FT 14994 (Armonie): A group of people wanting the last word (4) AMEN
A MEN (group of people)

7. Link within subsidiary indication - buttress for other indicators

'Wanting' has the agreeable ability to position itself as innocuous filler within the subsidiary indication. Its presence can improve the surface without marring the cryptic reading.

In this clue, 'wanting' joins the charade components together:

Independent 9018 (Dac): Broke in, wanting glue to sniff (9) INSOLVENT
IN + SOLVENT (form of glue sniffed for intoxication)

In the next clue, 'wanting' supports initial letter deletion:

Independent 8922 (Dac); Heckle, wanting leader removed? That's the spirit (6) ARRACK
BARRACK (heckle) – B (leading letter of 'BARRACK')

In this one, 'wanting' pads the hidden reversal indicators:

Guardian 26566 (Picaroon): In China, millions wanting return for capital (4) LIMA
LIME hidden reversed in 'chinALIMillions'

8. Finally, all this knowledge may be useless in solving

The Hindu Crossword 10411 (Sankalak): Unable to bear it, wanting hint, Tod's confused (15) NOTWITHSTANDING
(WANTINGHINTTODS)*

Solve These

Independent 8904 (Quixote): Animated adult wanting wickedness overthrown (5) _L___
Times 25927: Such is Pope, a certain person wanting to prevent war (11) P_A________
Independent 8761 (Dac): Right-wingers caught infiltrating union, briefly wanting us out (11) U_______O__
Guardian 26289 (Nutmeg): Decline to follow sun, wanting experience of shade (4,5) __G_ ____N
FT 14564 (Alberich): I'll enter plea, not wanting second bit of jury duty (6) E_____

Related Posts:

• Contronyms
• Elementary Deceptions
• Counting the Ways of Using COUNTER

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Ten Bird Clues

Each of the clues below has a different type of bird in it. The bird's name may be the answer or part of the wordplay.

Can you find all the birds? [Answers updated]

Times 25048: Bird thus soaring over quarry  (6) OSPREY
SO (thus) soaring i.e. reversed, PREY (quarry)

Times 25106: One that flies from a part of NW Europe (3) AUK
A UK (part of NW Europe)

Guardian 25556 (Araucaria): They say sea is seabird's water supply (7) CISTERN
C (sea, they say) IS TERN (seabird)

FT 13669 (Sleuth): Bird circling lake making one shrink back (6) FLINCH
FINCH (bird) around L (lake)

Guardian 26160 (Picaroon): Unoriginal commenter's standard twaddle (6) PARROT
PAR (standard) ROT (twaddle)

Times 25147: Struggling university secretary gets the bird  (2,7,2) UP AGAINST IT
U (university) PA (secretary) GAINS (gets) TIT (the bird)

Guardian 25030 (Rufus): Wading bird? It's a ruddy duck! (8) FLAMINGO
FLAMING (ruddy) O (duck)

Sunday Times 4509 (Dean Mayer): Led, as a bird would in race (11) SPEARHEADED
A RHEA (bird) 'D (would) in SPEED (race)

FT14773 (Bradman): Bird not high up first to reach ground (3) OWL
LOW (not high up), with the initial 'L' moved to the end

Guardian 25966 (Philistine): Really gutted, having eaten bird, no longer hungry, alas (11) REGRETFULLY
R[eall]Y around EGRET (bird) + FULL (no longer hungry)

Enjoy bird-spotting!

Related Posts:

• Ten Fishy Clues
• Why Books Are Abbreviated So
• They Do It Dis Way

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

13 Imaginative Ways to Talk of Prison

That place of confinement can boast of many imaginative substitutes for its name. Clues that show how these get used in crosswords.

1. JUG
Times 25628: Maybe go through mood changes of criminal: prison worried (9) CONJUGATE
CON (criminal) JUG (prison) ATE (worried)

2. STIR
Times 25775: Create revolutionary movement in prison (4) STIR
Double definition; 'stir' is slang for prison.

On the history and possible origin of this meaning of 'stir', Grammarphobia has an interesting write-up.

3. COOLER
FT 14540 (Orense): Wake up cooler (4) STIR
Double definition; 'cooler' refers to prison, usually meant for the more dangerous criminals.

4. CAN
Indy 8876 (Phi): Prison Director guided to reduce light (6) CANDLE
CAN (prison) D (director) LE[d] (guided to reduce i.e. cut short)

[Not to forget, 'can' means other things too.]

5. NICK
Times 25869: Nick — adolescent making a mess (7) CANTEEN
CAN (nick - slang for prison) TEEN (adoloscent)

You'll usually find 'nick' on the clue's surface dressed as a proper noun, or as a verb meaning 'steal' or 'cut'.

6. BRIG
Times 25964: Remove a key from prison outfit (3) RIG
BRIG (prison) – B (key, of music)

'Brig' is a military prison, especially in a navy ship.

7. CAGE
FT14791 (Bradman): Imprisoned maiden? That gets media treatment (8) COVERAGE 
OVER (maiden, as in cricket) imprisoned i.e. put inside prison (CAGE)

8. POKEY
FT14184 (Jason): One in pokey with excellent natter (6) CONFAB
CON (one in pokey - slang for prison) FAB (excellent)

9. CLINK
Guardian 26203 (Rufus): Jug can clink (6) PRISON
Triple definition

10. TIME
Indy 8775 (Phi): Event enabling you to live out of time? (9) JAILBREAK cd
To 'do time' is to serve a prison sentence. 

11. BIRD
Sunday Times 4622 (Jeff Pearce): Fool can get drunk in bar (9) BIRDBRAIN
BIRD (can i.e. prison) (IN BAR)*

'Bird' can mean prison, a term in prison, or a prison inmate (short for jailbird). The word comes from bird-lime, rhyming slang for 'time'. Often used in the phrase 'do bird', which means 'do time'.

12. PORRIDGE

Similar to 'bird', 'porridge' can mean prison or a term in prison, especially in the phrase 'do porridge' (serve a prison sentence). The word gained wider currency with the BBC TV series Porridge, a sitcom about prison inmates.

FT14822 (Monk): Bishop, one putting on fat in time (8) PORRIDGE
RR (bishop - Right Reverend) I (one), putting on i.e. inside PODGE (fat). The definition 'time'

Wikipedia attributes this usage of 'porridge' to the staple diet of porridge in UK prisons.

13. SLAMMER

Times 25303: One violently smashing lip has for a start to be imprisoned (12) SLEDGEHAMMER
EDGE (lip) H ('has', for a start), to be 'imprisoned' i.e. to be inside SLAMMER

---------
With such diversity of synonyms, it's not uncommon to find multi-definition clues associated with 'prison'. Till a while back, the maximum count of definitions that I'd seen in a single clue was in this clue for SET. Then in Dec 2014, I came across this outstanding 7-definitional:

Indy 8797 (Hieroglyph): Nick Cage can stir porridge inside big house in the States (6)
'nick', 'cage', 'can', 'stir', 'porridge', 'inside', 'big house' (in the States) - all mean prison.

Any other interesting prison terms you can think of? Add to the list in the comments section.

---------
Update (23-Jun-2015) Bhala suggests more terms: QUOD, CHOKEY.

Times 26132: Briefly stir drink: that's enough to achieve motion? (6) QUORUM
QUO[d] (stir, briefly) RUM (drink)

Solve These

More clues that play on words referring to 'prison'. Have fun solving!

Sunday Times 4584 (Dean Mayer): A handle for jug, all in enamel (8) N_______
Times 25900: Fine golden bird on toy stall (4,3,4) P___ ___ ___E
Indy 8647 (Dac): Tough jailbird shown round a prison (4-4) C___-____
Times 24571: Cooler name rejected by psychologist (3)

Related Posts:

• What "Bodyguard" Could Mean in Cryptic Clues
• Counting the Ways of Using COUNTER
• Wanting a Clue Study?
• Have No Enemy But Time

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Contronyms

A few years ago, I was awestruck with the cleverness of this winning clue from the Azed Slip Archive:

The jungly mass one cleaves (7) MACHETE
[M (mass) +ACE (one)] cleaves i.e. holds (THE)* 
The whole clue is the definition: a machete is something that cleaves i.e. cuts through the jungly mass.

This clue plays on a special property of 'cleave': the word has two meanings diametrically opposed to each other. The clue's wordplay uses one meaning of 'cleave' (to hold/cling), while its definition uses the opposite (to cut/divide).

Thanks to a Mental Floss article, I found a name for such words with contradictory meanings. They are called contronyms (or contranyms), from the Latin contr[a] (contrary, in opposition) + –onym. Contronyms go by many other names: autoantonyms, antagonyms, or Janus words, called so after the Roman god of beginnings and endings, usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. [T-Rex must be alone in calling them homographic homophonic autantonyms.]

A few examples we use commonly: DUST (to remove dust; to add dust), SCREEN (to show; to conceal), VARIETY (many types; a specific type). The folks at DailyWritingTips have compiled a pretty long list. Many contronyms are formed due to the prefix 'RE-' added to imply 'again': this meaning may contradict a separate meaning. RESIGN (renew a contract; give up on a contract), REPROVE (support or prove again; strongly disapprove), REPLACE (restore to initial position; remove from initial position) are some such words.

As you can guess, contronyms have great potential in cryptic clueing. They make even the basic double definition delightful.

Times 25889: Good or bad (6) WICKED
Independent 8822 (Phi): Spring and fall (4) TRIP

Contronyms can add mystery to the clue's definition.

Guardian 26124 (Nutmeg): Using old Latin in will could be wise or foolish (6) OWLISH
O (old) + L (Latin) in WISH (will). 'Owlish' could mean wise or foolish.

Or they can act as deceptive double-edged indicators.

Can you think of contronyms in other languages? One in Hindi is कल (KAL), which might mean yesterday/in the past or tomorrow/in the future.

Solve These

A few contronym-based clues for you to solve.

Times 25743: Making harder or softer (9) T________
Times 23609: On right, with fixed agenda, no Democrat! (6) ___G__
Guardian 25731 (Rufus): Certainly less than 50% (3,4) ___ H___

Related Posts:

• Oronyms
• Semordnilap
• Indicators With Contradictory Meanings

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Elementary Deceptions

As chemistry taught us, every chemical element has a unique symbol, a short character representation usually derived from the element's name. Fe = Iron (from Latin ferrum), O = oxygen, K = potassium (from Latin kalium) are a few popular examples.

Element name <-> symbol substitution forms the basis of some ingenious wordplay in crosswords.

Chemical elements whose names coincide with other meaningful words fit beautifully into cryptic clues. For example, 'lead' isn't just a metal - it can, among other things, stand for 'leash' or 'precedence' or a verb meaning 'guide'. Similarly, 'tin' can be can, 'copper' a policeman, 'iron' a verb about the pressing of clothes. The non-element meaning can misdirect the solver on the clue's surface while the element symbol contributes to the answer.

Sunday Indy 1292 (eXternal): Female's accepting lead on family film, new actress (7) HEPBURN
HER (female's) around Pb (lead) on U (family film, from the U certificate) N (new)

FT14789 (Io): Take 7Up out of tin at all? (4) EVER
R (recipe, take) + SEVEN 'out of tin' i.e. without Sn, with 'Up' implying reversal.

Further jugglery can happen with the element name <-> symbol substitution:

Sunday Times 4486 (Tim Moorey): Restrain dog with the small part of lead (4) CURB
CUR (dog) b (the small part of 'lead' i.e. the lowercase letter of 'Pb')

Sometimes, in place of the element name, a broader definition can get used.

FT14642 (Mudd): Precious thing, wind, in summer (6) AUGUST
Au (precious thing – the symbol for gold) GUST (wind)

Times 25065: Most curious split appearing back on shiny metal (4) AGOG
GO (split) reversed, after Ag (shiny metal – the symbol for silver)

Uppercase Illusions

What's more devilish is the use of the element symbol on the clue's surface when it happens to match another unrelated English word.

Guardian 25872 (Arachne): I have supper after ten (6) IODINE
DINE (have supper) after 10 (ten). The personal pronoun is also the chemical symbol for iodine.

Guardian 25818 (Paul): At sea, Titan at sea (8) ASTATINE
(SEA TITAN)*. 'At' is also the chemical symbol for astatine.

The initial capital of the chemical symbol poses a hurdle in clue-writing: since false lowercasing is not OK, the clue cannot say "at" when it means "At" for Astatine. The workaround is to make the initcap of the chemical symbol look like an inconspicuous punctuation-driven uppercase.

A D-by-E that uses this trick with two such symbols:

Guardian 24730 (Arachne): They're essential. Am I? (8) ELEMENTS
Am and I are examples of elements: Am is americium, and I iodine.

Other such words to watch out for: As = arsenic, He = helium. But don't rule out yet element symbols that by themselves mean nothing, as the setter can do this:

FT 13938 (Crux): Pub's empty – could indicate some kind of poisoning (4) LEAD
Empty 'Pub' = Pb, the symbol for lead. And then there's lead poisoning.

Solve These

Enjoy solving these cryptic crossword clues that play on element names and symbols.

Times 24143: Lead put into gold (two billion) in only a bit of a lather! (4,6)
Times 25767: He, I, and then you, we hear, occupying leadership position (6)
Guardian 26234 (Arachne): White copper put black boy in cell without clothes (3,4)
Indy 8817 (Monk): Tough guy possibly viewed as female? (4,3)
Indy 8847 (Anax): As is one kind bearing malice, running after the man (8,7)

Also try this Guardian puzzle by Brendan, themed on chemical elements. And see the blog on FT14457 by Loroso (the crossword is no longer available on the FT site), in which all the Across clues have an element symbol omitted from the wordplay.

Related Posts:

• Cryptic Crossword Abbreviations
• False Capitalization
• The Game of Bridge in Cryptic Crosswords

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Buzzer Trivia

What quirks and patterns do Buzzer's crosswords for The Hindu reveal? We've examined puzzles by Gridman, Neyartha, Sankalak, and Arden earlier – now Buzzer takes center stage.

The first thing that leaps out is the personal touch in Buzzer's work, starting from his first-ever THC clue:
Excited like a new setter shedding hesitation (5) ABUZZ; A BUZZ[er]

Buzzer's themed puzzles too reflect a certain signature style – the THC setters theme and the B-clues theme are strong examples. Running a few data analysis trials gives us riveting new points for rumination.

Clue Volume & Length

Buzzer is extremely economical with word usage in clues, measuring an average of only 6.40 words per clue. And his crosswords, on average, accommodate fewer clues than usual in a 15x15 blocked grid: 27.39 clues per puzzle.

Buzzer's shortest clue is a compact CD:
K-kid? (10) GRANDCHILD

His longest is this whopper with 17 words / 98 characters:
Mary Kom's own story is hard to digest, right with couple of setbacks but showing pluck ultimately (11) UNBREAKABLE
UNBEARABLE (hard to digest), with R moved back two places and K (pluck, ultimately) inserted

Something interesting can be seen when Buzzer's clue length distribution is placed next to that of other setters. In a batch of 1000 clues by Arden, Sankalak, Gridman and Buzzer, this is the kind of clue length distribution we'd find, with clues ranging from 1 word long to 16 words long.

[Graph based on 134 puzzles by Arden, 72 puzzles by Sankalak, 528 puzzles by Gridman, 69 puzzles by Buzzer.]

Although Gridman and Buzzer have near-identical average clue length (~6.4), Buzzers clues are concentrated in the band of 5-8 words whereas Gridman's clues are scattered across other lengths. [For the statistically inclined, Buzzer's clue length variance is 3.79; Gridman's is a much higher 5.60.]

Solution Length & Vocabulary Freshness

77% of Buzzer's clues have single word answers. Of the 23% multi-word answers, the longest is a 8-word/30-character solution spread across two 15-letter grid slots. [Given a length of (4,2,3,6,3,6,2,4), guess the answer without the clue :-)]

Here's what Buzzer's split of solution by number of words looks like, in the context of similar data of other setters.

The percentage of solutions with over two words is higher for Buzzer than the other three setters.

It's still early days to measure Buzzer's solution word repetitions, but if we extrapolate slightly to 1963 clues (the base taken in the analysis for Sankalak's vocabulary freshness), we can benchmark the word repetition counts against other setters.

Buzzer has been giving us new words to solve over 96% of the time, just short of Sankalak's 97%. The only word he might want to put a cap on is AJAR!

Clue Type Insights

Buzzer has tracked the wordplay used each clue, which gives us valuable information into his style. 72% of his clues are based on a single clue type (e.g. anagram only), the remaining 28% use a combination of more than one clue type (e.g. anagram + container).

Buzzer's overall clue type distribution is below - the dark bar shows the percentage of usage in clues based on a single clue type, the light bar shows the percentage of usage in clues based on a combination of clue types:

Buzzer's clue type distribution is as one would expect in a typical cryptic crossword: charades, anagrams and containment the most used, in that order, together accounting for over 60% of wordplay. One striking feature is the relatively high use of partial homophones – close to a third of Buzzer's homophones appear in combination clue types, such as:

[Charade + Homophone] A number reportedly eat a painkiller (7) ANODYNE
A NO (number) DYNE (~dine; eat)

There's a generous helping of definitions by example (DBE): 13 clues in 69 puzzles are "pure" DBE cryptic definitions or reverse wordplay clues. Many others have the normal wordplay + definition structure, in which the definition segment is by example.

[CD type] Señor's accent (5) TILDE
[Reverse wordplay type] Ordinary tree as seen in street? (6-2-3-4) MIDDLE-OF-THE-ROAD; s[TREE]t
[Normal wordplay + DBE] Quiet function held inside the Louvre perhaps (6) M(USE)UM

In case you've wondered whether there is any correlation between the length of the answer and the number of words per clue, Buzzer's data says no. When the number of letters in the solution, arranged from smallest to largest, is plotted against the clue length, the line for clue length does not ascend.

Check out the solution length (letters) vs clue length (words) graphs for Buzzer's clues based on a single clue type: Acrostics (21 clues), Anagrams (290 clues), Charades (303 clues), Cryptic Definitions (87 clues).

If anything, there's a dip in clue length with an increase in charade solution length – that's because these clues have used bigger charade segments, as in:
Excellent landlord I say (7,6) CAPITAL LETTER

Another (rather expected) observation is the longer clue lengths for acrostics.

Clue Text Wordle

The clue text wordle is turning out to be a tool to showcase words that are the cornerstone of cryptic clue writing: "one", "around", "time" and "old", in particular, since they have appeared among the most-used words in every setter's clue database tested.

The larger the text, the more frequent the appearance of the word in clues by Buzzer:

For all the differences in style, the word usage patterns of our setters, when aggregated, are quite alike.

To extend the observation about "may" vs "perhaps", though:
Gridman and Sankalak, as noted before, favour "may" over "perhaps". Arden is not categorical in preferring either, but Buzzer, with a prominent "perhaps" and a minuscule "may" on the wordle, has his loyalties firmly with "perhaps"!

Related Posts:

• Interview: Kishore Rao (Incognito)
• Cryptonyte's Special Crossword in The Hindu
• So the slips might not show…

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Arden Trivia

Since 2010, The Hindu Crossword has seen a shift in its puzzle contribution format. From a small group of long-time setters who supplied 6+ crosswords per month, the crossword team expanded to include new setters who set just a puzzle or two per month. A few of them moved on after a year or so with The Hindu, our dear Sankalak passed away, and newer setters came on board.

Two THC setters who debuted in July 2011 have created a sizeable number of puzzles by now, and I thought it would be an interesting exercise to take a closer look at patterns in their puzzles.

The spotlight today is on Arden's work – a set of 134 crosswords created by him till date for The Hindu.

[Also read Gridman Trivia, Neyartha Trivia and Sankalak Trivia]

Clue Volume & Length

Many observe that Arden's style is similar to Sankalak's, and clue volume metrics apparently second that. Of the three setters' works analysed on the blog earlier, Arden's averages of clues per puzzle (29.36) and words per clue (7.20) are closest to Sankalak's.

A careful reading reveals something more. Though their averages are similar, Arden tends to write more clues in the 3-word to 8-word range, while Sankalak's clues show a wider length variation – more clues under 3 words as well as over 8 words. [When Sankalak Trivia was published, Sankalak had remarked that the biggest surprise to him was the finding about clue length, as his general attempt was to keep clue words to the minimum.]

To put things in perspective: in a batch of 1000 clues by Arden, Sankalak and Gridman, here's the kind of clue length distribution we'd find, ranging from 1-word clues to 16-word clues.

 

[Graph based on 134 puzzles by Arden, 72 puzzles by Sankalak, 528 puzzles by Gridman.]

No surprise that Gridman, with an average clue length < 6.5, has the tallest bars for under 6-word clues, with the pattern reversing beyond that mark.

Arden's shortest clue is a two-word double definition:
THC 10822: Queer game (5) RUMMY

His longest clue by word count [16 words]:
THC 11197: We in India have too much of it — but dismissing opponents in a game is tough (7) H(OODL[es])UM

…and by character count [88 characters]:
THC 10534: Initially rechargeable energy storage system follows a characteristic, which she betrays (9)TRAIT R E S S

Solution Length

Arden tends to put in fairly long solutions in his grids. He uses no 3-letter solutions, and often clubs two slots in the grid with a "See <clue ref>" to make a bigger grid entry.

The graph below shows the %age distribution of Arden's solution lengths, which vary from 4 to 21 letters.

Interestingly, despite the leaning towards lengthy solutions, Arden does not write too many clues for 11-letter words/phrases.This is another trait in common with Sankalak's graph which shows a dip for 11-letter answers.

Arden's longest solutions are of 21 letters, spanning more than one clue slot in the grid.

THC 10853: A thing doctor gave for care is a worry (1,6,2,5,7) A MATTER (OF GRAVE)* CONCERN
THC 11069: It's FM's headache now - bill to enumerate shortfall (7,7,7) CURRENT AC+COUNT DEFICIT

Since Arden writes more clues leading to 8-14 letter solutions than Sankalak/Gridman, does he also use more phrases as solutions?

No, says the data.

 

Arden tends to opt for single word grid fills where another setter might clue a phrase. 1 in 8 of Arden's clues has a multi-word solution; in Gridman's clues, the ratio is close to 1 in 4.

Clue Text Wordle

Which words does Arden frequently use in his clue text? This wordle gives us that information – the bigger the text size, the higher the occurrence of the word in Arden's clues.

 
*For meaningful results, common words like articles & prepositions have not been included in the visualization.

What do we find?

• "One" is the most prominent word, a feature of Sankalak's and Gridman's wordles too. Neyartha's looks different in that respect.
  
• Arden uses "get" and its variants frequently, in charades, as container indicator, as connector between wordplay and definition.
  
• While Gridman and Sankalak clearly favour "may" over "perhaps", Arden goes for "perhaps" almost as much as "may"!
  
• "Time" shows up often in Arden's clues, giving T/AGE/ERA in the answer. Guess who else used "time" as much?

Related Posts:

• Web App to Solve The Hindu Crossword Online
• Remembering Admiral Katari, the first Crossword Setter of The Hindu
• Q&A with Six New Hindu Crossword Setters

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Can Think Finally, See?

The surface-friendly modal verb 'can' can helpfully mutate to other meanings in the cryptic reading of a clue. 'Can' is also a slang term for various other words in common usage, and its constituent letters fit neatly into wordplay or in the answer - all of which makes 'can' an important tool in clue-crafting.

A look at some ways in which the word 'can' gets used in cryptic crosswords.

1. Tin

A can is a tin (container), a useful synonym for the frequently-found pattern '…TIN…' in grid fills – for example, words ending in –TING. 

FT 14710 (Armonie): Bill can get girl for performance (6) ACTING
AC (bill) TIN (can) G (girl)

Times 25026: Female and I can be compatible  (3,2) FIT IN
F (female) I TIN (can)

2. Bathroom

'Can' is slang for toilet and matches other terms that mean the same - loo, gents, John, lav, to name a few popular ones.

FT 13279 (Mudd): Can terrifying goddess keep eradicating half - or double (9)? LOOKALIKE
LOO (can) KALI (terrifying goddess) KE[ep]

Guardian 25475 (Enigmatist): Can he? (4) JOHN dd

3. Prison

Like bathroom, prison too has many euphemistic synonyms - 'can' is one among them.

Indy 8142 (Anax): A prison full of charming and extremely close contact (12) ACQUAINTANCE
A CAN (prison) around QUAINT (charming), C[los]E

Guardian 26319 (Qaos): Murderer, one in jail (4) CAIN
I in CAN (jail)

4. Preserve, Record

To 'can' is to preserve by sealing in a can, as in the canning of pickles and jams. It is also to record, as on film or tape.

Guardian 24584 (Brendan): One way to preserve so long a piece of music (7) CANTATA
CAN (one way to preserve) TA-TA (so long)

Times 23687: Preserve what American and Canadian share in different places (3) CAN
AmeriCAN and CANadian contain, in different places, the word CAN (preserve)

5. Stop, Abandon

To 'can' is to put a stop to or to abandon (something). A related American idiom: can it!

Indy 8589 (Phi): Abandon a lake – here's narrower artificial waterway (5) CANAL
CAN (abandon) A L (lake)

FT 14142 (Alberich): John put an end to dance (6) CANCAN
CAN (John, slang for toilet) CAN (put an end to)

6. Fire

In North American slang, to 'can' is to dismiss/sack/fire.

Indy 7818 (Anarche): Uproarious dances as prisons catch fire in America (7) CANCANS
CANS (prisons) around CAN (fire i.e. sack or dismiss in America)

FT 13737 (Jason): Wine can destroy 50s dress (4) SACK
Multiple definitions: wine, can, destroy, 50s dress.

7. Canadian

'Can' is short for Canada or Canadian.

Times Jumbo 1101: Canadian accent's associated with oriental language (9) CANTONESE
CAN (Canadian) TONE'S (accent's) E (oriental)

Guardian 24885 (Chifonie): Boat in a river in Canada (9) CATAMARAN
A TAMAR (river), in CAN (Canada)

8. Headphone

'Can' is an informal word for headphone, usually used in the plural form.

Indy 8039 (Phi): Collection of rubbish filled with 500 mostly genuine cans (10) HEADPHONES
HEAP (collection of rubbish) around D (Roman numeral for 500) HONES[t] (genuine, mostly)

Sun Times 4504 (Tim Moorey): Do shed tea cans (7) HEADSET
(SHED TEA)*

9. Bottom

'Can' is North American slang for the buttocks, a meaning that makes rare appearances in daily cryptics, more to be seen in barred grid crosswords.

Indy 8261 (Klingsor): Can German money support Britain? (6) BOTTOM
OTTO (Germa) M (Money), below B (Britain)

10. Verb of Possibility / Permission / Ability

The sense of the word most used in non-crossword language, to denote possibility ('it can happen'), permission ('you can go'), ability ('i can solve').

FT 14746 (Gurney): Is able to operate empty boat (5) CANOE
CAN (is able to) O[perat]E

Note for new crossword setters: can != able, can = is/are able to.

Indy 8638 (Tyrus): One day may come together like Mandela and de Klerk (7) AFRICAN
Charade of A FRI (day) CAN (may); D-by-E

Solve These

Can you solve these?

FT 14379 (Monk): Essentially, designer can supply a basic dwelling (5) ___O_
Times 25972: Medicine can relieve symptoms over time  (8) __N____E
Times 24963: On rising is able to try cold drink (6) _O___C
Times 25735: Can revolvers upset poet and mischief-makers? (6,5) T_____ R____

Related Posts:

• Counting the Ways of Using COUNTER
• Irishmen
• Ambassador Abbreviated

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Crossword Bloggers' Jargon – Decoded!

New to crossword blogs and forums? Some of the conversation happening there might appear more cryptic than the clues. This post will help you interpret what the regulars are saying. Enjoy participating!

Anagrind, Anagrist

Anagrind stands for anagram indicator. The letters that get jumbled to give the solution in an anagram clue are called anagram fodder, or anagrist.

Usage examples:
"Last in was ANGOSTURA, perhaps the cleverest clue in the crossword; it was ingenious to use 'turns' as anagrist rather than anagrind." [source]
"I never heard of it either, and I'd also have spelt THINGAMABOB differently but for the anagrist." [source]

For further reading: But Which is the Anagrind?

Anno

A term popular among Indian solvers, anno is short for "annotation" i.e. the explanation of wordplay in a cryptic clue. A solver who blogs about a puzzle's solution presents the anno along with each answer.

Usage examples:
"Though I got through this one in a jiffy I'm unable to get some of the annos." [source]
"Anno pending" [source] - typically put next to a clue's solution on the blog, if the clue has been answered but the parsing is unclear. This is an invitation for the commenters to provided the parsing.

For further reading: Clue Annotation Shortcodes

Biff

To biff is to enter a clue's answer from the definition without fully understanding its parsing. The term originated in Jan 2015 as BIFD (acronym of Bunged In From Definition) in a comment on Times for the Times blog. BIFD later morphed into 'biffed'.

Usage examples:
"As soon as I read 1dn I thought of BELLYACHING but I didn't have any checkers and didn't want to biff it that early into the solve." [source]
"...had trouble with 7 because I biffed LARGO, beware biffing!" [source]

Checkers or Crossers

Short for checking letters or crossing letters – those letters that are revealed in a clue's answer because of the filled cells from intersecting clues in the grid.

Usage examples:
"A very pleasant puzzle with two excellent fifteen letter anagrams to give you a lot of checkers!" [source]
"5 and 26 were last in, new to me but gettable with crossers." [source]

For further reading: Crossword Grid: Checking, Cold Solving

COD or COTD

"Clue Of The Day" – what the solver hails as the best clue of a crossword.

Usage examples:
"DISPATCH is my COD for the devious surface that had nothing to do with the final answer." [source]
"I do find that my last-in (or nearly) is so often my COD." [source]

COD can also stand for Concise Oxford Dictionary, as in "rare isn’t apparently given in Chambers or the COD but is no doubt somewhere" [source]

CRS

Clue annotation shortcode for "Cockney Rhyming Slang", usually seen in the solution explanation on British crossword blogs.

Usage examples:
"PRATFALL = TAR rev + F all in PAL (china - CRS) + L" [source]
"We are usually given the CRS and expected to use the literal meaning, rather than the other way around as here." [source]

For further reading: Demystifying Clue Annotation Shortcodes

DBE

"Definition By Example" - a type of wordplay in which the clue contains not a synonym, but an example or sub-type, of the answer.

Usage examples:
"Presumably the question mark is intended to cover the DBE." [source]
"...I considered and rejected early on the possibility that "bowler" might give HAT: I was sure such a clear DBE would have to be indicated in the Times." [source]

In clue wordplay, DBE can also mean Dame of the British Empire.

DNF

The situation of not having completed the crossword. Acronym of "Did Not Finish".

Usage examples:
"Failed on 'neodymium' and 'algonkin', so a DNF for me today. If anyone complains that the puzzle was too easy, I’ll consider taking up knitting." [source]
"Is it still a technical DNF if you resort to aids and the aids don't help and then you get the answer anyway?" [source]

Enu

Another term popular among Indian solvers, enu is short for "enumeration" i.e. the length of a clue's solution. When the solution is a phrase or contains hyphenated words, the enu indicates the word breakup too e.g. (6-4) for ANIMAL-LIKE, (2,3,4,2) for AS YOU LIKE IT.

Usage examples:
"I don’t go with the thinking that giving the enu as (2-7) would be a dead giveaway." [source]
"When it is an acronym such as Nato, pronounceable as a word, the enu might be 4. But when it is say, NDTV, where every letter is pronounced the enu must be 1,1,1,1." [source]

FIB or FITB

"Fill In the Blank(s)", a clue type in which a sentence/phrase - usually a line of poetry or a famous quote - acts as the clue, with word(s) blanked out to indicate the answer. The acronym is mostly used by The Hindu Crossword solvers, perhaps because this clue type is rarely seen in other crosswords nowadays.

Usage examples:
"A FITB clue to complete a quote from Shakespeare or Chaucer might be easy for those into them, but horribly hard for people like me." [source]
"Not a single CD in sight! (Barring the FITB.)" [source]

LOI

"Last One In" - refers to the final answer that a solver entered into the grid. LOI is usually mentioned when there was a special struggle involved in solving that last clue. As you'd guess, the opposite of LOI is FOI (First One In).

Usage examples:
"LOI was 10A - the shortest words can be the hardest, if there isn't too much to work with on the surface!" [source]
"For some reason I needed all the checkers for my LOI…" [source]

Nina

A hidden message within a pattern of cells in the completed crossword grid. Read more at What is a Nina?

Usage examples:
"No theme, but there is a devilishly clever Nina hiding where you wouldn’t expect it." [source]
"I suspected a Nina from the start from the shape of the grid and esp as some answers had less than 50% checking." [source]

For further reading: Possibly the oldest Nina

"n" Magoos, "x" Tonies, etc.

On Times for the Times (T4tT) blog, it is customary for solvers to mention the time they took to finish the crossword. The Times Crossword Club leaderboard lists the stats for each puzzle, which means that any solver can benchmark their play against the fastest solvers.

T4tT bloggers have come up with nifty units to measure relative solving speed: the most popularly used is a Magoo – the time taken by Times crossword champion  Mark Goodliffe to finish the crossword. Instead of quoting absolute time as, say, "26 minutes 55 seconds", a solver could say "2.4 Magoos". Similarly, a tony is the time taken by Tony Sever to finish the crossword, a keriothe the time taken by Keriothe.

Usage examples:
"Five tonies for me (or three keriothes), and in my terms that's very good." [source]
"…clock stopped at 18:17, which was well outside my daily target of 2 Magoos" [source]

PB

Short for "Personal Best" – the fastest time/highest score achieved by a solver.

Usage examples:
"This was perhaps the easiest daily crossword I have ever done…I expect a lot of fast times, several PBs and not a few less than gruntled regulars." [source]
"my time was 11:48. I'm sure this must be a PB if measured in Magoos." [source]

Note: sometimes PB can stand for the initials of another person on the forum e.g. when the Sunday Times blogger says "Many thanks, first of all, to PB for letting me have an advance copy of this puzzle" – the thanks are meant for the Sunday Times crossword editor.

PDM

The beautiful "Penny-Drop Moment" when the workings of an elusive clue or theme suddenly become clear to the solver. Often used in the context of crosswords with interlinked clues, in which the PDM gives the key to the theme.

Usage examples:
"I was struggling to see how it worked, and it was only on coming to write up the blog that I had the pdm" [source]
"I proceeded through the puzzle with increasing incredulity at the seemingly lost opportunity until the huge PDM at my penultimate entry at 14ac." [source]

Samosa

A metaphor for the joy a solver (especially a new solver) experiences in finishing the crossword. Used on The Hindu Crossword Corner (THCC), ever since solver Gayathri Sreekanth celebrated a completed grid by eating samosas.

Also conveys that the crossword was easy - where a blogger on T4tT would say "I expect several PBs today", one on THCC might say "A samosa feast today!".

Usage examples:
"No samosa for me today as I'm stumped for some annos :-(" [source] - technically, DNF = No samosa
"I have lost 3 samosas in the last few days for being careless" [source]

Unch

An unchecked letter in the crossword grid. Read more at Crossword Grid: Checking.

Usage examples:
"Read round the unches from the bottom left in the two ways to the top right to get the Nina." [source]
"I can't see any message in the unches or the diagonal, but I have this nagging feeling that I've missed something." [source]

Xim

Short for Ximenean. The terms comes up in discussions on the accuracy or fairness of a clue.

Usage examples:
"The perception is that Xims and Libs stand in opposite trenches which, to me, is a shame." [source]
"As well as being an Indyist he’s also in the Times, and you can’t get away with too many ‘in-deedisms’ on that pro-Xim panel." [source]

For further reading: in-deedism, Of Ximeneans and Libertarians

Related Posts:

• Features Of The Crossword Grid
• 5 Ordinary Words with Obscure Meanings in Cryptic Crosswords
• Lift and Separate

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

Counting the Ways of Using COUNTER

"Counter" is one of those gifted words that map to multiple lexical categories and, like other words of its kind ("about" comes to mind), it lays open a world of wordplay opportunities for the setter. In a typical example, on the clue's surface "counter" would be a noun, in the cryptic reading a verb, an adjective or an adverb acting as wordplay indicator.

Here are some popular ways in which COUNTER gets used in clues.

1. As reversal indicator

Counter implies "in the opposite direction", a meaning used to form reversal clues.

Indy 8510 (Klingsor): Counter-revolutionary avoids opening in Leicester Square (4) NINE
LENIN (revolutionary) reversed, minus L[eicester]. NINE is a square number.

Independent 8191 (Donk): Appropriate stuff when one's expected to burst on the counter (6) PIRATE
ETA (when one's expected i.e. Expected Time of Arrival) RIP (burst), "on the counter" i.e. all reversed

2. In its nounal forms

"counter" has several meanings when it's a noun, and what's more, the word can be swapped in the answer with other crossword-friendly words – bar, chip, fish, table, etc.

Independent 8425 (Radian): Counter counter (6) ABACUS
cd; A frame used for counting with beads (counters) sliding on wires.

Times 24825: Chip against the bar (7) COUNTER
Triple definition: chip, against, bar.

Independent 8396 (Dac): Who might be unearthing rubbish on counter? (7-6) BARGAIN-HUNTER
(UNEARTHING)* on BAR (counter), &lit

3. As anagram fodder

The letters in "counter" can be sorted/combined with more letters, to produce other words/phrases for the answer.

Guardian 25964 (Rufus): Counter-productive defeat (7) TROUNCE
(COUNTER)*

Independent 8245 (Hob): Name given to counter-revolutionary piece (8) NOCTURNE
N (name) (COUNTER)*

4. As part of the definition

FT 14498 (Jason): Possibly Selma saw no person on the counter? (10) SALESWOMAN
(SELMA SAW NO)*

FT 14577 (Rosa Klebb): Counter-agent has Sunday off, stationed abroad (8) ANTIDOTE
(STATIONED – S)*

Solve These

Times 25232: Original chicken counter in popular Indian (5) N____
Times 24338: Scene showing gold under the counter (7) T______ 
FT 14471 (Wanderer): Counter with winning counter, an asset in trading (10, 4) B_________ ____

Related Posts:

• About "about"
• Soldier Changeovers
• 5 More Ordinary Words with Obscure Meanings in Cryptic Crosswords

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

When Setter is not THAT Setter

Most often, the word 'setter' in a cryptic clue is a self-reference by the crossword setter, one that you would replace with the first person pronoun (I, ME, etc) to get the answer. A typical example:

THC 9473 (Gridman): Setter right about one's worth (5) MERIT
ME (setter) RT (right), around I (one)

As with other cryptic conventions, this too is not true all the time.

Here are a few clues in which the word 'setter' in a cryptic clue defies the self-reference rule. Have fun figuring them out.

Times 24568: Setter thoroughly overwhelmed by ridicule? (8) __W_____

Everyman 3212: Financial security obtained by a setter? Yes, oddly (4,6) E___ ______

Everyman 3217: Dine with setter, unusually attentive (10) I_________

Guardian 26130 (Puck): One setter's into fruit! (7) T____L_

Indy Sun 1252 (Nitsy): Determined setter, perhaps, good with editor (6) ___G__

Related Posts:

• When Fillers are not Fillers
• V and W in Homophone Clues
• This is Not the Definition

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

5 More Ordinary Words with Obscure Meanings in Cryptic Crosswords

In the article 5 Ordinary Words with Obscure Meanings in Cryptic Crosswords, we went through a few everyday words that crossword setters love to use for their less-known meanings. Here is an extension to the set.

1. CORPORATION

'Corporation' means a paunch or potbelly. You'll often find the word on the clue's surface invoking its legal entity sense, leading to a word like TUM in the solution.

Times 25223: Men on short time engaged in work with corporation (6) PORTLY
OR (men) T (short time), in PLY (work); definition: with corporation

2. MAN

"No man is an island", said John Donne - but he had not accounted for cryptic crosswords. 'Man' can well be an island when the word is used as a definition-by-example for Isle Of Man, an island in the Irish Sea.

Times 25282: Man, for example, losing head, with repeated hesitation — bad speaker? (9) SLANDERER
ISLAND (Man, for example) – I + ER ER (repeated hesitation); definition: bad speaker

When using 'man' with reference to the isle, the setter would play a trick as above (i.e. starting the clue with that word) to draw attention away from its capitalized initial.

3. NO

'No' is a variant spelling of 'Noh', a classic theatre in Japan.

FT 13965 (Loroso): Filmmaker's pitch, not for Japanese drama (9) TARANTINO
TAR (pitch) ANTI (not for) NO (Japanese drama); definition: filmmaker

4. PANTS

'Pants' is slang for dreadful/rubbish. And so it can function as anagram indicator.

Guardian 26016 (Arachne): Hot pants, more or less clean (10) THOROUGHLY
(HOT)* ROUGHLY (more or less); definition: clean

5. SAW

'See' can mean something worlds apart from 'look', and its past tense is not far behind. 'Saw', when used as a noun, isn't only a cutting tool. It is also a maxim or proverb.

FT 14189 (Crux): Saw dog get tangled in lead (7) PROVERB
ROVER (dog) in Pb (chemical symbol for lead); definition: saw

Also see: TIME, TO, MARCH.

Solve These

Guardian 26080 (Paul): Saw around soft fold in limb (9) A________
Times 24498: New plaque encapsulating a northern corporation's breakthrough (7,4) __A____ L___
FT 14423 (Bradman): Man maybe at the end of a passage (5) __S__
Guardian 25960 (Paul): Wear thin pants, exposing one's private parts (2,3,3) __ ___ R__ 
Times 25574: Frequently abridged, absorbing drama, worth seeing (2,4) __ __T_

Related Posts:

• How To Solve Cryptic Crosswords
• 5 Ordinary Words with Obscure Meanings in Cryptic Crosswords
• Think of a Letter ~ Anax

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.

5 Ordinary Words with Obscure Meanings in Cryptic Crosswords

I posted this clue on twitter last week:

Times 25517: One receiving pawn spotted sacrificing a knight (5)

Reactions told me that the meaning of 'uncle' as used in the clue is not as well-known as I had imagined.

Here are more such words popularly used in one sense, but you'll find cryptic crosswords use them in another sense.

1. GRASS

'Grass' is a person who acts as an informer, especially to the police. In verb form, to grass is to divulge secrets or to tell on someone.

Guardian 25940 (Rufus): Sort of snake in the grass (5) SNEAK
Anagram of SNAKE; definition: grass

2. IT

'It' is a dated slang term for sex appeal (SA). On a clue's surface, the word can serve as a deceptive mask for the short form SA.

FT 14309 (Bradman): Fruit slightly deficient – on the outside it shows tiny holes (7) STOMATA
TOMAT[o] (fruit slightly deficient) having SA ('it' on the outside); definition: tiny holes

3. KITCHEN

The percussion section of an orchestra is informally called 'the kitchen'.

Independent 8044 (Klingsor): Fire half obliterated the kitchen – that's a result! (12) REPERCUSSION
FI[re] PERCUSSION (the kitchen); definition: that's a result

4. NICE

When pronounced as nees, 'Nice' can refer to a Mediterranean resort in south-east France. It is usually placed at the start of a clue to excuse its capitalization and make it an inconspicuous French indicator.

Independent 8287 (Jambazi): Nice here? No good decoration (5) ICING
ICI (Nice here => French word for 'here') NG (no good); definition: decoration

5. SOLDIER

A 'soldier' is a strip of bread that is dipped into a soft-boiled egg.

Times 25067: Sister saves magazine for part of breakfast perhaps (7) SOLDIER
SR (sister) around OLDIE (magazine); definition: part of breakfast perhaps

Also see: HOW, BLUE, NEAT, SEE.

Solve These

A set of clues using the words above. Enjoy solving.

Sunday Times 4521 (Dean Mayer): The chap cutting fresh carrots in kitchen setting? (9)
Guardian 25789 (Paul): Among grass, something flat getting lost (8) S_______
Times 24720: Like soldier receiving extra cover from shell's contents? (6) E_____
Guardian 25823 (Arachne): Nice way of saying Arachne's somewhat vacuous and a bit wet (5)
Times 25272: Top quality tea? Mum has it brought round (5)

[For all those who asked, I am very well. Blog updates have been light as my day job is taking up a lot of time these days. Thank you for your goodwill and concern. - Shuchi]

Related Posts:

• Demystifying Clue Annotation Shortcodes
• Crossword Abbreviations Every Solver Must Know
• Surface Reading, Cryptic Reading

If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links.