Rude Cryptic Clue Thread

[NoJo]

Okay, I don't know who you are, but hopefully one or two of you are cryptic crossword fans.

For those that aren't, just watch and clap politely.

Years ago I used to be a cryptic crossword setter for a puzzle magazine, and the habit has never left me. I'm always thinking up cryptic clues.

Feel free to contribute your own clues to this thread, in the spirit of the Times/Telegraph/Guardian cryptic clues

Okay, the first clue:

Distributes leaflets and sucks cock (8)

 

[oggbashan]

Another clue:

Worshipped as gods in ancient Egypt. Still orally worshipped by men. 8 letters

 

[Vermilion]

Another clue:

Worshipped as gods in ancient Egypt. Still orally worshipped by men. 8 letters

pussy doesn't have 8 letters <blink>


Seriously though - could someone explain how cryptic clues work?

 

[oggbashan]

pussy doesn't have 8 letters <blink>


Seriously though - could someone explain how cryptic clues work?

Think plurals but I'm numerically challenged today... pussies has SEVEN letters.

Cryptic clues are just crossword clues but the first one was an anagram.

Og

 

[NoJo]

could someone explain how cryptic clues work?

Okay:

All cryptic clues always have two parts, a straightforward definition part and a cryptic part, run together into a single sentence to make it trickier. Most of the skill in solving a cryptic clue is to be able to parse it so that you know which is the definition part and which is the cryptic part.

In a way, cryptic clues are actually easier than non-cryptic ones, because they always give you two shots at the answer.
Take this non-cryptic clue for example:

Musical (4)

Okay, so to solve it you think about any musicals you know, trying to find one that's 4 letters long.

Didja get it?

Now a cryptic version of the same clue:

Acts strangely in musical (4)


The two parts are "Acts strangely" and "Musical". (Using the word "in" to join the two parts is typical). You can see that the definition part is identical to the non-cryptic, "easy" clue above.

This particular type of cryptic clue is the ANAGRAM, one of the easiest types. In Anagram clues, the cryptic part contains an anagram of the answer, and also a word or phrase indicating that you have to rearrange the letters. Typical anagram indicating words are "strangely", "mixed up", "somehow", "jumbled", "confused", "variation". Basically any phrase that indicates a rearrangement will do.

So for this clue you now know from the DEFINITION part that the answer is a Musical, and from the CRYPTIC part , that the answer is an anagram of "acts".

Easy, huh?

Now, if I tell you that the clue in my first post is also an anagram, just like the above example, you should be able to solve it without a problem:

Distributes leaflets and sucks cock (8)

 

[Vermilion]

Okay, I don't who you are, but hopefully one or two of you are cryptic crossword fans.

For those that aren't, just watch and clap politely.

Years ago I used to be a cryptic crossword setter for a puzzle magazine, and the habit has never left me. I'm always thinking up cryptic clues.

Feel free to contribute your own clues to this thread, in the spirit of the Times/Telegraph/Guardian cryptic clues

Okay, the first clue:

Distributes leaflets and sucks cock (8)

Fellates?

How do you know when it's an anagram?

 

[NoJo]

Ogg's clue is a second simple type of clue, the DOUBLE-DEFINITION.

In Double-definition clues, both parts of the clue are definitions.

A double-definition clue for the word in my previous post might be

musical pussies (4)

 

[oggbashan]

Lawrence Durrell's 1968 mixed-up novel and a four letter expletive.

 

[Vermilion]

Ogg's clue is a second simple type of clue, the DOUBLE-DEFINITION.

In Double-definition clues, both parts of the clue are definitions.

A double-definition clue for the word in my previous post might be

musical pussies (4)

OK - I think I get it. Gimme another one?
x
V

 

[NoJo]

I had to google that!

 

[NoJo]

There are lots of types of clue

The CHARADE (this is the most common)
The DOUBLE-MEANING (clever, a favourite of Times setters)
The BURIED-ANSWER (where the actual answer is hidden in the clue)
The QUOTATION (not considered strictly fair, but still makes an appearance occasionally -- it's just a test of your knowledge or Google prowess)

OK - I think I get it. Gimme another one?
x
V

Okay, still keeping it to anagrams -- slightly trickier

Is this seen in Texas's Porn? (7, 3)

 

[Xelebes]

All right! Somebody finally explained how they work!

 

[NoJo]

Banana leaf conceals use of the tradesmans entrance (4)

 

[Vermilion]

Okay, still keeping it to anagrams -- slightly trickier

Is this seen in Texas's Porn? (7, 3)

OK, so it's an anagram and 'seen in' would indicate that the anagram is hidden in 'texas's porn' yes?

Um....

I got

Ass export

but that leaves me with a 'n' over

sex an' sport ??

x
V

 

[Vermilion]

Banana leaf conceals use of the tradesmans entrance (4)

OK - so it's concealed in 'tradesmans'?

Is the banana leaf part completely redundant then?

Cos I can easily get 'arse' from 'tradesmans'

 

[NoJo]

OK, so it's an anagram and 'seen in' would indicate that the anagram is hidden in 'texas's porn' yes?

Yes

Um....

I got

Ass export

but that leaves me with a 'n' over

sex an' sports ??

x
V

No

 

[Vermilion]

No

Even with the typo corrected? (one too many 's')

 

[NoJo]

OK - so it's concealed in 'tradesmans'?

Is the banana leaf part completely redundant then?

Cos I can easily get 'arse' from 'tradesmans'

This is actually a BURIED-ANSWER clue. So the word is just there in the answer. No anagrams, you just have to ignore any spaces between words.

A typical buried answer clue could be

Panic at station reveals musical.

The "key" word indicating a buried answer clue is something like "hides" or "reveals" or "conceals" or "is buried in" etc.

 

[Vermilion]

Banana leaf conceals use of the tradesmans entrance (4)

so Banana leaf


I'm getting there!

And enjoying the learning experience - thanks

 

[NoJo]

Even with the typo corrected? (one too many 's')

This is actually a Times-style crossword clue, where the "definition" part of it is actually the whole thing, which is something that might be seen, possibly, by some stretch of imagination, in Texas's Porn. Actually you could see it in ANY porn.

The answer is, as you guessed, an anagram of "Texas's Porn". But you're ignoring the very helpful fact that the answer is two words, a 7 letter word followed by a 3 letter word.

 

[NoJo]

so Banana leaf


I'm getting there!

And enjoying the learning experience - thanks

And of course, for English people, the phrase "Use of the tradesman's entrance" is a perfectly good, if a little quaint, definition for "anal"

 

[Vermilion]

This is actually a Times-style crossword clue, where the "definition" part of it is actually the whole thing, which is something that might be seen, possibly, by some stretch of imagination, in Texas's Porn. Actually you could see it in ANY porn.

The answer is, as you guessed, an anagram of "Texas's Porn". But you're ignoring the very helpful fact that the answer is two words, a 7 letter word followed by a 3 letter word.

Oops. I was forgetting that bit.

Um.....
The closest I can get is Tax Persons lol and that's the wrong way round.

jeez, this is hard.

Does it end in 'sex' ? I can't think of a word to make with the other letters except 'patrons' lol. I am a bit crap at this.

 

[NoJo]

Oops. I was forgetting that bit.

Um.....
The closest I can get is Tax Persons lol and that's the wrong way round.

jeez, this is hard.

Does it end in 'sex' ? I can't think of a word to make with the other letters except 'patrons' lol. I am a bit crap at this.

..ooo SO close. Anagram of patrons

 

[Guest]

-marking this so I can come back to it-

I got the musical one.... I will have to have alittle more OJ to continue playing this

 

[3113]

I don't think any of this is fair without the actual crossword in place. I mean, that's part of the fun. You get:

A
N
A
L

And then you know that the first word there across is going to start with an "A" and the second an "N" and such, and this helps you cull through possible answers.