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Rude Cryptic Clue Thread

Kumquatqueen said:
False combined with IS to make FALSIES?
Click to expand...

That makes sense, but it's not the answer I had in mind...

Lori_the_Hoosier said:
FINGERING?
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Correct!

"rocket guide" = "fin", as you guessed.

The 32nd element on the periodic table is germanium, standard abbreviation "Ge".

"call" = "ring".

I considered cluing it as something like "Irish hero, Spice Girl, and TMBG's Ana together in a touching experience", but that felt a bit too easy.
 
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Bramblethorn said:
That makes sense, but it's not the answer I had in mind...



Correct!

"rocket guide" = "fin", as you guessed.

The 32nd element on the periodic table is germanium, standard abbreviation "Ge".

"call" = "ring".
Click to expand...

Do you ever meet yourself coming around corners, BT? Just asking...
 
A little critique on the "Rocket guide #32 calls it touching" clue:

Just using a number to indicate an element in the periodic table doesn't pass the fairness test - the smarts expected of the solver shouldn't extend beyond common factual knowledge - cryptic clues are totally unlike New York Times crosswords in this way. It's OK to put elements in explicitly, e.g. Dial "Oxygen" for drummer (5) But If I clued it as "Dial 8 for drummer", even though that makes the clue read better, it would be unfair - "8" is not a synonym for "O".

If you're really clear on the context, say in a themed puzzle where the solver has been given to understand that many of the answers will be, say, characters from Shakespeare, or elements of the periodic table, you can demand a little more specific knowledge from the solver, who will probably reach for the Google from the bookshelf to help them. Personally I like to the "punniness" high and the obscurity low when both setting and solving puzzles.

Note that going from #32 -> Germanium -> Ge is a two-step translation, and not fair.

A worse problem is the change of tense - "calls" is a synonym for "rings", not "ring". The charade components have to be accurate.


Also, the word "it" - in "calls it" is just put in there to help the setter, not the solver - and such spare words placed in the clue merely to smooth out the grammar should be avoided.

And finally, the clue as a whole doesn't make enough sense, as a sentence. A good rule of thumb is: "Can the clue as a whole be read as a newspaper headline?"

Sorry to sound pernickety, but it's actually quite a lot harder to create a good easy cryptic clue than a bad difficult one. And only really good setters can set good clues that are meaningful as sentences, hard to solve, yet still fair.

My advice to would-be setters is to concentrate on making a good easy clue that's pleasing to read and original, and not worry about how difficult or simple it is to solve.

EDIT: I would have clued it simply as

Digital Sex?
 
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NoJo said:
A little critique on the "Rocket guide #32 calls it touching" clue:

Just using a number to indicate an element in the periodic table doesn't pass the fairness test - the smarts expected of the solver shouldn't extend beyond common factual knowledge - cryptic clues are totally unlike New York Times crosswords in this way. It's OK to put elements in explicitly, e.g. Dial "Oxygen" for drummer (5) But If I clued it as "Dial 8 for drummer", even though that makes the clue read better, it would be unfair - "8" is not a synonym for "O".

A worse problem is the change of tense - "calls" is a synonym for "rings", not "ring". The charade components have to be accurate.


Also, the word "it" - in "calls it" is just put in there to help the setter, not the solver - and such spare words placed in the clue merely to smooth out the grammar should be avoided.

And finally, the clue as a whole doesn't make enough sense, as a sentence. A good rule of thumb is: "Can the clue as a whole be read as a newspaper headline?"

Sorry to sound pernickety, but it's actually quite a lot harder to create a good easy cryptic clue than a bad difficult one. And only really good setters can set good clues that are meaningful as sentences, hard to solve, yet still fair.

My advice to would-be setters is to concentrate on making a good easy clue that's pleasing to read and original, and not worry about how difficult or simple it is to solve.
Click to expand...

Points taken, though I'd argue that it works fine as a sentence if one parses "Rocket guide #32" as a person.

Gauging what counts as "common factual knowledge" is hard - I didn't expect people to know that element #32 is germanium without looking it up, but as a kid I learned that elements have numbers and that "Ge" is one of the early ones long before I knew "die" = German "the".
 
Bramblethorn said:
Points taken, though I'd argue that it works fine as a sentence if one parses "Rocket guide #32" as a person.

Gauging what counts as "common factual knowledge" is hard - I didn't expect people to know that element #32 is germanium without looking it up, but as a kid I learned that elements have numbers and that "Ge" is one of the early ones long before I knew "die" = German "the".
Click to expand...

I think if you'd said "element 32" you would be closer to getting away with it, but putting #32 in the clue is not a fair reference to an element, let alone an abbreviation of one. The solver has no indication that they should even be LOOKING for an element in that part of the clue.

If I were to put "7" in a clue, I couldn't expect the solver to put "JUL" in there, even though it's common knowledge that July is the seventh month. So there were actually two problems in your clue at that point.

As for "Die", that's common knowledge for crossword solvers, like "T" is for model, mainly because it's a ubiquitous trope in cryptic crosswords!

The New Scientist crossword has a lot of scientific and technical terms in its answers, and is more of a general knowledge crossword. But even there, "Ge" would be clued as "element 32", not just by its number.
 
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NoJo said:
Previous Poster's Hog seen in Church (8)
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Okay, that was excellent. I think I'm beginning to understand how it works now. Kind of.

Trying to actually do one will still be a challenge, though.
 
The officer dropped his name like a bomb. (5,3)


How is that?

edit: god dammit, the theme is something sex related. I'm an imbecile.


Another try.

A large, possibly accidental party in DC (4, 5)
 
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Stripped naked after being fucked and exposed (4,4)
 
Damoiselle said:
The officer dropped his name like a bomb. (5,3)


How is that?

edit: god dammit, the theme is something sex related. I'm an imbecile.


Another try.

A large, possibly accidental party in DC (4, 5)
Click to expand...

Stuck on that one, not sure which part is the definition
 
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