“In Brief Encounter it is Fred Jesson’s paradoxical strength that he favours the tortuous lexis of the crossword puzzle over both memory and desire.”
Basil Ransome-Davies, Spectator competition to produce a “pseudocrap” review
Before embarking on complete puzzles, you may wish to improve your solving skills by tackling some clues in this section. I suggest this because I have found that learners appreciate the reinforcement of the teaching hitherto by attempting clues grouped by type of clue. They are all sound and sometimes excellent examples of their kind. Many were selected as “Clue of the Week”, a long-standing feature of The Week magazine in which the best clue from any source is published.
The first five clues in each group offer extra help with first letters of each answer shown after enumeration. Where appropriate, clue type indicators are underlined. Solutions are in the Appendices, from here.
ANAGRAM CLUES
1 Shun bad dancing partner (7) H
2 Lady I rather fancy (7) H
3 Greens perhaps misrepresenting Mao Tse-Tung (10) M
4 Looks for brand new UK holiday destination (7,6) N
5 Adhesive tapes come unstuck (5) P
6 Pope with trousers off – that’s unthinkable! (12)
7 Break down after moving letters from close pal (8)
8 Guests beginning to get drunk and intimate (7)
9 Swallow a mouth rinse erroneously (5,6)
10 Where one pays for the other doorbell to be fixed (8)
1 It makes us take shelter in centre of Boston? (5) S
2 A half slice of cake in peach trifle (9) B
3 Dope left in bed (4) C
4 Under wraps by choice (6) S
5 Record held by old Delta pilot flying for so long (9) T
6 Shock treatment I received in Harley St in error (9)
7 Terrible rip in chair? I see what you’re saying! (3,6)
8 Casually dressed newspaperman stopped by police (6,4)
9 Little girl, one in a hundred (3)
10 Container ship’s contents secured by mate (5)
HOMOPHONE CLUES
1 Rent going up, it’s said (4) H
2 Post for a man, so to speak (4) M
3 Praises cricket’s HQ on the radio (5) L
4 Naked lady reported in Indian city (3,5) N
5 Flood covering Florence spoken of (8) O
6 Audibly one affected by illness in chest (6)
7 Ways to get to Greek island broadcast (5)
8 Reportedly start race for a pudding (4)
9 Hard stuff in barracks by the sound of it (5)
10 M Easterner in pub, wet one’s heard (8)
TAKEAWAY CLUES
1 Cut price rum (3) O
2 Heresy meets with motion of approval? Not here! (5) S
3 Toilet seat not half wobbly (5) L
4 First off most harsh mountain (7) E
5 WW1 enemy destroying British missile launch site (4) O
6 It’s painful extracting penny from sporran (4)
7 Flying Gulf Air, one goes for Economy (6)
8 Trouble brewing over missing murder suspect (6)
9 Doing housework ignoring initial inclination (7)
10 Perhaps stupidly hospital’s gone private (6)
1 Peer in Throne Room for King (4) N
2 Pack he’d lead regularly (5) A
3 Brickbats in part of lake (4) F
4 Food item eaten by veggies? (3) E
5 Sample of Nivea’s tender skin soap (10) E
6 Sauce requiring a bit of chilli powder (3)
7 Some tarmac cracks in African city (5)
8 Uniform packed and folded by housemaster (4)
9 Fish hate trawler nets (5)
10 Häagen-Dazs retains this secret plan (6)
REVERSAL CLUES
1 Does perhaps rush around (4) D
2 Bear up – here’s a ring (4) H (down clue)
3 Put out by mounting objections (4) S (down clue)
4 Some privates reversed positions (6) T
5 Type of car to sell back (4) G
6 A medic repelled by appendix (4)
7 Dull poet recalled (4)
8 Huge flans all round – that’s the trick! (9)
9 Look in hold on the way back (4)
10 Reversed slump in US fuel (3)
LETTER SWITCH CLUES
1 Left to replace inner parts of Tchaikovsky score (6) T
2 Do a heart transplant for Tom (5) C
3 What grass is, even for a fool (5) G
4 Highest priest’s story – the last shall be first (3) E
5 One taking legal action regrets switching sides (4) S
6 Orderly Helen changing direction in bed (8)
7 Scorn from MP replacing second in contest (8)
8 Dance a little time, last couple swapping places (6)
9 Miss drunken binge, one coming in for a different one (4,2)
10 Like the web? Ladies have a change of heart (5)
1 Over fifty? Wrong! (5-4) F
2 Setting forth? About right (8) S
3 Join a navy initially as this? (6) S
4 Reverse of fine and cool? (4) N
5 Result of endless spree in which a lot is drunk? (8) B
6 Not normally seen in UK bars! (6)
7 What’s displayed on iPhone, extremely large? (5)
8 Fantastic crowd puller? Not half! (5,3)
9 Take part in ruling over nation (6)
10 We will get excited with Ring seats (10)
DOUBLE DEFINITION CLUES
1 Mad passionate lovers (7) B
2 One photographing a crocodile (7) S
3 Just get the hell out of here! (5) L
4 Herb is a man’s name (5) B
5 Honest ie not lying (7) U
6 Don’t hit girl! (4)
7 A Greek starter (5)
8 Rhubarb crumble (3)
9 White pawn (4)
10 Press club (4)
ADDITIVE CLUES
1 Clever person packed underwear (8) B
2 Member of family has information on us (5) G
3 What arrives as August ends? A touch of colour (5) S
4 Small beds for Highlanders (5) S
5 An examination of Chambers (6) A
6 Call at the start before surgery gets busy (3)
7 Maiden cheated? That’s by no means rare! (8)
8 Skilful ace, the opposite of gauche (6)
9 Hooded killer from Royal Horse Artillery (4,5)
10 Quiet English girl (3)
1 Hamburger’s first-class? (12) K
2 Pig that flies! (6) G
3 Writer gradually worn down on A4? (6) P
4 Hairdresser’s perk? (6,7) F
5 What I must be when small (6) D
6 They have two legs and fly (8)
7 Man United playing away from home (9)
8 Lunch for a cowardly balloonist? (7,2,1,6)
9 A pound of sultanas (5)
10 This cylinder is jammed (5,4)
NOVELTY CLUES
1 Happen to get 200 in 45 minutes! (5) O
2 Two and six in old money (6,2,5) P
3 Cut off – not dat limb, though! (9) D
4 Program advising accomodation changes? (12) S
5 A swan, deprived of space, sits on this river (5) A
6 Nothing squared is something cubed (3)
7 InterCity? (4)
8 Works for Foreign Office wet? (7)
9 Not having IOU? Aye (9)
10 Sunderland docks (5) (debatable down clue)
ANONYMOUS OR OTHERWISE?
In 1993 the new editor of the New York Times crossword immediately introduced a policy of naming his team of “constructors”. Will Shortz decided that setters deserved to be named and besides, he thought correctly that standards would go up as a result. Editor Barbara Hall did the same a little later in the Sunday Times. In fact, this policy for cryptic crosswords (with pseudonyms or real names) is common to a majority of newspapers and magazines around the world including those featured in this book. Would solvers like to see setters named in say, the Daily Mail, The Times and the Telegraph? If my students are typical they overwhelmingly would. Could this lead to higher standards? I couldn’t possibly comment!