Cryptic Crossword Thread

[get a clue]

Small state begins educating a lot of English. (5)

Bonus clue (not the password), but an easy one I had written during the Olympics, and a triple-defintion (counting the &lit)

Selling a stolen swordfighting enclosure! (7) FENCING
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[novice]

The O is from "Over the first".

[Suspence]

I see...I kept looking at the wrong end to find the O.

So, was "the capital of England" referring to currency? If so, is that correct? I thought they stuck with the pound (apologies for my Americanism)

I suppose it could also be a demonym, as someone "from the capital of England" could be considered a "EURO"?
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

[Zag]

Man! I'm never going to live that down!

I thought of using that reference because a guy I work with came back to work after visiting his family in England, and he had a bunch of Euros in his wallet. So even if that is not the official currency in England, it is obviously used pretty commonly.

So there!

[esme]

[DejMar]

Some musings about the clue:

[novice]

State can also be a homophone indicator.

[DejMar]

[Suspence]

Just to move this along - I hate when these threads stagnate for weeks - you have basically everything you need in post 3847.
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

Well that didn't help...

[Suspence]

Not sure what else to tell you...but the correct understanding of each element is mentioned in that post. The unfortunate part is that several incorrect understandings of each element are also mentioned
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[DejMar]

I know it isn't the answer, but parsing the clue

Small state begins educating a lot of English.

I came up with the following:for (3,2) not (5):

SMALL (narrow minded) = SET ON
and
STATE BEGINS => S
+
EDUCATING A LOT OF ENGLISH => ETON (the college is the largest and most famous of England's public schools)

[Suspence]

Alright, let's speed this up:

(Small state) (begins educating) (a lot of English)

_ A _ _ _
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

Still stumped.

[Suspence]

Here are the relevant pieces of the aforementioned post:

Small could be...an adjective for "state" indicating an abbreviation for a state, such as Tex or TX for Texas.

"English" might have the synonymous meaning of "spin"

I have the impression that "begins educating" is the first letter or first few letters of the word "educating".

I'll also add a word to help (though it might have added confusion more before I helped with the parsing):

Small eastern state begins educating a lot of English

The intended word may be somewhat obscure to someone not too familiar with the particular field involved, though it is a fairly standard word in that field.
_________________
I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[novice]

Okay, even I can't avoid getting it now.

That was massé.

[get a clue]

Leave town for good exercise pool. (4,2,6)
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[DejMar]

A critique as to why the clue, Small state begins educating a lot of English, was not easily solved:
The answer to the clue, massé, fails in part. The piece of the clue that was to provide the definition, a lot of English, incorrectly did so.Massé is not the spin, i.e., the english that is imparted onto the cue ball, but the hard, downward stroke that imparts the spin. The clue should have been something like Small state begins education process involving a lot of English, Of course, the clue may be more cleverly written, A cryptic clue should be be correct in its definition,.

[DejMar]

Where does one post the password? The answer to the last clue is:
pull up stakes

definition: leave town for good
word/phrase component: exercise => pull-up, an exercise in which the body is raised up by the arms pulling on a horizontal bar fixed above the head + pool => stakes

critique: the definition for the exercise is a hyphenated compound word, though the sought after answer is sans hyphen.

[novice]

I see nothing wrong with ignoring punctuation as long as the final answer's word lengths are correctly given - it is no different from cluing "car park" as "fish boat" (carp + ark).

You claim the puzzle by logging in as the "get a clue" user, the password is the last answer, lowercase and without punctuation or spaces. Then you change that user's password to the solution of your new clue, and post the new clue.

[get a clue]

Echoing a self-nominating vote might be a cultural feature. (4)
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[get a clue]

Nice clue. :) - Elethiomel
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[get a clue]

A fire left burning when the lights have gone out. (9)

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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[get a clue]

Solution:

AFTERLIFE, DEF: when the lights have gone out, anagr: A FIRE LEFT


-esme
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[get a clue]

An endless internet search will add zero value. (6)
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[get a clue]

Easy one.
Solution: googol

Internet search - google - made endliess is googl. Inserting an 0 (add zero) results in the answer:.googol, which is a value of 10¹ºº.



Swinging man gets attractive ones! (7)
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[get a clue]

That was: magnets ('man gets' anagram)

Opening for heavy metal (4)
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[get a clue]

That was lead.

Ambulance chaser's hearing is full of shit. (5)
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[DejMar]

As there is an absence of clue indicators that would indicate it differently, as the clue is written, "hearing" is either (1) a phononym indicator for one or more of the words immediately following it; (2) it is a synonym indicator that a phrase or word following it that has a different meaning than the surface reading implies; (3) the word itself, or a synonym for the word itself is a component of a word defined by "ambulance chaser"; (4) with "chaser's", it is a synonym for a word that is a component of a word defined by "ambulance"; (5) there is a synonym for "ambulance chaser's hearing"; or, it may even be, (6) with "chaser's", a phononym indicator for the preceding word or synonym of the preceding word, "ambulance", for a word as how a "chaser" might hear the word.

Any hints as to which of these six possibilities is the correct one?

[novice]

6) is closest to correct. It's homophone, btw.

I suppose a fairer homophone indication would be

Ambulance chaser heard it's full of shit. (5)

[DejMar]

Right you are. Homophone is the word I meant to use.

[get a clue]

Solution of previous clue: sewer

critique: The ambulance chaser is not the "suer", but one who incites another to be such.

Mechanism used in automatic transitioning from gold to lead. (9)
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[novice]

This next one is probably AUTOxxxxx. The definition is presumably "mechanism used in automatic transitioning" which is unfortunately slightly vague, so I can't make the connection. Autofocus, or something. I've exhausted our guesses for the next 30 minutes, though.

[Elethiomel]

AUTOPILOT, perhaps

[Suspence]

I also guessed TRANSMUTE, as it fits with "gold to lead" and "mechanism used in automatic" made me think TRANSMISSION.
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I hate people who try to write interesting things in their signature.

[Thok]

It could just be an anagram of pb+tomatic.

[get a clue]

AUTOPILOT is in fact correct.

AU=Gold, TO=to, PILOT=lead.

I guess the definition makes sense if you substitute "movement" for "transitioning", too. Feel free to grab it, anyone.

- Elethiomel
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Password is lowercase and has no spaces or punctuation.

[Scurra]

Some vaguely (UK) topical anagrams:

- Been sailin’ at sea (3,7)

- I convert pedal into movement (8,9)

- Swimmer, though cold, can be in great form (7,9)

I thought the second one was rather good.
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_{still Quiz Olympiad champion. Must get a life.
New definitions: COFFEE - someone who is coughed upon}

[DejMar]

I would not say "vaguely" in regard to the (UK) topical anagrams, ...... the three are all medal winners of the recent 2012 Summer Olympics.

"Been sailin'" (anagram indicator: at sea) =
BEN AINSLIE [2012 Gold Medalist in SAILING]

"I convert pedal into" (anagram indicator: movement) =
VICTORIA PENDLETON [2012 Gold Medalist in CYCLING]

[Swimmer,] "cold, can be in great" (anagram indicator: though * form) =
REBECCA ADLINGTON [2012 Bronze Medalist in SWIMMING]