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Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

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    Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

    Andy C wrote:
    Only just starting to think about it, to be honest. It's been that sort of Friday lunchtime.
    You may talk o' gin and beer.

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      Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

      Wyatt Earp wrote:
      BrunoMaggiore wrote:
      My man? I don't follow.
      Sorry, I should have said "that bloke".
      Inside joke I guess.

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        Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

        Maybe, but after 1977 posts I'd have thought you were inside too.

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          Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

          Okay. Apparently not though.

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            Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

            Are people stuck, or just not really turning their minds to it yet?

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              Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

              I've solved it, but coming up with the follow-on clue's proving to be a bit of a tussle.

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                Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                I think the first word is either 'I' or 'A'.

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                  Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                  Andy C wrote:
                  I've solved it, but coming up with the follow-on clue's proving to be a bit of a tussle.
                  Yes, I can see how it might be. Sorry.

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                    Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                    Nah, it's probably just another side-effect of Friday lunchtime.

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                      Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                      Spiritually a better man than I am, confused and forgetting the inn (7)

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                        Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                        Nice!

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                          Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                          Redrafted Gruesome Mahatmas without a writer (8,7)

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                            Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                            I have it - is it okay for a clue to be definition and word play all in one swoop, or must they be demarcated?

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                              Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                              Normally they're demarcated. It's possible to make the definition and the wordplay the same thing, and it's kind of an "Oh wow" moment when you see it done well, but that kind of clue has to be really, really crisp and tidy, I think. Mad skillz needed.

                              What's not really allowed is a "bit of wordplay, bit of definition, bit of wordplay" sort of a jumble.

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                                Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                Here's an example of a (well-known, I think) clue where the whole clue is the wordplay and the whole clue is also the definition:

                                Thug with finger twitching (10)

                                Is that the sort of thing you mean by "all in one swoop"? If you can pull something like that off it's to be greatly prized.

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                                  Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                  Thanks, Andy, I was trying to think of an example, and that's a lovely one.

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                                    Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                    Somerset Maugham loses weight, some say, - results in large branch of Waterstones, or Wal-mart

                                    (9)

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                                      Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                      (another probationary try)

                                      Megastore loses big gains overseas, leaving unwanted cargo. (8)

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                                        Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                        I don't remember 'amountnang'. Yes, perhaps the first one was a little facetious, but hey, we're allowed to misjudge the mood once, yeah?

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                                          Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                          BrunoMaggiore wrote:
                                          (another probationary try)

                                          Megastore loses big gains overseas, leaving unwanted cargo. (8)
                                          I've got a candidate, but I can't quite see it.

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                                            Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                            I can either give a letter, or there might be a better/easier way to phrase the clue. How does this work, do you tell me your candidate or do I spill more beans?

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                                              Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                              No, it's OK, I think I've got it. It's a bit unorthodox, because if I'm right, your wordplay bit is actually a "wordplay, then synonym, then more wordplay" bit, but it's not as if you never see stuff like that done.

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                                                Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                                South American stowaway overstating weight (10)

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                                                  Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                                  Oh. I took it synonyms counted as wordplay.

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                                                    Friday Cryptic Crossword Game

                                                    Well, they can, but there are kind of unwritten rules (probably written rules, actually, known to the likes of Duncan Gardner) about how far it's OK to go.

                                                    For example, one we've talked about on this thread, and its predecessor, is the use of synonyms together with full-fledged anagrams, something that's generally agreed to be too hard. Synonyms together with simple inversions or truncations, on the other hand, you see all over the place.

                                                    Yours was a synonym sandwiched between a truncation and (I guess you'd call it) a concatenation, and as such was perhaps a bit envelope-pushing. But personally I think it's OK. The definition part was straightforward, which helps when the wordplay part is unusually hard.

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