Whimsical indicators tell the solver to perform a manipulation which cannot be justified simply by reference to the dictionary. So in the clue “Suppress detailed report (3)” the last letter in BANG must be removed, producing BAN. While the verb ‘tail’ can mean ‘to provide with a tail’, there is no such word as ‘detail’ in the sense of ‘to remove the tail from’. However, this construction is frequently seen, at least in blocked crosswords.
Some of these indicators strike me as more appealing than others, and I have graded the entries in the list from category 1 (I would consider using these myself) to category 3 (very questionable indeed). The inclusion of a question mark (or something along the lines of ‘perhaps’) in a clue can help to point the solver in the right direction.
Note that there is also scope for similar whimsy in definitions, eg ‘unlocked’ or ‘distressed’ for BALD. It’s probably fair to say that whimsical definitions are generally viewed more favourably than their counterparts in wordplay.
I have not included words which need to be arbitrarily split in order to provide the instruction, eg ‘cleaving’ to indicate the removal of C or ‘lout’ for the omission of L; these fall into a separate category and their use in cryptic crosswords has no linguistic basis.
The list below can be sorted alphabetically on Indicator, in either ascending (default) or descending sequence. The Search box allows full and partial searching of the first column in the list.
| Indicator | Action | Justification | Acceptability |
|---|---|---|---|
| childless | Removal of CH | 'without children' | 1 |
| debased | Removal of E | 2 | |
| decent | Removal of C | 3 | |
| defaced | Removal of first letter | 1 | |
| defined | Removal of F | 2 | |
| degaussed | Removal of G | 2 | |
| denoted | Removal of N | 2 | |
| departed | Removal of PT | 2 | |
| detailed | Removal of last letter | 'tail' = 'to provide with a tail' | 1 |
| disclosed | Removal of CLO | 2 | |
| disclosed | Removal of last letter | 2 | |
| discontented | First and last letter selection | 2 | |
| discovered | Removal of first and last letters | obsolete meaning = 'uncovered' | 1 |
| discredited | Removal of CR | 2 | |
| disfigured | Removal of FIG | 2 | |
| disjointed | Removal of J | 2 | |
| extra-special | Containing S (or SP) | 2 | |
| extraordinary | Containing O | 2 | |
| footloose | Removal of F | 3 | |
| listless | Removal of first and last letters | 2 | |
| powerless | Removal of P | 'deprived of power' | 1 |
| soft-hearted | Insertion of P in middle | 1 | |
| stoneless | Removal of ST | 1 | |
| sunless | Removal of S | 1 | |
| timeless | Removal of T | 'independent of time' | 1 |
| unanswered | Removal of A (or ANS) | 2 | |
| uncrowned | Removal of first letter | 1 | |
| undated | Removal of D | 2 | |
| unearthed | Removal of E | 2 | |
| unfathomed | Removal of F | 2 | |
| unfocused | Removal of middle letter | 2 | |
| unleaded | Removal of first letter | 3 | |
| unlined | Removal of L | 2 | |
| unlisted | Removal of first and last letters | 3 | |
| unmarked | Removal of M | 2 | |
| unnamed | Removal of N | 2 | |
| unnumbered | Removal of N | 2 | |
| unshipped | Removal of SS | 2 | |
| untrained | Removal of last letter | 2 | |
| upended | Reversal of last two letters (down clue) | 2 | |
| weightless | Removal of W | 1 |