Welcome to The Clue Clinic – where people interested in solving or setting cryptic crosswords come to learn, sharpen their skills, and get expert guidance from experienced setters.
If this is your first visit, we would recommend visiting the About This Site page to get some ideas about the areas of the site which may be of particular interest to you and the ways in which you can interact with Clinic staff and other readers.
What’s New
The PDF of the latest Gemelo puzzle is available at this link: Gemelo 41 The PDF of the latest Azed puzzle is available at this link: Azed 2,781 The June Digest is now live, providing a short round-up of news and views from the Clinic. As of 16th June a number of improvements have been made to the Clinical Data table display. See the Refurbishment Project Status page for details.
Latest Posts
Latest Comments
Hi RK You’re thinking, I presume, about the US adverbial use of ‘some’, as in “I enjoy doing crosswords some”.…
Thanks, lambkin89 – I have now included it. All suggestions for additions to the Glossary are gratefully received!
Can “some” be used as a hidden word indicator AFTER the fodder? To me it sounds more natural to use…
Hi Dr Clue, You might add Lipogram to your Glossary.
Very nice, and much more satisfactory…except, of course, that because Chambers only gives the (2,4,3) phrase, for any puzzle which…
“Never deployed bovine tests”, then?
Thankfully the wordplay was clear. Apparently the reference in the expression is to a female cat, the three-letter word being…
I have never (!) heard the expression at 8dn, and of course it is not at the alphabetic position in…
Thanks, Doc – all becomes clear! In 32A, I was convinced that “to improve” was the definition, so was barking…
Thanks, Jim! I was – as is often the case – overcomplicating things for myself, by assuming that the antonym…