Clinical Data – March Update
Apart from the abbreviations, which are almost entirely taken from Chambers, the core entries in the Clinical Data lists were derived from successful clues in Azed competitions, supplemented by indicators which I myself have identified and others which I have seen used in puzzles and have felt to be acceptable. Every month I will review the Azed competition slip and will add indicators to the list which appear there and seem to have merit. I have introduced a category ‘Contentious’ to sit alongside ‘Advanced’ and ‘Standard’; this category will be used for indicators which:
- I have seen used in puzzles but I consider to be questionable (eg ‘during’ as an insertion indicator)
- I have used in a puzzle and which have been rejected by a crossword editor (eg ‘reacting’ as a reversal indicator, rejected by The Listener)
- Azed has explicitly stated that he will not accept (eg ‘extremely’ to indicate the first and last letters of a word, see the slip for AZ 2,330)
- Visitors to this site have suggested may be unsound for reasons which I consider to have foundation
This month sees (as mentioned above) the flagging of ‘extremely‘ as a contentious first+last letter selection indicator, and the inclusion as ‘Standard’ of:
- rampant (anagram indicator, adjective)
- altering (anagram indicator, present participle of intransitive verb)
- trumped-up (anagram indicator, adjective)
I have not included ‘leadership‘, ‘entrance‘ or ‘entry‘ (all first letter indicators), or ‘sacking/sacks‘ (containment), and won’t do unless they receive any support from readers, since I can’t justify any of them to myself based on the meanings ascribed by Chambers. Please use the comment form for this post if you have a view on one or more of them.
