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In the sample clues below, I explain the two parts of each: the answer definition and the wordplay—the recipe for putting its letters together. In a true puzzle environment, of course, you also have the intersecting letters, which greatly lighten your solving load. Explanations contain links to previous entries in this series in matters such as spelling one word backwards to reveal another. And setter names tend to be associated with interviewsin case you want to get to know these people better.
Labor, he tells us, will nationalized the train network in the first five years. So let’s revisit an old initialism that has never gone out of the crossword puzzle world – and the other railway-related things every solver should know.
Paradise
Just as “street” in a clue can mean ST in an answer, so can “railroad” and RY. Here for example Chiffon …
21 years Fruits are expensive in France on the railway (6)
[ wordplay: French for ‘dear’ + abbrev. for ‘railway’ ]
[ CHER + RY ]
[ definition: fruit ]
… with a CHERRY clue. “Railway” is abbreviated in various other ways, including RLY and RWY, but since words like “pearl” and Snowdon’s Welsh name – Yr Wyddfa – are less common than words with an R followed by a Y, RY comes first to try.
lines
However, since these are cryptic crosswords, the railway may arrive in disguise. The useful ambiguous word “lines” can do the same job. Here is an example of such ambiguity, from Quantum:
3 years The lead actor’s lines are bright and sharp (6)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘leading actor’ + abbrev. for ‘lines’ ]
[ STAR + RY ]
[ definition: bright and pointed ]
The lines are not from an actor and the response is STAR. It should be said, however, that since in making some text reference PP can mean “pages” and LL can mean “lines”, “lines” in a clue can also imply LL in response.
Oh, and the “track” can work the same way.
BR
The initial mentioned above is that of British Rail, whose sandwiches provided the basis for most observational comedies of the 1970s. As it was decommissioned in 1997, today’s setters can relate to it being a former company; Chiffon again:
4 years Town with an old railway company, first connected with the Ring Line (7)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for ‘old railway company’ + IST (‘first’) + O (‘circle’) + L (‘line’) ]
[ BR + IST + O + L ]
[ definition: city ]
Here’s BRISTOL; perhaps if British Rail (or, to use their former name, British Railways) returns, we can leave the ‘old’ behind.
Sta
What about the railroad business? A setter can play on the ambiguity of words like “pipe” and “cut,” and one part of the network that can be usefully abbreviated is a station. here it is Hugo:
10a Radio error, station dropout (4)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘error’ without (‘dropping’) abbrev. for ‘station’ ]
[ MISTAKE – STA ]
[ definition: radio device ]
So we remove the STA for MIKE.
El
Less common (except in American crosswords), but it’s worth knowing that it’s an ‘el’, short for an overground railway like the old Liverpool Overground. Here, Araucaria is repeatedly mean:
11a High chance this number is out of sequence (5)
[ wordplay: ELEVENS (‘this number’s’) without EL (‘lost its line’)
[ELEVENS – EL ]
[ definition: fair chance ]
Not only is the solver expected to eventually notice that “this number” refers directly to the fact that it’s 11 across, we also have to get from “line” to EL on the way to our answer, a fair chance at gambling: EVENTS.
Beginners: any questions? And seasoned solvers: any favorite rail references we should add? Do you have a good one for “funicular”?
More guidance
Cryptic devices: hidden answers; double definitions; setting by example; cryptic definitions; sound similar; spoons; stuttering; containers; reversals; initial letters; alternate letters; Cycling; replacing one thing with another; taking most of the floor; percentages of a word; bare words; first and last letters; middle letters; remove middle letters.
Bits and beans: Roman numerals; NATO alphabet; greek letters; chemistry; country abbreviations; foreign words; points of the compass; more compass points; playing cards; capitals; boys and girls; clothes; apostrophes; cricket; alcohol; the church; politics; Latin; royalty; newspapers; doctors; medicines; hospitals; music; animals; cars; money; work places; cities; rivers; boats; when a setter’s name appears; when the solver appears; “cheating”.
Individual letters: A, B, ° С, e, e, Well, Z, h, I, J, K, L, M, n, O.
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