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AFR Cryptic (9/12/2023) Worked Solution
(click on the clue number to see the hint)
Click on underlined text for explanation of terms.
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“Short” is used as a
; “rented” = LET
“Stag once” must be treated as a unit
Imagine what such a sign might say
“Sugar” is a verb!
“developed” is used as an
; “opening” = VENT
“two types of cheese” = (CH)eese
“record” = REC
“experienced” = HAD
A word or series of words that signify the loss of one letter at the start or end of a word or string of letters.
Examples: beheaded, cut short, endless, nearly, largely etc.
A type of clue that involves the mixing up of letters without the inclusion of a letter or letters. This clue will have an anagram indicator to signify jumbling and a subtraction indicator to signify the removal of a letter or letters.
A removed letter may be as seen in the clue, an abbreviation for a word in the clue, or the result of another cryptic device like taking the initial letter from a word. Removed letters may be a whole word as seen in a clue, the synonym of a word in the clue (if that synonym is contiguous within the anagram fodder), or the result of another cryptic device like taking the middle two letters from a word.
A word or series of words that signify a mixing-up of letters.
Examples: changed, at sea, confused, all over the place - anything that indicates change or jumbling.
The answer is hidden inside the clue in reverse order. There are two indicators: one to signify that a hidden word is present; the other to reverse the letters.
The answer is a jumbling of letters except for the initial or final letter of the anagram fodder. An anagram indicator and truncation indicator will be present.
A type of clue that involves the mixing up of letters without the inclusion of a letter or letters. This clue will have an anagram indicator to signify jumbling and a subtraction indicator to signify the removal of a letter or letters.
A removed letter may be as seen in the clue, an abbreviation for a word in the clue, or the result of another cryptic device like taking the initial letter from a word. Removed letters may be a whole word as seen in a clue, the synonym of a word in the clue (if that synonym is contiguous within the anagram fodder), or the result of another cryptic device like taking the middle two letters from a word.
A word or series of words that signify a mixing-up of letters.
Examples: changed, at sea, confused, all over the place - anything that indicates change or jumbling.
A type of clue where the WHOLE clue defines the answer, and the WHOLE clue also is the wordplay (a mechanism to derive the answer through various cryptic devices). "&lit" is short for "and literally".
To qualify as an &lit, a clue must have no unused components either in the definition or the wordplay - it must be readable one way as a definition, and another as the wordplay.
The structure of the answer involves either letters placed outside other letters, or letters placed inside other letters. Which type of container clue is determined by an appropriate container indicator.
