The Stickler Weekly 148 Solution

23-across in last week’s crossword is a little “out of character” for a Stickler puzzle. I put it in there on purpose to give me something to write about this week (sort of). The clue, A clock, one with a particular role? (7), needs the solver to treat clock as c + lock, and then find a synonym for lock . It’s a tall order, and falls into the libertarian category, that is, it disobeys standard language rules, forcing the solver to basically process the “word” (and processing it the right way to make the clue work) before actually using it in a clue. However, if I do this sort of thing (and I don’t very often), it will always be accompanied by a “?” (my “language abuse” warning) as I believe it’s my duty to warn solvers when all it not as it seems (or can’t be validly taken). For me, anything less is not being fair to the solver, as such shenanigans without warning could lead to anarchy. Take a look at this clue, 14-across: Deposit stated in legal document may be held up (7) If every word could be broken down before use, then the clue could look like this: Depo + sit/Depos + it, st + ate + d/stat + ed, i+n, l + eg + a + l/ le + gal etc etc. Imagine having to look at every word in every clue this way, which is at the extreme end of libertarian clueing, but of course, without indication, every clue has to be looked at this way. That’s why I need to indicate a variation to the norm by adding a “?” (and, BTW, not including and “?” where it doesn’t apply) – after all we are playing a word game here and liberties can only go so far. Is it right for every clue to be libertarian? That’s for solvers to judge, but a crossword written that way would be a hard slog to solve and the majority of clues would only unravel after the answer has been found, defeating the whole purpose of cryptics IMO.
It should be noted that libertarian setting is much easier than traditional Ximenean clueing as each word potentially has more options for the setter. Often such setting is seen as more creative, yet the setter has more tools to play with and is making it easier for themselves by using this style.
I’m happy to hear your feedback on this type of thing. As I said, it’s not a common thing in Stickler crosswords and it is indicated, so hopefully it isn’t too left-field for most solvers.