The Stickler Weekly 179 Solution

A while back I mentioned the son of a former neighbour who contacted me asking for advice regarding setting cryptics. He is now in his late 20s and was looking to learn more about the art of setting after solving a local cryptic for many years. He had created a number of cryptics for review and also wanted to correspond about common cryptic crossword issues. Some of these issues I have used as a basis for some of these cryptic spiels. I recommended two books:
Crosswords (Teach yourself books) by Alec Robins and Chambers Crossword Manual by Don Manley, both of which he has now digested and come to this conclusion:
“I revisited the clues I sent you last year, with an eye out for syntactically correct wordplay, and quickly identified about two thirds of them as invalid or at least controversial.”
There’s a couple of lessons here. It’s different when you are on the receiving end. All you have to do is find the answer: when you are a setter you have to construct clues that lead the solver to the answer, and that means fully understanding how clues work, and what’s considered acceptable and not. (I’m always surprised when solvers have a go at setting and they use something in a clue that they have never seen used before in their go-to crossword – why would they do that?) It’s crucial for anyone who wants to set to learn how to do so by reading books, talking to setters and studying the best crosswords out there. Learning to set by solving a lot simply doesn’t work. Not all crosswords are created equal. Don’t assume that because your amateur crossword is similiar to the one in a local paper that it will be acceptable everywhere – all the more reason to spread your solving wings and use best parts from many different cryptics to create your own style.