Alan Connor demystifies the devices used in cryptic crosswords. This time: ‘I’ve’, ‘you’re’, ‘he’s’, ‘she’d’ and other snappy fragments
Next in our toolkit for the cryptic-curious, a device that benefits us all, setter and solver alike.
When a clue uses a word like “I” or “she”, the little cryptic recipe that we call a clue can have the feel of a diary entry, even the start of a short story. Good news for the solver.
12ac Man’s going to fire (4)
[ synonym for “man’s going to” ]
3d The lady is going to Hull (5)
[ synonym for “the lady is going to” ]
1ac Affair makes the woman explode (7)
[ synonym for “the woman” + synonym for “explode” ]
19d The woman’s in a tizzy, causing rupture (6)
[ synonym for “the woman” + anagram (“tizzy”) of “in a” ]
[ HER + anagram of INA ]
17ac Showing admiration, Enigmatist is doing Mr Rusbridger’s job! (9)
[ synonym for “Engimatist is” + jocular description of the Guardian editor ]
[ I’M + “PRESS ED” ]
22ac Shop you had with a number of floors (8)
[ synonym for “shop” + synonym for “you had” ]
[ STORE + YE’D ]
1d That woman’s in bed, rising with energy, one expects (6-2-2)
[ synonym for “that woman” inside a synonym for “bed” backwards + abbrev. for “energy” ]
[ HER inside MOTTOB + E]