Words that mean their own opposite feature in our collection of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic clues
In the sample clues below, the links take you to little explainers from our For Beginners series.
4d/24ac Spooner says cad’s loud music is why he can’t start his book (7,5)
[ wordplay: spoonerism of expression meaning ‘cad’s loud music’ ]
[ spoonerism of ‘blighter’s rock’ ]
[ definition: why he can’t start his book ]
23dTango on drugs, showing a bit of leg? (5)
[ wordplay: what ‘tango’ represents in Nato alphabet + synonym for ‘on drugs’ ]
[ T + HIGH ]
[ definition: a bit of leg ]
10acLockdown enforcerendlessly complained, unfortunately (9)
[ wordplay: anagram (‘unfortunately’) of COMPLAINED without its last letter (‘endlessly’) ]
[ anagram of COMPLAINE ]
[ definition: lockdown enforcer ]
12ac Equivalent of work pressure, love (4)
[ wordplay: abbrev. indicating musical ‘work’ + abbrev. for ‘pressure’ + ‘love’ in the tennis sense ]
[ OP + P + O ]
[ definition: equivalent ]
When you dust something, are you adding (sugary) dust to it or removing (skin-flake-y) dust from it? Or both? (But why would you do both?)
There’s an infamous philosophical contranym: Hegel’s use of the German word Aufheben– which means both ‘to raise up’ and ‘to cancel’ – to describe the transition from one dialectical stage to the next. Cue 200 years of arguments as to how best to translate this.
Sales of toilet rolls to self-isolate? (7)
One is so tired of editors (7)
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