The current situation starts to appear in our pick 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.
14acFlesh-eatingvirus racoon develops (11)
[ wordplay: anagram (‘develops’) of VIRUSRACOON ]
[ definition: flesh-eating ]
27acStupefied, practising social distancing? (6,3)
[ double definition ]
11acCelebrated ensemble envelopedin smoke that’s excessive (7)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for London Symphony Orchestra (‘celebrated ensemble’) inside (‘enveloped in’) synonym for ‘smoke’ (often as a verb) ]
[ LSO inside FUME ]
[ definition: excessive ]
21acRoughstray caught scratching around (4)
[ wordplay: anagram of (‘stray’) CAUGHT without (‘scratching’) abbrev. for ‘circa’ (‘around’) ]
[ anagram of CAUGHT – CA ]
[ definition: rough (as a noun) ]