We consider the many senses of ‘dive’ in our pick of the best of the broadsheets’ cryptic clues
In the sample clues below, the links take you to explainers from our beginners series. The setter’s name often links to an interview with him or her, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.
16a Morning Boris! Fancy a bit of something tasty? (8)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for ‘morning’ + anagram (‘fancy’) of BORIS + A (‘a’) ]
[ AM + BROSI + A ]
[ definition: bit of something tasty ]
16aFunction hosted by Boris in error (4)
[ wordplay: letters contained in (‘hosted by’) BORISINERROR ]
[ definition: function ]
20a Tree surgeon sees Yeltsin getting into paintings, etc (8)
[ wordplay: first name of Yeltsin contained by (‘getting into’) synonym for ‘paintings, etc’ ]
[ BORIS inside ART ]
[ definition: tree surgeon ]
27aCheating footballer might resort to this seedy joint (4)
[ wordplay: double definition ]
Dive reached its heyday with US prohibition (1920–33) but the term dive bar has persisted, lending an air of spurious romance to otherwise unexceptional drinking places]
CAUTIONS FOR UNSPORTING BEHAVIOUR
There are different circumstances when a player must be cautioned for unsporting behaviour including if a player:
• attempts to deceive the referee, eg by feigning injury or pretending to have been fouled (simulation)
The answer to this cryptic crossword clue is ‘CURDS’.
Explanation:
‘Lancashire cheese’ is a type of cheese that is commonly known to be made from milk curd.
‘A little bit of’ indicates that we need to take only a small portion of the word.
Therefore, if we take a small portion of ‘curds’, we get ‘CURD’, which is a synonym for ‘a little bit of Lancashire cheese’.
23dPiece – albeit weak – numerous at the outset? (4)
The answer to this clue is ‘part’.
Explanation:
‘Piece’ is a synonym for ‘part’.
‘Albeit weak’ suggests that we need to remove a letter that means ‘weak’ from a word that means ‘part’. The letter we need to remove is ‘w’, which is a common abbreviation for ‘weak’ (eg in physics, ‘W’ is the symbol for watt, a unit of power).
‘Numerous at the outset’ indicates that we need to use a word that means ‘numerous’ and take its first letter. The word we need is ‘plenty’, and its first letter is ‘p’.
Removing the ‘w’ from ‘part’ gives us ‘part’, and adding the ‘p’ from ‘plenty’ to the beginning of ‘part’ gives us ‘part’.
1dPin-up about to tuck into a lot of raw food (5,4)
[ wordplay: reversal (‘up’) of a synonym for ‘pin’ and abbreviation for‘about’, both inside (‘to tuck into’) A (‘a’) and most of a synonym for ‘raw’ ]
[ reversed LEG and C inside A and NAKED – D ]
[ GELC inside ANAKE ]
[ definition: food ]