Alan Connor finds real and manufactured spice in his pick of the week's best – and chattiest – cryptic clues
Clueing coincidence
In Tuesday's FT, Phssthpok went winningly long in his clue …
6d Storage for tips of spearmint, pepper (ice, Cayenne), evening rosemary and chicory kernels? (5,4)
… providing an acrostic for SPICE RACK. Two days later, Tramp provided one of his themed puzzles which require little to no knowledge of the theme, listing the entire rack of Spice Girls. The clues included "Bad-tempered – wearing sporty pants initially", "Precious time with baby" and, for the avoidance of doubt …
12d Mistakes turning up– cold, horrible Gerisplittingband (5,5)
… the SPICE GIRLS.
Latter patter
A little romantic story from Hob in Thursday's Independent …
5d Where online member startscarryinga torch, perhaps? (4,4)
… as a clue for CHAT ROOM. Oxford's first citation of the term is from 1989, when Technological Horizons In Education described the "Apple Classroom of Tomorrow". A longer extract from the piece describes the project's use of the bulletin-board system:
BBS 'chat rooms,' which allow up to 23 people to converse in real time, will be regularly used to hold group tutoring sessions. Also, while online, students will be able to 'meet' other Apple-Link users from all over the country, 'attend' forums on computer topics, and access numerous information sources (encyclopedia, weather, news, and so on).
The first half of the 2000s seems to be when the great decline in chatroom use began and since then, the same hanging-out, talking-with-the-regulars behaviour has migrated to social networks; to places where it doesn't really fit, like the comments sections of BBC correspondents' blogs and to subject-specific places were it does, like Health Unlocked and the subject of this week's challenge. Reader, how would you clue MUMSNET?
Clueing competition
Thanks for your clues for WHITE WHINE. We had a delightfully tedious litany of minor beefs, with charming surfaces including JollySwagman's "Henry's getting stuck into the Chardonnay", gleety's "Online forum reveals Dr Who spoiler? In a River thread, reportedly" and jamesthecat's "Spoilt beef alleged to go nicely with fish?".
The more outlandish approaches included MelonMouse's snappy "Honky Honk" and wellywearer2's reckless experimentation, placing the letter count inside the clue for "Snowy 'owl? (5,5) – damn, why can't we edit our posts?".
The runners-up are Middlebro's audacious soundalike "Wait, Wayne! There are more important things to worry about than my posh accent" and Truth101's pithy "Sauvignon blanc gets hot, which is typical of my problems"; the winner could only be andyknott's precise, telling "Whinge when the Wii malfunctions?".
Kudos to Andy – please leave this week's entries and your pick of the broadsheet cryptics below.
Clue of the week
We usually prefer a smartly executed variation on "normal" clueing around these parts, but special puzzles, in particular anniversaries, can justify a different approach. And so when on WednesdayMicawber wrote an across clue which was rendered on the page as …
9 9 (9)
… and the penny dropped that EMERGENCY has nine letters, this was a cheekily welcome addition to a Telegraph Toughie puzzle which was, after all, number 999, and so formed part of the week of Thousand Toughie celebrations, of which there are more details in our previous post. Nein, nein, nein, but also ja, ja, ja.