Muristek
Continuing our series for those tempted or daunted by the cryptic crossword: getting to the heart of the matter
In the example clues below, I explain the two parts of each one: there is a definition of the answer and there is some wordplay – a recipe for assembling its letters. In a genuine puzzle environment, of course, you also have the crossing letters, which hugely alleviate your solving load. Hence “crossword”. Also, the setters’ names tend to link to profiles of the individuals behind the pseudonyms.
A crossword setter sometimes wants you to take the letter at the end of one of the clue’s words to make up part of the answer. Slightly more often, you are looking for the letter at the beginning of a word. And slightly less often – as you have probably guessed – you want the letter in the middle. Here’s Pan:
31a Celebrity holding middle of musical instrument (5)
24a Name a character in the centre of big Gulf state (5)
21a Sad lover’s essentially missing you (7)
5d Girl from the middle of Panama becoming saint (5)
21a Essentially miserable time? (3)
6d Refuse to acknowledge central role in public utility (3)
1d Clue for hotel in remote location? (6,2,7)
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