Please explain this crossword answer

[Maurice Yeatman]

Te He He.

Yep. One for the Breaking Bad fans.

[Maurice Yeatman]

Fifteen Squared is very useful for understanding clues, I just have to ignore the "difficult one for me, had even finished my coffee!" or some similar humblebrag. It has now been drilled into me that Eros is not in fact the statue in Piccadilly Circus as is often claimed.

One in ten comments, "A bit of a curate's egg for me", and no one brave enough to point out that the curate's egg was all bad, that was the joke.

[touchingcloth]

I feel like a traitor to my country for saying so, but I strongly prefer the New York Times crossword over UK cryptics - it relies more on wordplay and lateral thinking than knowing an obtuse set of rules and lingo, and the structure of the crossword itself is usually cleverer too. Have yet to come across any other US newspaper with anything of equal quality, though.

This sounds interesting - do you have an example of a satisfying clue? It looks like it's paywalled online.

[Shaxberd]

This sounds interesting - do you have an example of a satisfying clue? It looks like it's paywalled online.

If you download the app they let you do a few for free, but here's a taster selection I found: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/02/14/cricticschoice/crosswords/remarkable-puzzles-will-shortz.html

What I like about the NYT crossword style is that a lot of the clues are straightforward but there's often wordplay and double meanings. The rows and columns overlap densely, helping with hints, but the overall puzzle is still challenging (depending on day - they get harder throughout the week, so Monday puzzles are easy and Friday puzzles are tough). A lot of them have a theme which only reveals itself as you start solving it. The downside is that you do have to have a good familarity with American cultural and political references.

[kalowski]

This is a beauty from Anax in today's Sunday Times:

As 33 is here, No 102 is too (8,5)

Funny, but needs a question mark to be a proper clue. Assume it did and you just missed typing it.

[Norton Canes]

This is a beauty from Anax in today's Sunday Times:

As 33 is here, No 102 is too (8,5)

Must be the week for this sort of thing. The i a couple of days ago had:

He perhaps isn't seething with rage (5,3)

[C_Larence]

Why is the answer inert gas and why is that not shit

[kalowski]

Inert gas is an anagram of isn't rage.

"Seething" is the indicator of the anagram. Bit of a dodgy indicator but nice clue otherwise.

[Maurice Yeatman]

"Seething" is the indicator of the anagram. Bit of a dodgy indicator but nice clue otherwise.

Seething can be synonymous with churning, which seems fine to me.

[kalowski]

Seething can be synonymous with churning, which seems fine to me.

Yeah, fair enough. My dictionary gives "to be agitated" as a definition so that works for me.

[magister]

I used to spend hours on the phone to my dad every weekend doing the Saturday Guardian crossword. He died Christmas 6 years ago - I've barely tried one since.

Possibly my favourite clue for pure economy - jammed cylinder (5,4)

[kalowski]

Swiss roll?

[kalowski]

A personal favourite, from Bunthorne, I think.

Hit song: O setter, O setter's setter. (4,2,4,2,3)

[magister]

Swiss roll?

That's the one.

[pancreas]

I used to spend hours on the phone to my dad every weekend doing the Saturday Guardian crossword. He died Christmas 6 years ago - I've barely tried one since.

Possibly my favourite clue for pure economy - jammed cylinder (5,4)

That's a famous Rufus clue

[FeederFan500]

The Guardian's concise one has the odd bit of wordplay and anagrams, even the occasional double definition, it's probably a reasonable entry point into cryptic crosswords. Looking at the NYT one there's too much trivia I just don't know. I often get stuck on concise ones looking for synonyms rather than examples, I will be trying for ages to work out why 'hue' doesn''t seem to fit for colour (3)

[kalowski]

Online the guardian had the quiptic (I think it's called that) which is a quick cryptic and is entry level puzzle.

[madhair60]

fuck are any of you on about. jesus christ

[kalowski]

https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/series/quiptic

[C_Larence]

Inert gas is an anagram of isn't rage.

"Seething" is the indicator of the anagram. Bit of a dodgy indicator but nice clue otherwise.

Somebody said earlier in the thread that the clue for what the answer actually is comes at the beginning or the end, but He and seething rage aren't synonyms of inert gas. Why aren't he, perhaps, and with included in the anagram?

[kalowski]

Somebody said earlier in the thread that the clue for what the answer actually is comes at the beginning or the end, but He and seething rage aren't synonyms of inert gas. Why aren't he, perhaps, and with included in the anagram?

It's quite a smart little clue. He is the chemical symbol for Helium, and an inert gas.

Here's a good one to get you used to how these things work

Wandering sailor and worker concealing blunder (8)

Spoiler alert

Wandering is the definition
Sailor = AB (as in able bodied seaman)
Worker = ANT (a common definition)
Blunder = ERR
So if they conceal blunder it is hidden inside them:
AB + ERR + ANT
ABERRANT = Wandering

[close]

[kalowski]

I got that from here: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/quiptic/1254#1-across
This is a nice one for beginners.

[C_Larence]

It's quite a smart little clue. He is the chemical symbol for Helium, and an inert gas.

Oh ok, that's quite nice fair dos

[pancreas]

A personal favourite, from Bunthorne, I think.

Hit song: O setter, O setter's setter. (4,2,4,2,3)

Needed Spotify's autocomplete help, but Love me like my dog, I think

[kalowski]

Needed Spotify's autocomplete help, but Love me like my dog, I think

love me, love my dog.

0 = Love (in tennis)
Setter = me (the person setting the crossword)
Setter's setter = my dog.

[pancreas]

Well, that makes more sense ofc, but I hadn't heard of either song and "Love Me 'Like' My Dog" came up first.

[madhair60]

Well, that makes more sense ofc, but I hadn't heard of either song and "Love Me 'Like' My Dog" came up first.

just admit you got it wrong because you are stupid.

[Norton Canes]

Nice bit of anagrind inversion in that i crossword too:

A way to get artist some water in NZ? (4, 6)

[Maurice Yeatman]

A personal favourite, from Bunthorne, I think.

Hit song: O setter, O setter's setter. (4,2,4,2,3)

I thought that was one of Araucaria's, but you could be right, they had similar styles.

Seems weird now to think that Bunthorne often co-presented Granada Reports alongside Tony Wilson. When TV presenters weren't factory-produced.

EDIT" 'factory' - no pun intended!

[Maurice Yeatman]

https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/series/quiptic

The best introductory level puzzles are the Times Quick Cryptics that appear five times a week from a stable of about 15 setters. The Guardian Quiptic is only once a week and uses only 4 or 5 setters, not all of whom seem to be able to reduce the difficulty appropriately. Unfortunately the Times crosswords aren't free.