when youve dropped “to” from dictators, youll ground your answer
That seems very tenuous
It’s cryptic
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I still don’t get the ground bit.
Indicates it’s an anagram.
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Ground means it’s an anagram.
Extreme is the primary clue. This is almost always either at the start or the end of the clue, so either extreme or ground is the clue.
dictators having dropped to, is, as art says, dictators without t and o.
That means that ground must mean it’s an anagram of the letters in dictators without t and o.
There’s loads of ways of indicating an anagram. Anything like jumbled, or new, or cooked, or well, anything really that can be construed that way. It’s sorting out which word is the primary clue. The telegraph is very fond of anagrams, especially the prize cryptic.
It’s a lot easier than the times one which I can only ever do about a half of, and only if I’m on holidays and not stressed. I do the telegraph one because Colin Dexter said he thought it the best one. I do it to try and keep my thinking exercised. This the first one I’ve finished.
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@dawgOfadan really being ground down here by flatty.
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Not at all. It’s taken me ages. I used be able to usually finish the Crosaire one in the IT, but then emigrated, and he died, so it’s a new setter. My pal tells me he’s going to start trying that one again when he moves home in April.
The big thing about the IT one (I presume) and the telegraph one is that they have the same setter. The Times one has a different setter each day so it’s really difficult to get any handle on how they think. Sometimes I check the answer against the clue, and still have no idea how they got there.
You don’t need to be especially bright, just know how they work.
Ah i know. I used to do the same when i was in college and then for a few years after. Rare enough to get it fully out.
I used post the nice clues here. Some of them are works of art.
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The change in the Crossaire setter really threw me. I think there are 2 now and they both have their own style. The online “past clues” is handy enough to get a sense of their style alright
I only tend to have a go at it at the weekend and I’d say I’ve only completed it a handful of times but its good craic all the same
It’s a great way of passing a Ryanair flight.
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Bizarrely I can’t do them if I’m at work. I can’t think clearly enough or something.
Apologies, had a lad fitting a smart meter
Here is one which you should be able to work out @Fagan_ODowd
Stonehenge is simple, a basic anagram
Fucking smarty pants had to come in and ruin it.
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