There’s one in 17A, hinted at by “partly.” Look for something that could be euphemistically called a “morale booster” in the other part of this clue, “Dud e got ripped” - an EGO TRIP (go on one if you figured this out by yourself! Bon voyage!). One of my favorite varieties of clue is the hidden word, but they’re scarce in hard cryptics (too much confidence-building spoils the solver, I guess). When I scope for anagrams in a puzzle, I look for other low-hanging fruit. It would be so easy to fall into a trap here and try to anagram “mouthed,” because of that “off” attached to it! These are the infernal wild goose chases a great setter can send us on. You have to add a “news official,” or ED (for editor), to get “mouthed off,” or SPOUTED.
For 24A, “Potus, upset” is an anagram - SPOUT.
There are a couple of more anagrams that make up part of entries more steps make for more difficulty. Rearrange “a Taco Bell” to mean “can be found” and you’ll get LOCATABLE.Ī few anagram ingredients that are LOCATABLE by you: “ in a suit,” “ smart panel,” “ breadth,” “ armed cops.” But they make great steppingstones when you’re trying to forge a puzzle like this, especially long entries with several crossing points.Īn example is conveniently at 1A: The indication of an anagram is “refurbished,” the letters to be anagrammed consist of “laptops are” and the definition is “vastly different.” To get that definition, rearrange “laptops are” into POLES APART and - voilà - you’re on the board.ĢD, which we now know starts with an L, has an anagram “tell” - “When drunk,” which suggests discombobulation.
#SNAPPY REPLY CROSSWORD FREE#
Feel free to skip around, if you just need a letter here or there.Īnagrams, or letter scrambles, aren’t always apparent in a cryptic, they can also be few and far between. Second of all, I usually go through the clues in order, but I thought I would get the anagrams out of the way en masse, for efficiency’s sake, and then touch on the few clues I found simpler before tackling the steeper slopes in terms of difficulty. Cryptic crosswords are an elaborate ritual with lots of secret potions and spells - eminently learnable, and once you’re in the cabal, you’ll never leave. There’s a fine guide to use in conjunction with this post that will elucidate all of the clue varieties I’ll be referring to (and I will italicize those varieties for clarity).
#SNAPPY REPLY CROSSWORD FULL#
This solve was highly enjoyable, full of clever bits and pieces, which we’ll also get to in a bit.įirst of all, if this puzzle has been sprung upon you and you don’t know what to make of it at all, make yourself comfortable. I found a wide range of difficulty in the clues, including a couple that were too hard for me to figure out without a peek at the answer key (brought on by an unwise misdirect, which I’ll get to). Today’s puzzle is in no way Brit-centric, as far as I can tell there are historical and geographical references, both to the United States. Gascoigne and gleaned tidbits of knowledge like his day job (marketing strategist) and his cryptic nom de plume (Gila, a river and a poisonous lizard, and also Ali G in reverse). When that one came out, Deb Amlen interviewed Mr. This isn’t quite Ali Gascoigne’s New York Times debut, as he constructed a Monday puzzle last February (perhaps you remember the debut of BRAINFOODS? It was a good puzzle). CRYPTIC - Now then, today we have a new-to-us setter, or cryptic constructor from England, the land of the ubiquitous cryptic puzzle.
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