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crypticnoobie

11th November 2017, 18:48
(Is there an way to preview/edit/delete past posts?)

I have a few more, that hopefully are better. My goal is to reach about 8-12 that are solid, and then lay those out.

This is a reconfiguration of the BOARD GAMES clue I tried earlier:
Sweetheart runs away from a bored mage (5,4) - board game[\b]
Heart ("middle") of sweet is E, E runs away from A BORED MAGE, which leaves
A BORD MAGE, which scrambles to BOARD GAME


Then I tried two using &lit hints, which as I understand it from reading the wikipedia entry, are phrases that could be followed by "and literally so"?, and are clued by a !

Discovered coldhearted, at death's door! (3) - OLD[\b]
Discovered clues to a hidden words clue, and cOLDhearted has old in it. "At death's door!" is meant to also indicate OLD is the right word, especially the crossword has a general theme of poking fun at him getting older.

Seeking discomfort you waited four decades! (5) - FORTY[\b]
Seeking clues to finding a word, which is "discomFORT You".
The ! clues that it also contains the literal definition, which is "four decades"
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crypticnoobie

11th November 2017, 18:55
Arrg. Sorry for multi-posting. (I was using the wrong type of slash)


Fixed up another one:

Found in the cold, at death's door! (3) - OLD
"found" clues to a hidden words clue, and cold contains "old". At death's door!" is meant to also indicate OLD.

Is "at death's door" enough of a literal definition of "old" to deserve using the !, do you think?
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rossim

11th November 2017, 19:08
How about?
Found in the drool drips, at death's door.
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malone

11th November 2017, 19:12
I don't really see that 'at death's door' =old, I think 'at death's door' can mean seriously ill, seriously hurt etc.

I think A Bored Mage/ A Bord Mage looks too much like the anagram that it is. ''A bored mage' is not a phrase that would naturally crop up in conversation , so the artificiality of it would give too much away. Also, I don't think there's any form of definition in your clue.
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crypticnoobie

11th November 2017, 19:36
Yeah, you have a very good point, A BORED MAGE looks too much like the anagram that it is.

And yeah, I'll drop the !.

Drool drips is great! I'll use that as is! Perfect.

What about:

Plank Sports (5,4) - Board Game [/]
, as a double definition clue

or, as a punny clue,

Dull Fowl (5,4) - Board Game
BORED, homophone of Board, and FOWL, a type of game (in the hunting sense)


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crypticnoobie

11th November 2017, 19:37
Arrg, I gotta start double-checking my bold tags. X)
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malone

11th November 2017, 19:41
Glad you didn't mind my points,I didn't want to seem too discouraging!

I like Dull Fowl better than the earlier versions, but I think you need something to indicate the homophone. I think you also still need a definition of some sort,to make it a clue- it's just a phrase at the moment.
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crypticnoobie

11th November 2017, 19:50
Yeah, no problem. Feedback is always welcome, and I entered with the mindset that it's my first time, and I'd probably have to scrap most of it, so it wasn't a surprise.
Plus, I'd rather learn to do it properly!

So the wikipedia page on cryptic crosswords (which I'm using as my main guide), has a section on double-definition clues, and it says:

"These clues tend to be short; in particular, two-word clues are almost always double-definition clues."
&
"Note that these clues do not have clear indicator words."

So I figured it was ok to just have "Dull Fowl"

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malone

11th November 2017, 19:55
I could be wrong,but I think the two word double definition clues involve the two words each leading to the answer- ie they're doubly defined.
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crypticnoobie

11th November 2017, 20:16
Like "Serious Plot" being a clue for Grave, right?

Yeah, I think I'm confused, and I'm mixing double definitions with homophone clues. Maybe I can save "Dull Fowl" by changing it to:

"Utterly dull fowl"
or
"Reportedly dull fowl"
or
"we heard dull fowl"
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