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Hello all,

Just dipping my toe into setting and I have a quick question.

If I see the indefinite article "a" in clues, my first thought is that it's probably cluing A, AN, PER, or ONE. Would it be considered fair to make "a" be cluing the letter "I" (since A=ONE=I)?

Maybe it's safer to just write "one" in the clue instead of "a" but it's a shame when that hurts the surface.

i've seen it the other way round - "one" to give A , so it might be considered legit.

Using 'one' for 'a' (and vice versa) is fine, as is using 'one' for 'I'. But 'a' is not 'I', and 'I' is not 'a' - they can only be equated through a shared synonym ('one'), and if this were allowed then, say, 'appropriate' could be used to indicate 'escort', since appropriate = take = escort.

I should avoid it. The most important thing about any clue is that it should be fair - there's a big difference between a solver going 'Ahhh!' and going 'Huh?'.

Hi nxe
A = one and one = I doesn’t mean A = I, but I think you knew that. I’m sure it’s been done, but the most important thing is that the clue is fair overall.

Btw, if you’re getting to clueing have you considered joining the clue setting challenges here (threads titled Clueless, Peer Review and Weekend Peer Review)? Good way to try out ideas and get feedback, all very friendly...

I should have refreshed before posting, Spoffy put it better than I did

I thought we both put it very nicely :-)

Thanks both! Much appreciated. Yes, I probably should enter those :)

The second definition of A (upper case) in Chambers is "a dialect form of I" as a pronoun, but this is too obscure for all but the most advanced crosswords. Even then, the A would have to be capitalised so isn't much use except at the start of a sentence!

Loge raises an interesting question: how far is it legitimate to take the "punctuation may mislead" device? If it is legitimate to capitalise a word in the clue (other than the first word) to suggest falsely that it is a proper noun, is it legitimate to lowercase a proper noun?

Be that as it may, when I have set puzzles I have constantly had to remind myself that I am working back from the answers, and that what looks to me like terribly clever wordplay may not be of any use to a solver who is trying to work the other way.

Sandy Balfour (qv) quoted the Times crossword editor who said: "Crossword setters are entering a game in which the point is to lose gracefully."

I'm strongly against decapitalising proper nouns, though there seems to be a growing movement in favour, judging by comments on some blogs. To my mind, it is simply grammatically wrong. The argument that people don't usually capitalise in text messages (I'm an exception!) doesn't carry much weight these days, since smartphones usually autocorrect proper names.

False capitals are another matter - titles and eye-catching headlines have employed capitals for anything other than prepositions and conjunctions for years, and we often capitalise to make a Major Point which we think is Really Important. I don't recall ever seeing complaints from even the most strict grammarians about this.