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My usual struggles I’m afraid…

13d Newcastle card game (4,6)

*A*S/**AD**

I have no idea what to do!

Not easy, but you have to separate the new from castle and then make an anagram.

I’m not a huge fan of this type of clue, but the Guardian solver base know that it’s a trademark of this particular setter so will be used to it.

Thanks for responding.

I have no earthly idea what it’s about.

“Newcastle card” becomes New (castle card)* which yields the name of a game.

druh6sm, if it’s any consolation, I think this clue, and the idea it embodies, are rubbish. But as Jono says, they are Philistine trademarks.

You have to separate the clue to read as “New castle card game”. New then becomes an anagram indicator for “card castle” and the answer is “cat’s cradle”, a game played with a loop of string.

The fundamental flaw, imho, is that there is no indication that Newcastle should be split in that way. Philistine clearly thinks it’s awfully clever. The fact that almost nobody copies him tells its own story.

Fascinating. Thank you both.

Just as a postscript, and to add context, I asked ChatGPT this question: “Are lift-and-separate crossword clues (as these are known)Ximenean (Derrick MacNutt, aka Ximenes, being a recognised, though not universally accepted, arbiter of crossword fairness)?”

It said: “Usually: no - at least not in strict Ximenean terms. “Lift and separate” means you have to re-segment something the clue gives you as one unit (a word/phrase) into different units to make the cryptic reading work (e.g., reading INDEED as IN DEED, or splitting copyright into copy + right).

That kind of “you must change the word-breaks/punctuation to make the wordplay operate” is widely treated as a libertarian device and is often proscribed by Ximenean purists/editors. One guide puts it bluntly: “A Ximenean would choke…” at an “indeed → in deed” style clue. “

I’m not ashamed to be a purist, I’m afraid. I was brought up in the Times tradition. The Guardian, unsurprisingly, has always been at the libertarian end of the spectrum. Araucaria was famous for it.