A personal take on the best dozen Times crossword clues from the last 5 years
Part two of a thirteen-part series of blogs

In addition to computer training, Andy Brown is also an addict of the Times Crossword. In this blog Andy takes a break from blogging on software to list his 12 favourites clues from the last 5 years of puzzles.

  1. 12 best Times Cryptic Crossword clues of the last 5 years?
  2. 12th position (from puzzle number 26670) (this blog)
  3. 11th position (from puzzle number 26345)
  4. 10th position (from Sunday Times puzzle 4698)
  5. 9th position (from puzzle number 26796)
  6. 8th position (from Jumbo crossword puzzle number 1171)
  7. 7th position (from puzzle 25442)
  8. 6th position (from puzzle 26322)
  9. 5th position (from puzzle number 26111)
  10. 4th position (from puzzle number 26734)
  11. 3rd position (from Sunday Times puzzle 4687)
  12. 2nd position (from Sunday Times puzzle 4659)
  13. In 1st position (from puzzle 25482)

Posted by Andy Brown on 11 December 2017

You need a minimum screen resolution of about 700 pixels width to see our blogs. This is because they contain diagrams and tables which would not be viewable easily on a mobile phone or small laptop. Please use a larger tablet, notebook or desktop computer, or change your screen resolution settings.

12th position (from puzzle number 26670)

In 12th position, a clue which seems to be about a flight of health workers landing safely (the number in brackets shows how many letters there are in the answer):

Hear the district nurses got to ground safely (7)

A cryptic clue should have two readings.  One (the surface reading) should ideally tell a story which has got nothing whatsoever to do with the final answer; the other reading typically contains a definition of the answer, and some wordplay leading you to it.

So let's try this clue again - but this time I've put the definition in capitals:

Hear the district nurses GOT TO GROUND SAFELY (7)

This gives the answer: EARTHED.  You can see this more clearly with more capitals:

hEAR THE District nurses GOT TO GROUND SAFELY (7)

So another way to read this clue is that the phrase HEAR THE DISTRICT nurses a definition of the phrase GOT TO GROUND SAFELY.

A hidden clue like this is one of the less common types of cryptic clue.  The Times crossword has a self-imposed limit of at most one hidden clue per puzzle.

Now you've got the idea, see if you can solve these hidden clues:

Puzzle Clue
25538 Academic rose, condemning boxing in an instant (11)
25591 Run out of gear? Avoid lending clothes (4)
26258 Devastate a fort, wounding a number inside (3,3,3)

Note that there always has to be an indicator that you're looking for a hidden word: in the above clues, this is BOXING, CLOTHES and INSIDE respectively.

  1. 12 best Times Cryptic Crossword clues of the last 5 years?
  2. 12th position (from puzzle number 26670) (this blog)
  3. 11th position (from puzzle number 26345)
  4. 10th position (from Sunday Times puzzle 4698)
  5. 9th position (from puzzle number 26796)
  6. 8th position (from Jumbo crossword puzzle number 1171)
  7. 7th position (from puzzle 25442)
  8. 6th position (from puzzle 26322)
  9. 5th position (from puzzle number 26111)
  10. 4th position (from puzzle number 26734)
  11. 3rd position (from Sunday Times puzzle 4687)
  12. 2nd position (from Sunday Times puzzle 4659)
  13. In 1st position (from puzzle 25482)
This blog has 0 threads Add post