Comments on: Guardian 24,901 / Brendan

By: Peter Biddlecombe

Peter Biddlecombe — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 07:55:41 +0000

Thanks for the plug for my advice. There are a few things that only seem to be true in crossword land, but not as many as some people think – all of those “ancient” abbrev’s like SA and gen are still in your dictionary, and will turn up in real life if you keep watching out (like the revival of the 1920s/30s “it girl” a while back). With a bit of work(!) like first looking up “Op.” and then “opus”, the explanation is nearly always there. Likewise “go” = energy – look up go, noting that energy is only a noun and therefore looking at the noun meanings first. If dictionary-bashing is a new experience, read the instructions at the beginning carefully, especially if you’re using Chambers – their various space-saving tricks can make it tricky to find things if you don’t remember how the entries are structured for words like SEA with many related words.

By: IanN14

IanN14 — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:56:07 +0000

Carolyn,
Con is an old verb meaning to learn or study.
Used a lot in crosswords because it’s handy.
I think you’ll find very few peoples’ minds work in exactly the same way as Araucaria…

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:31:45 +0000

Thanks for that, you are a welcoming bunch!

I’m aware of GEN for information but the others were new to me. Why is CON study? Out of curiosity. I was quite proud of myself for getting DEN to mean study in a previous crossword – but then I’m young enough to have been brought up with Americanisms!

I’ve looked at Peter’s guide which is helpful in the abstract, but I think you need to get to know each setter’s personal style. Let’s just say that, from comments on this board, I seem to be doing ok with the crosswords everyone finds easy to the point of banality, but I don’t know where to begin when it comes to Auracuria (sp?). Our minds don’t work in the same way!

By: Sil van den Hoek

Sil van den Hoek — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:27:42 +0000

Hi Carolyn, and as others said: Welcome to the Club (and a Club it is … )

In my opinion the following site has a lot of useful information:
http://cryptics.wikia.com/wiki/Cryptipedia

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 00:01:07 +0000

Hi Carolyn, and welcome.

AB stands for Able-Bodied (Seaman) so is often used in crosswords for “sailor”.
Go = energy as in “he’s got a lot of go”, or I suppose “get up and go”.
OP = work is the abbreviation for Opus, used to identify musical works. (And it literally means “(a) work” in Latin.

There are lots of abbreviations and other words like this that are used all the time in crosswords, some of them dated ones that are now pretty much ONLY used in crosswords: for example
IT = SA (sex appeal)
GEN = information (old RAF/Army slang?)
CON = study

See for example Peter Biddlecombe’s guide to cryptic crosswords for more information along these lines; but it’s mainly a case of learning by experience – keep at it!

By: Eileen

Eileen — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:57:28 +0000

Hi Carolyn

Welcome – and join the club! We all started from where you are!
No such thing as ‘asinine questions’ – I’ll get back to you!

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:49:30 +0000

Hi all. I am new to cryptic crosswords. I started my learning curve by back tracking and just filling in the answers to see how they fit. Some of them have really boggled my brain which is why I’m so glad to have found this website! This week I have managed to ‘complete’ Monday, Wednesday and Thursday’s crosswords with just a couple of gaps – but there are some clues that I just don’t recognise the abbreviations for. Abbreviations that seem to be ‘understood’ by the cryptic crossword community on here. Can anyone help me?!

Today 23d I get salt as a sailor, but why is AB a sailor?
Yesterday – the GOOP/GOON question. Why is energy GO? It may be my science teacher brain taking energy too literally but I don’t get it! Also why is ‘work’ OP? Again, science teacher brain goes off into the realm of Watts, kw/hours etc!

Thanks for any help I get, and apologies in advance for asking asinine questions over the coming months. Hopefully, as I get better, it won’t take me 5 hours to get to almost completion!

By: sandra

sandra — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 23:02:50 +0000

just read derek’s comments at #34, and oops! i realise for the second time this week i appear to have said something i didn’t quite mean at 19. it is meant to be a reference to the fact that i miss going into book shops and browsing before choosing what to buy. not that i think you were referring to me derek! i have jb’s collection of essays “the land without brussels sprouts”, and i find some of them entertaining, but some are way over my head. so i have wondered how they would read in french. that will teach me to preview carefully in future!

sorry. this post is way out of order i should think. enough.

By: stiofain

stiofain — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:35:44 +0000

Pretty easy for a Brendan and with a much more flagged up ( dare I say clumsy? )theme than usual but some nice clues. Rarely I find myself agreeing with Derek but Ive battled my way through a few of his novels and dont see how he has gained the reputation he has.

By: john goldthorpe

john goldthorpe — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 22:28:57 +0000

I found this relatively easy for a Brendan – but excellent cluing, as usual. Pity, though, that he seems so hooked on Julian Barnes. I’m with Derek here.