great cryptic crossword clue

riamu

riamu

riamu

Associate
Joined
10 Sep 2003
Posts
930
i am a fan of cryptic crosswords and found this great clue in the Guardian newspaper, i hope you like it:

Eleven plus two minus one, amazingly (6 letters)

At first sight you might say the answer is twelve, for those not trained in cryptic crosswords. Yes, the answer is twelve, but by combining the words eleven and two then removing the letter one.
Eleven + Two = ElevenTwo

ElevenTwo - One = ElevTw

Rearrange the answer gives Twelve

Hope you liked it.
Here are two others which i like from past occasions.. Can you solve them?

(1) Time for breakfast (8 letters)
(2) Biscuits and nuts (8 letters)
 
Last edited:
I can't do cryptic crosswords. My brain is just incapable of figuring these out. I've been told there's a knack to it, but I'm clearly too stupid to pick this up.
 
Can't be a coincidence otherwise it's far too simple for a cryptic clue.

As for me I also am unable to think my way around cryptic clues.:o
 
i learned to love cryptic clues when studying at my local library. The librarian was a fan of them and he taught me the method of doing some and i found it fascinating. Mainly from Guardian newspaper (and on their website). I still get stuck on many and ask for his help but they are worth looking at, very stimulating.

When you add letters of Eleven and Two, you get ELEVENTWO

Now remove the letters of the word ONE, so we remove O, N and E from ELEVENTWO and we get ELVETW, which, rearranged, is TWELVE. I thought it was a spooky coincidence !

As for the other two clues, well I have to say I did love the first one:

Time for breakfast (8 letters)

Well the actual clue is Time, but in what context? And what can you have for breakfast? Well, if I am naughty, I might go to prison and 'do time'. Porridge is the answer ! I believe you can also say 'he is doing porridge' and porridge is something you can have 'for breakfast'

Can you do the second clue? Split the clue up into two parts, Thanks and Enjoy!
 
Last edited:
Doohickey said:
Facepalm. I'm no good at cryptic clues but I still know that neither 'morning' nor 'snacks' are 8 letters long... :p
Click to expand...

It's cryptic because people eat less than 8 biscuits or more than 8 nuts so it isn't actually that many letters. As morning is the first part of the day it means you only have to use the 'first part' of the letter allocation.

Easy.
 
Ok i will help you out with Biscuits and Nuts.....

The answer is a kind of biscuit and it can also mean nuts in the sense 'he is nuts' i.e. crazy. Answer is 8 letters.
 
riamu said:
Ok i will help you out with Biscuits and Nuts.....

The answer is a kind of biscuit and it can also mean nuts in the sense 'he is nuts' i.e. crazy. Answer is 8 letters.
Click to expand...

Right, so hobnobs, digestive, malted milk, rich tea, oreo, bourbon, jammie dodgers, maryland...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom