The official bored-at-work cryptic crossword pass it on thread.

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Okay yeah! Solve the current one, post your answer and new one.

Alan, in the afternoon, is a tree (4)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 8 December 2005 16:50 (nineteen years ago)

Palm

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 8 December 2005 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

palm

xpost

― Huk-L (Huk-L), Thursday, 8 December 2005 16:52 (nineteen years ago)

yew

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 8 December 2005 16:53 (nineteen years ago)

Okay Huk and Onimo new clue please!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 8 December 2005 16:54 (nineteen years ago)

Almost create a fib, perhaps, or tell one (9)

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 8 December 2005 16:55 (nineteen years ago)

fabricate

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 8 December 2005 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

Yes, your turn!

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Thursday, 8 December 2005 16:56 (nineteen years ago)

Maybe we should have some sort of rule whereby if someone gets one and then doesn't put up a new clue after ten minutes, it defaults to whoever wants it?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

(if only because I am here until bloody seven today)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:08 (nineteen years ago)

OK, here's a classic

City stylish in the past (7)

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

Chicago! Nice.

Ok here's one: Unsuccessful rock promoter (8)

― ledge (ledge), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:11 (nineteen years ago)

Thread of my dreams :)

Can't do the one above though :(

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:26 (nineteen years ago)

Oh well - I'm off now, feel free to post a new one if no-one gets it.

― ledge (ledge), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

It's a hard one!

Later TL!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:29 (nineteen years ago)

I don't know what this is- poorterm? That's not a word.

The Chicago clue is not original- I've seen it and its variants in puzzles many times.

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:31 (nineteen years ago)

Damn, I have to go now too. Later!

― Archel (Archel), Thursday, 8 December 2005 17:32 (nineteen years ago)

This is just the thread I need to get me through the day - and I killed it!

S_S_P_U_

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:52 (nineteen years ago)

Aw, man, that is the greatest clue EVER (once I'd worked out the answer, which took about 2 seconds once you'd put the letters in!)

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 08:55 (nineteen years ago)

Answer being Sisyphus, btw.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:06 (nineteen years ago)

Correctamundo - and thanks! - your turn then.

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:09 (nineteen years ago)

Wow, that's genius.

New clue! Ailsa you there?

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:13 (nineteen years ago)

Okay, well, I'll post an easy one to get us rolling again:

Heats sacks (5)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:24 (nineteen years ago)

Fires.

Id's involved in painful, er, mistake. (8, 4)

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:34 (nineteen years ago)

Freudian Slip!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:36 (nineteen years ago)

Even my hired lady must submit (5)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:37 (nineteen years ago)

Well done!

― The Vintner's Lipogram (OleM), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:42 (nineteen years ago)

Yield

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:45 (nineteen years ago)

Oh, sorry, went off to have some breakfast. New clue:

Country with its capital in Czechoslovakia (6)

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:47 (nineteen years ago)

I don't have a paper on me, so here's a classic:
GSEG (9, 4)

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:48 (nineteen years ago)

sorry, xpost

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:49 (nineteen years ago)

Norway

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:50 (nineteen years ago)

Scrambled eggs!

(xpost, yes correct)

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:50 (nineteen years ago)

Not posting the answer to ailsa's but it's my favourite clue ever :)

x-post :)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:51 (nineteen years ago)

Haha I meant's Sam's! Ailsa's is good too though obv.

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 09:54 (nineteen years ago)

Gambler mixes rent up (6)

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:03 (nineteen years ago)

(I know I didn't win the last one but I thought of that on the train this morning and didn't want to forget)

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:03 (nineteen years ago)

punter!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:06 (nineteen years ago)

Punter. (xpost, bah)

I can't think of any more just now - will go trawling through my newspaper recycling box and come back later.

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:07 (nineteen years ago)

S is very hush hush (3,9)

― Tag (Tag), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:09 (nineteen years ago)

(3,6) I mean. Spanner.

― Tag (Tag), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:09 (nineteen years ago)

(ailsa or sam do you want this one, or shall I pick one?)

(this thread has saved work)

x-post okay: 'I have recognized my son!' he said proudly (5,2,3)

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

Tag's is top secret, this one has me stumped...

― ledge (ledge), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:14 (nineteen years ago)

I can't work out top secret! :(

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:20 (nineteen years ago)

"s" is the first (top) letter of secret, innit?

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:20 (nineteen years ago)

Harsh!

― Gravel Puzzleworth (Gregory Henry), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:21 (nineteen years ago)

What's harsh is not having any other letters to at least get a starting point for these...

― ailsa (ailsa), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:22 (nineteen years ago)

I might need to check the 'quickie' clue for that last one :-(

― Onimo (GerryNemo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:31 (nineteen years ago)

That's my boy!

― Sam (chirombo), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:32 (nineteen years ago)

That's my boy.
xpost

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 9 December 2005 10:32 (nineteen years ago)

Skipping 5633 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

I guess it's referring to the governmental not geographical entity, which makes a bit more sense synecdoche-wise. Probably inspired by endless references to bonkers brussels bureaucrats in the tabloids.

― a holistic digital egosystem (ledge), Friday, 21 July 2023 14:41 (one year ago)

I also had never seen "uppers" for broke either, but I think I learn a new British slang term every couple of days.

― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Friday, 21 July 2023 14:50 (one year ago)

i'm brassic mate, i'm skint, i'm on me uppers. i can't even qualify for my pension.

― a holistic digital egosystem (ledge), Friday, 21 July 2023 14:54 (one year ago)

Okay, brassic just blew my mind.

― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Friday, 21 July 2023 15:00 (one year ago)

it threw me a bit the first few times i heard it irl. you're what?

― a holistic digital egosystem (ledge), Friday, 21 July 2023 15:07 (one year ago)

Most posh wine shops getting into alcohol-free (8)

TOFFIEST. I actually got this one with a little guessing, but it cracked me up because both parts of the clue, plus the answer, are three things that an American who has never encountered a cryptic crossword would be flabbergasted by.

― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 31 July 2023 14:21 (one year ago)

(narrator) I was still flabbergasted.

― Three Rings for the Elven Bishop (Dan Peterson), Monday, 31 July 2023 14:22 (one year ago)

That is funny, but I although I could work out what “toffiest” means I’ve never heard it used. For that matter, I’ve never heard anyone say “toffy” meaning posh (or manifesting as posh). Toff, by all means.

― Tim, Monday, 31 July 2023 14:37 (one year ago)

https://ih1.redbubble.net/image.3906317085.6465/st,small,507x507-pad,600x600,f8f8f8.jpg

― koogs, Monday, 31 July 2023 15:22 (one year ago)

five months pass...

Doing cryptics every few days I encounter a new slang term I’ve never heard before. Today it’s budgie smuggler.

― Large, Complex, Detailed but Irrefutable POST (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 23 January 2024 02:29 (one year ago)

Pretty much universally understood here in Australia, expressions like this are what we have instead of culture (with apologies to our First Peoples)

― meat and two vdgg (emsworth), Tuesday, 23 January 2024 05:53 (one year ago)

four weeks pass...

Lots of them in this week’s Quiptic: clobber, beanfeast, browned off, as well as discovering that spaghetti on toast is a thing.

― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 20 February 2024 03:34 (one year ago)

I would imagine it's mostly done with tinned spaghetti, similar to beans on toast (obviously i am far too well bred to have ever had such a thing myself).

― ledge, Tuesday, 20 February 2024 09:37 (one year ago)

That’s it exactly, looks particularly nauseating with SpaghettiOs.

― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 20 February 2024 13:16 (one year ago)

two months pass...

I’ve seen it often enough but still get tripped up by MY = COR. Do people still say Cor? Or better yet gorblimey?

― Requiem for a Dream: The Musical! (Dan Peterson), Monday, 13 May 2024 18:24 (one year ago)

I'd figure it out once I already had the answer but doubt it would help me to get there.

― ledge, Monday, 13 May 2024 18:48 (one year ago)

five months pass...

have had 10 Everyman crosswords open in different browser tabs for light relief at work (numbers 4000-9). none quite finished, a few are down to 2 and a half unsolved clues.

anyway, Alice Roberts has just solved one for me whilst traveling across Turkey (sultan-a).

― koogs, Sunday, 10 November 2024 12:09 (seven months ago)

there's another dried grape related clue in today's everyman and it's one of the worst clues I've ever seen:

‘Time to get up, Mr. Warne: would you like some dried fruit?’ (4,3,5)

― french cricket in the usa (ledge), Sunday, 10 November 2024 12:20 (seven months ago)

isn't that missing something? like why we are mispronouncing words so badly

― koogs, Sunday, 10 November 2024 12:22 (seven months ago)

There seems to be a bit of a vogue for clues like that recently. It’s supposed to be an accent gag but doesn’t actually work

― Heartbreaking: the worst novel you’ve finished has a staggering genius (wins), Sunday, 10 November 2024 12:26 (seven months ago)

Just got that, it's dreadful

― badder living thru Kemistry (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 10 November 2024 19:56 (seven months ago)

Doesn't sound true in my head either

― badder living thru Kemistry (Noodle Vague), Sunday, 10 November 2024 19:58 (seven months ago)

That’s awful, made moreso for an American by referencing cricketers.

I always hate accent clues, if that’s actually what this is, like this one from last week:

Yorkshireman’s ultimately mean (6)

― Glam conspiracist (Dan Peterson), Monday, 11 November 2024 12:46 (seven months ago)

ok that's gently amusing tbf

― badder living thru Kemistry (Noodle Vague), Monday, 11 November 2024 12:48 (seven months ago)

This was another recent one:

Noddy Holder’s dairy-free cuppa in evening wear? (5,3)

― Heartbreaking: the worst novel you’ve finished has a staggering genius (wins), Monday, 11 November 2024 12:56 (seven months ago)

i know that's just a retread of an old joke but tbh as a west midlander we do not make that vowel sound

― badder living thru Kemistry (Noodle Vague), Monday, 11 November 2024 13:03 (seven months ago)

So it’s common knowledge that Noddy is from West Midlands and solvers know to apply a regional speech pattern to dairy free cuppa? That’s mind-boggling.

I’ve actually started to understand some of the similar Cockney accent clues occasionally.

― Glam conspiracist (Dan Peterson), Monday, 11 November 2024 13:24 (seven months ago)

I get the Warney one and the Noddy Holder one, but what's the Yorkshireman one?

― kinder, Monday, 11 November 2024 20:21 (seven months ago)

int’end

― Heartbreaking: the worst novel you’ve finished has a staggering genius (wins), Monday, 11 November 2024 20:35 (seven months ago)

ah cheers

― kinder, Monday, 11 November 2024 21:55 (seven months ago)

two months pass...

Angler hopes for this amount of information, we're told (4)

so, easy enough, but can you tell which of the two they want? the i/y was unchecked so it could be either

― koogs, Friday, 31 January 2025 13:35 (five months ago)

You want the one in the first half cause the “we’re told” is in the latter half indicating that’s the wordplay part & the other is the definition part

― the babality of evil (wins), Friday, 31 January 2025 13:39 (five months ago)

that was indeed the case (everyman #4017)

― koogs, Friday, 31 January 2025 14:44 (five months ago)

anyone do the daily minutecryptic? just one clue a day which is about my pace. oddly I have been able to do them all with minimal hints.

― kinder, Thursday, 13 February 2025 07:36 (four months ago)

just started! an easy one today.

― birming man (ledge), Thursday, 13 February 2025 08:41 (four months ago)

three weeks pass...

loads of pop references in the guardian prize https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/prize/29637

in clues or answers - bowie (cracked actor), big star, rem, stones, royksopp, ac/dc, spice girls, the police...

― birming man (ledge), Monday, 10 March 2025 15:08 (three months ago)

amazing clue in grauniad:

Do I monitor racy act in shot? (8,11)

― birming man (ledge), Tuesday, 11 March 2025 09:09 (three months ago)

internet anagram server to the rescue

― koogs, Tuesday, 11 March 2025 09:38 (three months ago)

xxp the Norwegian one was a surprise!

― Critique of the Goth Programme (Neil S), Tuesday, 11 March 2025 09:43 (three months ago)

I wonder if the commenters at fifteensquared will be up in arms about it.

― birming man (ledge), Tuesday, 11 March 2025 10:45 (three months ago)

the second of dave gorman's new Modern Life Is Goodish had a bit about his 15^2 beefs. he sets cryptic crosswords for three different papers.

so r......p with anag(spooky) in it. why r......p though?

― koogs, Tuesday, 11 March 2025 12:48 (three months ago)

crypt intermittently

― birming man (ledge), Tuesday, 11 March 2025 13:08 (three months ago)

internet anagram server to the rescue

would not have got that otherwise!

― kinder, Tuesday, 11 March 2025 16:43 (three months ago)

I have never heard that phrase before, but yes that’s amazing!

― Founder of America’s Golden Age (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 11 March 2025 16:55 (three months ago)

four weeks pass...

Being American I have never heard of this in my life, even in cryptic crosswords. This is a common expression?

https://qmhistoryoftea.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/shall-i-be-mother/

― Founder of America’s Golden Age (Dan Peterson), Tuesday, 8 April 2025 21:07 (two months ago)

I'm well aware of it, have come across it on TV and in books, possibly I've heard it jokingly irl. I wouldn't be that surpised if it's still used seriously by older generations.

― constant gravy (ledge), Tuesday, 8 April 2025 21:29 (two months ago)

one month passes...

!!!

Earth cover lifted revealing some stimulating objects (6)

― Founder of America’s Golden Age (Dan Peterson), Monday, 19 May 2025 20:35 (one month ago)

Nice

― the babality of evil (wins), Monday, 19 May 2025 20:43 (one month ago)

one month passes...

Anyone else doing the Minute Cryptic? I enjoyed today’s:

One goes into debt flying private jet? (5)

https://www.minutecryptic.com/

― once beloved, recently troubled (Dan Peterson), Saturday, 28 June 2025 20:31 (two days ago)

i had to get a hint to the definition, then I got it. oddly I was reading a book that day with that word being discussed!

― kinder, Saturday, 28 June 2025 20:54 (two days ago)

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