nuILX cryptic crossword thread

go on then.

got it

bad clue imo

misuse of tense

yeah, tense is the big irritation. 'Tramp' says its his favourite from his clues, but he's overrating the worth of that kind of cleverness imo.

right, I looked it up. It makes no sense, in fact it's more a clue to another set of 5 words that does.

seems to be lacking in definition completely to me, agree that kind of clue is best in v small doses.

paul today had a few annoying but fair clues with tricksy definitions, "this is flat" for table mat being the worst.

It'd be some strange species of meta-&lit if the tenses worked, like 'thought outside the box?' - (one) must've (to get this), but because it has to be 'think' it's incoherent.

Yes, that kind of clue needs restraint. Paul usually gets it about right, but too much waggishness is the worst.

thought = "Muse" box = "TV"

don't know if everybody had realised that, sorry if u had

It's the sort of answer that'd get a "It's good but it's not right" Roy Walker response.

like, this old classic:

http://www.puzzlearchive.com/puzzlewiki/images/thumb/7/7f/029-002.jpg/300px-029-002.jpg

thought = "Muse" box = "TV"

Think not thought! That's the/my problem!

never knowingly underparrots?

"On ST is the best "Poll" I see"

think as "muse" is okay tho, i am being a bit scatty, the tense issue is really between " 've " for past and "think" = present

i remember when crosaire was still alive and everything wasn't shit

yes, i think we agree? 'think' is fine for 'muse', but wrong tense for 'must've'; it should be 'thought', which isn't ok for 'muse' - it would be 'mused', giving 'must'ved', which is nothing.

confused myself a bit, poss time to stop thinking and work.

Not overly happy with this, all the elements are there but I can't quite wrestle them into perfection:

Implores "I'm orphaned", adopting and raising is an undertaking (7)

guess i succeeded in making it difficult

-R-----

promise

yup. it's not a great clue, it just doesn't read very well. maybe someone can improve it?

it's okay i think! i know why you wanna tweak it but it reads fair, those hidden word ones are hard to clue without completely giving the game away

i think "is" is the one word there i don't like but leaving it out wouldn't work

aye, it really wants to be "adopting and raising an undertaking" - actually that doesn't read any worse imo. anyway.

Hair like gold flame (6)

auburn :)

Quiet an' piece? (8)

clue is a bit pish but whimsical

antique

Auburn - vg

antique is wrong sorry

there is a typological cheat in the clue i must say

tbh i'm pretty sure it's antique can u check again?

didn't notice the anag for antique but i'm afraid there's no clue for anag and "piece" as definition of "antique" is iff-ay

i didn't, and i don't mean to offend dear chap, necessarily rule one of yr clues out because it was 'iff-ay'

how dare u sir i am generally meticulous way past the point of pedantry

ps requiring a cue for anags is lame-o pickiness imo

every word of the clue shd be functional or its a dodgy clue imo

yep, that's not to say you need to include all indicators

Did you check was it antique btw

fuck's sake antique has only 7 letters lol

Antiques

it better not be

i wrote the clue, i assure you it's not antiques

the pope wrote quo vadimus, don't mean he new the answer tho

_ _ _ t _ _ _ _

s'antique

we'll wooden floor for later

Most dreamy could just be mixed feelings (8)