Clued In (Blogs)

Clued In #348 | Indications are, the puzzle can be solved

 |  15 July 2021

Hey there, and welcome back to Clued In!

We’re used to picking out the indicators in a clue by how they imply some sort of dynamic change. Usually, in the interest of making the clue concise, setters use succinct indicators marked by a single word. But now and then, a single indicator can be rather long, running into a three-word phrase, leaving you rummaging your brain trying to work each word out instead of treating a group of words as a single phrase.

Was the above clue fun to solve? Did you get a kick out of understanding how to work out the answer to a cryptic crossword clue? Did you enjoy being given a random sentence that ultimately leads to a completely unexpected but totally decipherable answer? Do you feel like you could use some help to guide you towards the answer for each of the 20-30 clues that usually bamboozle you in each puzzle? Well, look no further!

Ok, look just a little further. Because, every Sunday, The Hindu Crossword Plus posts a ! Go ahead and bookmark that link and play the latest puzzle.new The Hindu Cryptic puzzle with annotations for each clue

Each annotation will give you helping hints and hold your hand as we work out the answer together. If you liked the long-winded explanation to the above clue, then you will surely enjoy the crisper versions we give you in puzzles, when you click the button ‘Reveal’ and then ‘Show a hint’.The Hindu Cryptic on Sunday

And guess what, is .The Hindu Cryptic on Sundayabsolutely free! All you have to do is sign up to play

To become better at solving cryptic crosswords, you should do one simple thing. Just subscribe to The Hindu Crossword Plus. That’s the place where you can solve cryptics live to your heart’s content. Come over to Clued In to get your doubts cleared and your craft honed.

Click right to subscribe to the interactive THCrosswordPlus, so you can solve on your mobile phone, get hints, and even check your answers on the go!here

The Hindu Cryptic #13301 | Afterdark | 13 AcrossClue explained:Musical work, enchanter pouring soul out on centre stage (5)CLUE:

: abbreviation, deletion, letter-pickClue types

: musicalDefinition

:AnswerOPERA

We need a 5-letter word here that means ‘musical’.

Another word for ‘work’ is operation, which can be abbreviated as OP.

‘Pouring soul out’ is a deletion indicator asking us to remove the contents of the word ‘enchanter’. This means we are left with only its shell, its outermost letters, E and R.

‘Centre stage’ is a letter-pick indicator telling us to select the middle letter of ‘stage’, which is A.

And altogether, that spells OPERA, a kind of ‘musical’!