Clued In (Blogs)

: abbreviation, containmentClue type

: what Ali Baba declaredDefinition

:AnswerOPEN SESAME

We are looking for a two-word phrase that is just ‘what Ali Baba declared’.

If you’re a contract lawyer or importer-exporter, you would be familiar with the expression Errors and Omissions Excepted (E&OE). Such commonly-used terms are generally accepted as standard abbreviations only in their full form. However, in this case, since we are given the words ‘omissions excepted’ so clearly and in the standard order, we can assume that the setter wants us to pluck out the relevant letters from the standard abbreviation, and get OE.

Another word for ‘writes’ is PENS.

‘Down’ is a containment indicator as it is what you might do when you drink up a medicine or pint right quick. So, WrdPlougher is telling us here that O and E together ‘down’ or drink up PENS. That makes OPENSE.

(Alternatively, another way of thinking about the word ‘down’ is as an insertion indicator. How? Well, when you say you are ‘down’ with something, you are signalling, in urban American slang, your acquiescence or intent to participate, which indicates that you would like to insert or involve yourself in the activity. So, ‘writes down’ could also be read as “PENS is in”.)

Remember, punctuation is redundant in cryptics. And so, if we remove the comma from the words ‘exactly, like’, the synonym would strike us the SAME.

And when we split these hard-won letters into a (4,6) word structure, altogether, we get OPEN SESAME, which is exactly, like, ‘what Ali Baba declared’!

: abbreviation, containment, letter-picking, link wordClue type

: throttleDefinition

:AnswerGAS PEDAL

We are looking for a two-word phrase that means ‘throttle’.

Another word for ‘boy’ is LAD.

An abbreviation for ‘girl’ is G.

‘Running back’ is a reversal indicator telling us to arrange LAD and G in reverse order as G and DAL.

‘Laps regularly’ is telling us to select the even letters of ‘lApS’, which are A and S.

An abbreviation for a ‘sports department’ is PED.

‘To back’ means to support, and therefore it is a containment indicator telling us that GDAL is to be wrapped around ASPED.

‘In full’ is a new kind of link phrase that serves to connect the wordplay with the definition. This one is to be parsed as follows — “when the wordplay is worked out IN FULL, definition”.

Altogether, that spells GAS PEDAL, our (3,5) term for ‘throttle’!

: tail deletion, containment, abbreviation, letter-pickingClue type

: promiseDefinition

:AnswerLOVE LETTER

We’re looking for a (4,6) term that, in a way, means or suggests ‘promise’.

Another word for or example of a ‘jackpot’ is LOTTERY. ‘Almost’ is a tail deletion indicator telling us that LOTTERY is not quite fully spelled out. And so, we delete its tail and get LOTTER.

The Roman numeral for ‘five’ is V.

‘Elections — a third’ is telling us to select only one third of the nine letters that are used to spell ‘elections’. That gives us ELE.

‘Winning’ is a containment indicator as it suggests that LOTTER has gained V and ELE.

Altogether, when we split those letters into two words of 4 and 6 letters each, we get LOVE LETTER, which is a ‘promise’ of undying love made by a passionate suitor! (You know how it is with young lovers who pen love letters — they are apt to make ostentatious vows and histrionic declarations of eternal companionship and perpetual affection, just to win a date with their prospective paramore... when a simple expression of interest would have sufficed!)