In the example clues below, I explain the two parts of each: the definition of the answer and the wordplay – the recipe for assembling its letters. In a genuine puzzle environment, of course, you also have the crossing letters, which greatly alleviate your solving load. The explanations contain links to previous entries in this series on such matters as spelling one word backwards to reveal another. And setters’ names tend to link to interviews, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.
Labour, it tells us, will nationalise the train network in its first five years. So let’s revisit an old initialism, one which never really went away in the world of crosswords – and the other rail-related things every solver needs to know.
Ry
Just as a “street” in a clue may indicate a ST in an answer, so it is with “railway” and RY. Here, for example, is Chifonie …
21d Fruit is dear in France on the railway (6)
[ wordplay: French for ‘dear’ + abbrev. for ‘railway’ ]
[ CHER + RY ]
[ definition: fruit ]
… with a clue for CHERRY. “Railway” has been abbreviated various other ways, including RLY and RWY, but since words like “pearly” and the Welsh name for Snowdon – Yr Wyddfa – come up less often than words with an R followed by a Y, RY is the one to try first.
Lines
These being cryptic crosswords, though, a railway may arrive in disguise. The usefully ambiguous word “lines” might be doing the same job. Here’s an example of such ambiguity, from Quantum:
3d Leading actor’s lines are bright and pointed (6)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘leading actor’ + abbrev. for ‘lines’ ]
[ STAR + RY ]
[ definition: bright and pointed ]
The lines are not an actor’s and the answer is STARRY. It should be said, though, that since, in making some textual reference, PP can mean “pages” and LL can mean “lines”, “lines” in a clue may equally suggest LL in an answer.
Oh, and “track” might operate in just the same way.
BR
The initialism mentioned above is the one for British Rail, whose sandwiches provided the basis for most observational comedy of the 1970s. Because it was dismantled in 1997, setters nowadays may refer to its being a former company; Chifonie again:
4d City with old railway company first linked to Circle line (7)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for ‘old railway company’ + IST (‘first’) + O (‘circle’) + L (‘line’) ]
[ BR + IST + O + L ]
[ definition: city ]
So here it’s BRISTOL; perhaps if British Rail (or, to use its previous name, British Railways) returns, we can drop the “old”.
Sta
What about the business of railways? A setter might play on the ambiguity of words such as “Tube” and “cutting”, and one part of a network that can be usefully abbreviated is a station. Here’s Hugo:
10a Radio device’s error, dropping station (4)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘error’ without (‘dropping’) abbrev. for ‘station’ ]
[ MISTAKE – STA ]
[ definition: radio device ]
So we remove the STA for MIKE.
El
Less often encountered (except in American crosswords) but worth knowing is “el”, an abbreviation for an elevated railway like the old Liverpool Overhead. Here, Araucaria is multiply sneaky:
11a Fair chance this number’s lost its line (5)
[ wordplay: ELEVENS (‘this number’s’) without EL (‘lost its line’)
[ELEVENS – EL ]
[ definition: fair chance ]
Not only is the solver expected to eventually notice that “this number” refers directly to the fact that this is an 11 across, we must also get from “line” to EL en route to our answer, a fair chance when gambling: EVENS.
Beginners: any questions? And seasoned solvers: any favourite railway references we should add? Got a good one for “funicular”?
More guidance
Cryptic devices: hidden answers; double definitions; defining by example; cryptic definitions; soundalikes; spoonerisms; stammering; containers; reversals; initial letters; alternate letters; cycling; replacing one thing with another; taking most of a word; percentages of a word; naked words; first and last letters; middle letters; removing middle letters.
Bits and bobs: Roman numerals; Nato alphabet; Greek letters; chemistry; abbreviations for countries; foreign words; points of the compass; more points of the compass; playing cards; capital letters; boys and girls; clothes; apostrophes; cricket; alcohol; the church; politics; Latin; royals; newspapers; doctors; drugs; hospitals; music; animals; cars; money; jobs; cities; rivers; boats; when the setter’s name appears; when the solver appears; “cheating”.
Individual letters: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O.
