Sure, farmers do other things and other people could operate the tractor, but driving a tractor seems a likely activity for a farmer, and a farmer seems one of the likeliest people to be a tractor operator. I had sought his feedback on Neyartha's clue in which "farmer" was defined as "tractor operator" - I thought that was not OK. I used to be firmly in the Ximenean camp on unindicated definitions by example until an email exchange last year with Peter Biddlecombe made me reconsider. The result seems better if the Ximenean rule is relaxed. One clue is Ximenean, the other not entirely so. The acceptability of such clues generates a lot of debate on the Times solving blog.Īlberich, a setter with the Financial Times crossword, makes an interesting case in this article with different clues for the word CARPET, each using three definitions by example. That "biology" is an example of SCIENCE is unindicated.
Times 24440: What biology student must do makes moral sense (10) CONSCIENCE There is a shift away from too rigidly following this rule nowadays, notably in the Times crossword. The Ximenean requirement is that a definition by example must be qualified: word(s) like "for example", "perhaps" must accompany the example. The Indicated vs Unindicated D-By-E Debate Times 24375: Bone from a fish found in tin? (10) MET(A CARP)ALĪ CARP (fish) in METAL (tin, an example of metal) The next clue uses this device in the wordplay - the container word is defined by example. MEN (workers) in (STEEL)* and three examples that lead you to ELEMENTS Guardian 24384: In sort of steel, workers put in iron, carbon and manganese, say (8) ELEMENTS One that helpfully gives us multiple examples for the answer: Guardian 25015 (Brendan): Come and go, say, in workplaces around river (9) OPPOSITES Some clues that use definition by example:įT 13385 (Orense): Try to protect badly aged bowler, for example (8) HEADGEAR
So, NOVELIST may be defined as "Dickens, perhaps", DOG as "setter, maybe". The definition in a cryptic clue is not always a synonym of the answer it may be an example or sub-type of the answer. You can also subscribe by email and have articles delivered to your inbox, or follow me on twitter to get notified of new links. If you wish to keep track of further articles on Crossword Unclued, you can subscribe to it in a reader via RSS Feed.
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