Cryptic Clues Puzzle

You’re listening to A Way with Words. I’m Martha Barnette.

And I’m Grant Barrett.

And joining us once again is that crazy, wacky guy, John Chaneski.

Hello, John.

Hello, Grant.

You’ve got quizzes for us?

Yes.

Do you guys remember cryptic crosswords?

We’ve talked about them before.

Oh, yeah.

Doesn’t that usually end badly?

Tears and the whole thing.

Remember that a cryptic clue has two parts.

One is similar to a standard crossword clue.

The other is a description of the answer via wordplay.

Now, we’ve covered anagram clues and homophone clues.

And now we’ll talk about charade clues.

Charades.

We’re going to do charades on the radio.

But this is the old-fashioned kind of charades, right?

This isn’t the stand-up-in-front-of-people charades, right?

This is the wordplay charades.

That’s exactly right.

Okay.

I was going to say, how will we know when you’re tugging on your ears?

Will you explain the wordplay charades for everyone?

Because I don’t think many – I mean, I grew up only knowing the acting-it-out kind of charades

And only learned as an adult what the wordplay charades was.

Well, in a charade clue, the wordplay involves cluing individual words that are combined to make the answer.

For example, the clue burn slightly plus summertime juice drink equals cryptic clue type that we happen to be talking about.

So what is burn slightly?

Char.

Right.

And plus aid, which comes from lemonade or Kool-Aid.

Right.

So charade.

It looks like charade, but it’s pronounced charade.

It’s pronounced charade.

That’s right.

So that’s totally a visual.

It’s usually not phonetically a charade.

Oh, man.

So we need to pay some attention to the spelling, and pens and paper will help, right?

Yeah, pens and paper will help on this one.

Oh, holy cow.

Or pencils.

I thought the answer was toast.

I’m going to be bringing up the rear.

I’m going to be toast on this one.

Settle in, guys.

Here we go.

Buckle up.

Let’s try a few more.

Ready?

Here we go.

Okay.

Okay.

Okay, the first is do, re, mi, fa, follower, and sneaker feature equals comfort.

Okay, so solace.

So do, re, mi, fa, so, so, la, ti, do, so, so, and sneaker feature.

What are rubber soles?

Comfort, known for comfort.

Martha’s already.

I said the answer about it a minute ago.

Oh, did you do it?

I wasn’t even.

Solace.

Solace.

Sew and lace.

Solace is comfort.

Very good.

Nice work, Martha.

And very good work, Grant, with your singing.

As usual.

As usual.

Fantastic.

A deer, a female deer.

All right, moving on.

A felon plus portable campground shelter equals satisfied.

Got it.

Content.

Very.

So a felon is a con, and a portable campground structure is a tent.

So content.

Content.

Very good.

Not content, but content.

Right.

Here’s the next.

Sunshine State, for short, and Mr. Barrett equals conspicuously bad as a crime.

Oh.

Oh, so FLA, which is the AP abbreviation for it and not the postal abbreviation.

Right.

Right.

And then Mr. Barrett is moi.

Yours truly is con.

So it’s flagrant.

Very good.

Flagrant is right.

Flagrantly wonderful.

Nice work.

Yeah.

Okay, here’s the next.

Mischievous fairy plus leftover scraps equals goods brought in from overseas.

Leftover scraps.

That would be…

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, hello.

Yes.

Yeah, this is a little nod to my blog, isn’t it?

Oh, yeah.

Martha Barnette’s…

Orts.

Right.

So imports.

Imp is a mischievous fairy.

That’s right.

And ort is a little scrap of something.

So import.

Very often found in crossword, very, very big crossword answer there, ort.

And also found in Martha’s blog.

That’s right.

Yeah, my orts.

All right.

Here’s another.

Meadow plus outbuilding equals kept on a tether.

Oh, okay.

Okay.

Sounds like another crossword word.

L-E-A, like lee, right?

Right.

And then what was it?

Shed.

Shed.

So leashed.

Leashed.

But I didn’t know L-E-A was a synonym for meadow.

Well, that’s what I’m used to.

What do you think a lee is?

I’ve never heard of the word.

Oh, you’ve never heard of it?

Oh, okay.

I thought you were saying that.

I’m not reading a lot of burns these days.

I thought you were saying it wasn’t precisely.

No, no.

It didn’t precisely mean a meadow.

No, no.

I just never heard the word before.

Oh, okay.

It strikes me as the kind of thing that you’re going to find in Scottish poetry, though.

No, no, no.

Yeah, it’s a meta.

Oh, okay.

Here’s the last one.

Hopeless plus pilots with great skill equals disgusted faces.

So the second one is aces, probably.

Pilots with great skill is aces.

And the first clue is hopeless.

So that would be grim.

Right.

Grimaces.

Grimaces.

100% correct.

Wonderful.

Good job.

Super duper.

I am not making a disgusted face right now.

Making a happy face because you guys were really, really good at that puzzle.

He’s making a happy meal face.

It’s got grimace on it.

Yum, yum.

Oh, don’t say that’s the last one.

Is that everything?

That’s the last one.

That’s it?

I said don’t say that’s the last one.

I’m sorry.

You know, they’ve been going easy on us, Martha.

I’ve been saying this and I’ve got the proof now.

Yeah?

I saw Greg and John at the crossword puzzle tournament, like, stomp 700 people at once.

That’s true.

That’s right.

It was amazing.

700 people sat down because they didn’t know the answer.

That’s right.

It’s so much fun to make people sit down.

It was so great to see you guys in the audience having a good time at that.

Sitting down.

Sitting down, yeah.

As usual.

Well, anyway, that was huge fun, John, as always.

I think I enjoy these more every time.

Thank you.

Me too.

I’m having a great time.

Well, if a question about language has you grimacing or scratching your head,

Give us a call.

The number is 1-877-929-9673.

Or send us an email.

You know, we’ll take your puzzles too.

They address his words@waywordradio.org.