Pocket Crossword Dictionary

481 Pages·2005·2.34 MB·English

by  B. J. Holmes

POCKET
CROSSWORD
DICTIONARY

POCKET
CROSSWORD
DICTIONARY
B. J. Holmes
A & C Black(cid:1)London
www.acblack.com
Crossword Clues and Extracts
Throughoutthisbookwehaveusedpartsofcluesandcluestoillustratea
particularstyleofpuzzleandhowtosolvetheclue.Itwouldhavebeen
difficultandconfusingtoincludethesourceofeachclueinthemain layout
ofthebook.Instead,wehavecreditedthesourcesbelow.Theclueswehave
used have come from a range of newspapers and magazines – we are
indebted to the crossword setters for making the puzzles interesting,
challenging and enjoyable to solve!
Thepublicationsusedassourcesinclude:DailyExpress,DailyMail,
DailyMirror,TheDailyRecord,DailyTelegraph,FinancialTimes,
TheGuardian,Independent,IndependentonSunday,TheObserver,
RadioTimes,TheSun,SundayTelegraph,SundayTimes,TheTimes
First published in Great Britain 2001
Reprinted 2003
This second edition published 2005
A & C Black Publishers Ltd
37 Soho Square, London W1D 3QZ
© B. J. Holmes 2001, 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the publishers.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-10: 0-7136-7503-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-7136-7503-0
eISBN-13: 978-1-4081-0169-8
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
A & C Black uses paper produced with elemental chlorine-free pulp,
harvested from managed sustainable forests.
Text processed and typeset by A & C Black
Printed in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
INTRODUCTION
Crosswordsareawasteoftime.There’salwayssomethingmoreusefulto
do. Like pursuing a career, raising kids, wallpapering, walking the dog,
writing a novel. At least, that’s the way I saw it for many years.
ThatisuntilIfoundmyselfflatonmybackwithachronicillness.Inthat
situationeventhedelightsofTV,radioandrecordsbegantopalland,in
frustration,Iturnedmyattentiontothecrypticpuzzleinmydailypaper.
UptillthenIhadnevergiventhewretched,impenetrablethingmorethana
glance.AtfirstIhadlittlesuccess,managingmaybeacoupleofanswersif
Iwasluckybeforethrowingitasideinfrustration.However,intimeand
usingassortedreferencebooks,Ieventuallycompletedmyfirstgrid–to
mysurpriseandimmensesatisfaction.FromthenIwashooked, andwas
soon sampling all the broadsheet and tabloid papers – buying, begging,
borrowing or stealing.
And,intime,Iwaspickingupprizesfromnationalnewspaperssuchasthe
Financial Timesand theIndependent.
Lookingback,Icanseethatmyinterestincrypticswaskick-startedwhen
itdawnedonmethattherewassomeregularityinthetricksthatcompilers
got up to. As I couldn’t keep all their little dodges in my head I began
writingthemdown,solelyformyownreference.Intimethenotesbecame
a thick file by the side of my bed.
AlthoughIuseassorteddictionaries,thesauruses,referencebooksandso
on – it was when I realised my own file had become not only my first
meansofattackwhenfacingavirgingrid,butalsomymost-usedsource,it
occurredtometherewasabookinitthatcouldbeusefultoothers.And
you hold the results in your hand.
BACKGROUND
ThestorygoesthatthefirstcrosswordappearedinanAmericannewspaper
(theSundayeditionoftheNewYorkWorld)atthebeginningofthelast
century. Since then crossword puzzles have spread to most cultures and
have taken a variety of forms – from the original straightforward
definitional type requiring factual answers to the more abstruse cryptic
kind characterised by the use of convoluted clues, using puns and the
playingoflanguagegames(seenextpage).Today’sgridscanbesquare,
rectangularorodd-shapedandcanhaveeitherblacksquaresorthicklines
to separate the answers.
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WHAT’S THE POINT?
Forastartcrypticcrosswordsmustbeenjoyedbyalargenumberofthe
populationbecausevirtuallyeveryBritishnewspaper,nationalandlocal,
carriesone.Andtherehavebeenmanyfamousaddicts,notablyfilmstar
Richard Burton, who we are told, had to have daily access to British
crypticsnomattertowhatpartoftheworldhisjoborwealthhadtaken
him.
Moreover, there is mounting medical opinion that they are downright
healthy! Regular mental exercise is just as important as daily physical
exercise and several prominent doctors have extolled the virtues of the
crossword habit in staving off the ravages of age on the brain.
THE NATURE OF CRYPTICS
Crosswordscanbeclassifiedbroadlyintotwogroups.Firstlythereiswhat
is called the definitional type. They are easily recognized because their
cluesareusuallyshortandtheirsolutioncallsforknowledgeratherthan
languagemanipulation.TheyappearundervarioustitlessuchasQuickie,
Coffee-breakandConcise.Theyhavetwomainsub-categories:thegeneral
knowledgetypeandthespecialised,thelatterappearinginmagazinesand
drawing on the specialist knowledge of their particular readership from
pop music and golf to train-spotting.
Thenthereisthecrypticwhichhaslessthenatureofaknowledgetestand
morethecharacterofagame–anakedbattleofwitsbetweenthecompiler
and the punter. And, like a game, it has its rules and conventions. An
understandingoftheseisnecessaryandthatisoneofthepurposesofthis
book.
CRYPTICS – CRACKING THE CODE
Inordertosolvecrypticsitisusefultolookattheexercisefromthepoint
ofviewofthecompiler.Thesetterofacrosswordisactuallyonaparwith
aconjuror.Inbothactivitiesthenameofthegameisdeception.Deception
hastwoforms.Firstly,disguise.Aconjurorwilldisguisethetrappingsof
histrade:whatseemslikeasolidbox,canbehollow.Similarly,through
the clever use of words a crossword compiler will draw a veil over his
actual intent. For example,
'Serve held by the Italian superstar' (4)
embodiesacoupleofdisguises.‘Serve’isdressedupintheclueasanoun,
whereastheunderlyingintentionisthatitshouldbeequatedwiththeverb
‘toDO’(i.e.asacharlady).Ontheotherhand,‘Italian’isdisguisedasan
adjective relating to ‘superstar’, yet its role lies in the two words ‘the
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Italian’(i.e.Italianfor‘the’)whichisIL.Finally,DO‘heldby’ILyields
the solution IDOL, a term which can be applied to a superstar.
Converselyanouncanbedressedupasaverbtothrowyouoffthescent.
Take
'Hide article held by Goneril's father' (7)
Sitting at the front ‘Hide’ looks for all the world like a verb and you
probablywouldn’trealiseitisn’tuntilyoustartputtingthethingtogether
fromtheclue’sotherparts.Goneril’sfatherisLEAR–don’tworryifyou
didn’t know this, it’s the kind of thing we have in our glossary. Then,
LEAR goes around THE (article) to produce the answer LEATHER, a
noun synonymous with hide.
Thesecondformofdeceptionismisdirection.Theastuteobserverknows
that whenever a conjuror says ‘Look, nothing in my hand’, the real
businessislikelytobetakingplacesomewhereelse,likethemagician’s
otherhand.Andsotoo,withthecrossword.Onemustfightthetemptation
to look where the compiler is directing our attention.
Example:
'Set meal' (2,6)
This is a familiar phrase describing restaurant fare. Once we are on our
guardthatwemightbebeingmisdirected,thelastthingweshouldthinkof
is a restaurant! So, what else can the word ‘set’ imply? A radio set? A
televisionset?Bellsmightringatthatpoint,leadingtothenotionthat,in
that context, a ‘set meal’ is in fact a TV DINNER.
Remember,thecrosswordcluehastobesynonymouswiththesolution(or
atleastbestronglysuggestiveoftheanswer)sothecompilerwillbevery
wilyinusingtheonlytoolsavailabletothecraft:disguiseormisdirection,
usually both at the same time.
EQUIPMENT FOR THE JOB
The beginner really needs to have a handful of reference books handy.
Now,thereisafeelingamongstmanysolversthattheuseofbooks,etc.is
in some way cheating. I have no such qualms. Of course, there will be
expertsolverswhowillpridethemselvesonfinishingabroadsheetcryptic
withnouseofaids,buttheseluckypeoplemustbeaminority,anenviable
elite.Myattitudehasalwaysbeenthatthecompilerhasmanybooksand
aidsathisdisposalsowhyshouldthecommon-or-gardensolver(likeme
and most of the readers of this book) be at a disadvantage?
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So you need:
1 astandarddictionary,thebiggerandthemoreuptodatethebetter.
Obviouslyyoucanonlyuseadictionaryifyoualreadyknowwhatyouare
lookingfor,sothemainfunctionofyourdictionarywillbeforconfirming
spelling.Howeveritcanalsobeusedforcheckingtheexistenceofaword
you’ve never heard of.
Asanexample,theword‘barathea’maymeannothingtoyou–asitmeant
nothing to me when I tackled the following clue:
'Arab returns holding two articles made from a
fine woollen cloth' (7)
However, ‘Arab returns’ gives you BARA, while THE and A are ‘two
articles’. Putting the articles into BARA leads you to BAR-A-THE-A.
Neverheardofit,wesay.Butyoulookitupinyourregulardictionaryand
discover (again, as I did) that BARATHEA is some kind of fabric.
Anothervaluableusefordictionariesistosearchforsomecombinationor
phrase, provided you know the first word. Say you are faced with
'Tossed aside?' (9,6)
and the letters you already have suggest that the first word might be
‘throwaway’butyouhaveamentalblockover‘aside’(mentalblocksdo
happen). Looking through a dictionary can reveal the expression
THROWAWAY REMARK – and you’re there.
2 athesaurus,whichwillprovidesynonyms.Theoriginalthesaurus
(Roget) now has several versions on the market.
3 anatlas.OneofthesidebenefitsofcrosswordpuzzlesformeisthatI
am pushed into brushing up my geography.
4 aUKGazetteer(forexample,anAAbook)asalmostanytownand
villageintheUKisfairgame.Alsobewarned:aknowledgeofLondon
landmarksandsuburbs,nottomentionUndergroundstationsandlines,is
assumed.Ifyouliveoutinthestickslikemeyouwillneedsomekindof
map of the capital.
In addition you will find useful
5 Brewer’sDictionaryofPhraseandFable.Ihadneverheardofthis
wonderfultomeuntilsomeoneboughtmeoneasapresent.Itisinvaluable
asareferenceworkonClassicalMythologyandawholerangeofliterary
and linguistic material.
6 abookofquotations.Notessentialbutyouwillgettheoccasional
quotationthrownatyou.Butdon’tbetooworriedbecausethequoteswill
be well-known ones.
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7 anything with elementary French, German, Spanish, etc. (say, a
touristphrasebook)ascompilersarepronetoincludebasicwordsfromthe
majorlanguageswhentheyhaveamindto.However,themostcommon
borrowingsfromforeigntonguesthatareusedinsolutionconstructionwill
be found in our glossary.
8 abookoflists,usuallywithCrosswordinthetitle.Suchabooknot
only gives all kinds of lists (flowers, mountains, etc.) but does so very
helpfully in order of word-length. For example, Crossword Lists,
publishedby A&CBlack.(Inthepresentbookwedoincorporatelistsbut
we restrict ourselves to the short words amenable to being used as
components.)
Also, some of these books (and some dictionaries) list abbreviations,
which figure constantly in cryptics. The present book does not aim for
comprehensiveness in the provision of abbreviations, but most common
ones have been included in the glossary along the way.
9 finally, the kind of books that you might find on the family
bookshelf–theBible,historybooks,generalknowledgebooks,the
worksofShakespeareandsoon–willnotcomeamiss.Thecharacters
createdbyMessrsShakespeareandDickensareregularcastmembers
onthecrosswordstage.SeeExit,pursuedbyabear,alsopublishedby
A&CBlack.
Incidentally,don’tbeputoffbythelengthoftheabovelist.Oneortwo
books you probably have already and you can pick up the others
piecemeal.Ifoundthatoncepeopleclosetomeknewofmynewpastime,I
began receiving appropriate books as presents.
Adailydoseofcrypticpuzzlesolvingnotonlykeepsthemindactive–and
you’llbesurprisedhowmanypeopleyoumeet(strangersincluded)who
shareyourpastimeonceyougetintotheswingofit–itisalsoanongoing
educational experience. That is why it is no sin to use the back-up of
referencebooks–indeed,evenapocketcrosswordmachine.Ireceivedone
of the latter as a present and am not ashamed to include it in my armoury.
My technique is to tackle a puzzle in three stages:
1 I go through and see what I can do unaided;
2 then use books (starting with this one), and finally
3 takerecoursetomylittlebattery-operatedfriend,whenthereareany
obstinate holes left in the grid, as there usually are. Again, this isn’t
‘cheating’. Professional compilers use them, so why shouldn’t we?
Interestingly,itisoneoftheconstantpleasuresofcrosswordsolvingthat,
afterhittingabrickwallwithaparticulargridandputtingthethingaside
forawhile,acriticalanswercancomeeasilywhenonereturnstoit.Asin
otherareasofactivity,thevaluetothemindofabreakisamysteriousbut
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