Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

LightNews

Catnip

@catnipxword.bsky.social

410 followers 570 following 1.8K posts

Learning to set cryptic crosswords at https://mycrossword.co.uk/Catnip. Lover of wordplay, silliness, awful puns, quizzes, etc. Part-time proofreader. Booklover. Bellringer. Accidental runner. I also have a day job.

mycrossword.co.uk

Posts Media Videos Starter Packs

Pinned

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · Jan 1

🧵 Some suggestions for anyone who feels like getting into cryptic crosswords this year:

1. Get a good book to cover the basics of cryptics. Times (Tim Mooney) and Telegraph (Chris Lancaster) books are good, and I'd also recommend this by Colin Dexter: www.amazon.co.uk/Cracking-Cry... (1/6)

Cracking Cryptic Crosswords

Cracking Cryptic Crosswords eBook : Dexter, Colin: Amazon.co.uk: Kindle Store

www.amazon.co.uk

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 22h

Hm, okay. I confess I was slightly distracted at the time, so it's possible I missed something.

It did get me wondering, though, exactly how it determines whether you know enough to draw a conclusion. I can't see an obvious universal solution.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 1d

Oh dear, this might have to go on my growing list. But I found it frustrating, because I made a deduction which I'm sure was entirely valid and I was told I didn't have enough information to say that!

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 1d

Wow, you sound just like one of those anamalytical datamagician people!

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 1d

Yes. A bit loose, but maybe worth it.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 2d

Cry out "One bad apple"? (6)

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 2d

Well! 🤯

Chambers has either pronunciation for the book, and the variant spelling 'primmer' in that sense.

But it insists on 'PRIMM-er' as the pronunciation for the (obs) printing types 'long primer' and 'great primer'. Apparently taking the lead from 'primarius' rather than 'primary'.

Merriam-Webster @merriam-webster.com · 2d

Here’s a primer on ‘primer.’

It’s pronounced ‘PRIMM-er’ if you mean “a small book” or “a short informative piece of writing.”

It’s pronounced ‘PRY-mer’ if you mean “an initial coat of paint.”

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 6d

I had to read this several times before I realised they weren't proposing to relocate unsuccessful benefit claimants to SE England.

Guardian headline, reading: "Tories say people denied benefits in UK can return to home countries"

That's countries, not counties.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 6d

Nice one. 👏

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 13d

This was TRUSTEE.

SETTERS* -S +U
A substitution anagram, hopefully clear enough.

Something that my brain arrived at as a displacement activity.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 13d

We have a phrase for that kind of thing. Years ago, a chap was asked a question on Fifteen To One about some form of popular culture, and he responded in a rather supercilious manner "I neither know nor care!"

V useful shorthand for the sort of attitude we want to discourage.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 13d

It is. And also to consider what knowledge is fair to expect, either in wordplay or def.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 13d

Ah, I know the writer you mean, and there's a story behind it.

I paid insufficient attention to the non-themers and realised late that the crossers at 14a and 3d were inelegantly similar. My fix resulted in this entry as the only alternative without a complete redo. 😔

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 13d

Yes, I agree with that. It can become much like a knowledge test, but it doesn't have to, and (I'd tentatively venture) shouldn't feel like that.

(How to split any blame between setter and solver where it feels like knowledge is rewarded rather than shared is another matter)

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 13d

It's both, surely? The barriers to entry are well understood, and knowledge of various sorts is required. But once you can solve in principle, you can also learn. It's a rare puzzle that doesn't have someone marking a clue as a NHO.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 14d

Setter's flustered after a son leaves for university, but he's in control (7)

#cryptic #crossword
😥

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 14d

Semprini? Excuse me! This is a family site.

Prof Enid Gumby standing in a street, in the middle of a vox pops saying that he likes to wear an aftershave called Semprini. He was quite rightly arrested immediately afterwards, because you can't allow that sort of filth on TV.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 17d

A very handwavy narrative has the rate of conception starting to climb around the first cold night of autumn, peaking in the Christmas period, then staying fairly high until spring.

Which seems reasonable to me.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 18d

On a related topic, I was just reminded of the existence of a racing driver (American, natch) called Dick Trickle.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 23d

That's really nice. I'll remember that in a week when I'm going through the same thing.

All the best, Rachel, Matt and T.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 24d

It's basically this, all over the place.

Still from Bill Grundy interviewing the Sex Pistols on TV, captioned with his notorious encouragement to "Say something outrageous". Grundy is labelled as "Media" and the Sex Pistols as "Fascists".

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 24d

This is my argument. As you say, two-step, but only on a slightly picky level and not a serious obstacle to the solver.

Then again, if you can rewrite to neutralise the quibbles without seriously harming the surface, why wouldn't you?

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 24d

This is really interesting, but above all, I want to applaud the title of the paper:

"Why axis inversion?"

www.theguardian.com/games/2025/s...

Why do some gamers invert their controls? Scientists now have answers, but they’re not what you think

The phenomenal response to an article we published on this question led to detailed cognitive research – and the findings have implications that go way beyond gamers

www.theguardian.com

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 24d

Oh Liari, don't say that! I'm dipping into CC a lot at the moment, because I find it helpful in scanning for operators I hadn't considered.

(But like any list, I won't just blindly use something because it's listed - we all have our own viewpoints)

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 27d

Oh, I thought this was an entire factoid. Once I realised what the rest of the sentence must be, I knew the story.

Catnip @catnipxword.bsky.social · 27d

That's quite neat. There are a couple of points I'd expect sticklers to pick up on, but it's fun and solvable with a good surface.