CROSSHARE
Print Puzzle
Download .puz File
Account / Settings
Construct a Puzzle

Mini Cryptic 10

· By dilly · Published 2024-08-07T10:21:32.702Z

Constructor's Note
Number 10! Feedback appreciated as always :)
Checking for previous play data...

Comments

Sign in with google to leave a comment of your own:

  • dilly constructor · 2024-08-07T10:26:45.648Z
    1A: diatribe; “tie raid” homophone
    5A: out of stock?; E+X(T+IN)C+T, i.e. [stor]E + (T (“shirt”) + IN (“available”)) in XC (L + XL in Roman numerals) + [almos]T
    6A: grammar; NASTY* + X
    1D: Overflow; (E +T[-i]ME)*
    2D: Slimy; [-ok]RA + T[hat] + TY
    3D: I may be spinning my wheels with this; DON{'->U}T
    4D: Hades crossover?; S[tarcraf]T + YX (i.e. y-axis, x-axis = "axes")
    • JWords 6:08 · 2024-08-08T11:06:47.442Z
      Nice, big fan of 4D especially! The Roman numeral stuff in 5A is very clever but I had no hope of working out the parse without your breakdown. Unfortunately had to reveal for 1D and 3D but I think they’re fair—wordplay in 3D was just too hard to spot for me! In what context can “error” be abbreviated to E? Not sure I’ve seen that one before.
      • dilly constructor · 2024-08-08T13:49:27.212Z
        Thanks for solving! Yeah, I couldn’t resist once I realized the Roman numeral angle for 5A, but it’s definitely too complex for its own good. I was thinking of E as used for error in baseball box scores.
        • JWords 6:08 · 2024-08-08T15:41:25.002Z
          Ahhh, sports, my nemesis! Seems totally fair, I’m just not familiar
      • Aaron Riccio 🤓2:52 · 2024-08-08T23:49:32.707Z
        Echoing @JWords again, but 4D is wonderful. I also really liked the swap in 3D—I've never seen a letter take the place of punctuation, but that's 100% legit by cryptic rules. 6A made me chuckle, 2D as well. 5A was very clever, perhaps too clever: [available in] translating as (IN) is wild, and the L and/+ XL was super slick. The advice I've been given is that if the wordplay is super sneaky, the definition should be clearer, or at the very least, the crossings should be on the easier side so that backsolving is possible.
        1A
        Draw bust of speaker giving diatribe (6)
        1
        2
        3
        4
        5
        6
        Across
        1. 1A
          Draw bust of speaker giving diatribe (6)
        2. 5A
          Store's closing: shirt available in L and XL finally went out of stock? (7)
        3. 6A
          Nasty, complicated, and unknown grammar (6)
        Down
        1. 1D
          Overflow error and time out? I won’t deal with this (4)
        2. 2D
          Slimy okra? Not ok with one bit of that, thank you (5)
        3. 3D
          I may be spinning my wheels with this: “Don’t substitute #2 of Rules for Punctuation” (5)
        4. 4D
          Disheartened, StarCraft axes Hades crossover? (4)
        Loading...