Cryptic 7x7 #6 by tuber

Comments

• tuber constructor · 2023-08-29T00:29:49.472Z

  Hi solvers! Thanks for giving my puzzle a crack (and hopefully also cracking the puzzle.) Your feedback's always very welcome, so let me know how you got on Here's the wash-up:

  ACROSS. 1A1AHad enough after first small taste (6)[------]. Enough = AMPLE after first of "small" = S. 5A5AForgive crack by sailor (7)[-------]. Crack = SOLVE by Sailor = AB. 6A6AGem setter's in real trouble with diamonds (7) [-------]. Setter = ME contained in anag. REAL, + diamonds = D. 7A7AFish found in fiddle? That's colourful! (6)[------]. Fish = RAY contained in fiddle = CON.

  DOWN. 1D1DMoved drunkenly in soft leather, say (6)[------]. Homophone ("say") of soft leather = SUEDE. 2D2DWrongly apprehend suspect: "Ahem, Sir!" (7)[-------]. anag. ("suspect") of AHEMSIR. 3D3DStudent bully badly covering a sweet song (7)[-------]. Student = L (Learner) + A (given literally) contained in anag. BULLY 4D4DField of study: heavy metal (6)[------]. Field = LEA + study = DEN. ("Heavy" / "metal" is a double definition.)
• Jon 8:05 · 2023-08-29T03:46:09.722Z

  Nice. Thx.
• Jon 8:05 · 2023-08-29T03:54:06.966Z

  IMO 7D is misleading. All is good except I believe it's a stretch to go from "student" to intuit the L for learner. Maybe something more direct. The rest of the cluing is great. Thanks.

  • tuber constructor · 2023-08-29T08:16:35.490Z

    Believe it or not, this one is occasionally a matter for debate among the great and good of cryptic crossword setters and solvers. I am neither great nor good, so I can only humbly submit in my defence that (i) it still crops up in newspaper cryptics, and (ii) Wikipedia lists it on its "crossword abbreviations" page, at https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossword_abbreviations.

    I'm not sure I've convinced even myself that I disagree with you, though. I'll let it stand here and try harder to avoid it in future. Thanks!

    • Jon 8:05 · 2023-09-01T23:59:43.542Z

      Thank YOU!
• Iris 🤓5:11 · 2023-08-30T04:29:41.014Z

  Lovely! The use of "apprehend" was a cleverly misleading in 2D2DWrongly apprehend suspect: "Ahem, Sir!" (7)[-------] - a very nice clue!
• merlinnimue 🤓5:43 · 2023-09-01T01:03:08.021Z

  very nice
• dooiemus 🤓29s · 2023-09-06T15:02:06.609Z

  Overall pretty good. Couple of nits though. In 1A1AHad enough after first small taste (6)[------] "had" is only there for the surface reading. Does "first small" really mean "the first letter OF small"? To me it doesn't, but I see it in the dailies all the time so I'm not complaining. In 6A6AGem setter's in real trouble with diamonds (7) [-------] does "real trouble" really mean an anagram of "real"? To me it doesn't. Same deal. "Troubled" would work for me, though. In 4D4DField of study: heavy metal (6)[------], "of" is only there for the surface. On the other hand, I agree with you that "L" clued as "student" is absolutely fine. No need to avoid anything in that regard in the future I would say. While I'm at it, I've seen cryptics here on crosshare that broke every rule in the book and still be labeled as "awesome" in the comments. Breaking cryptic rules is no big deal of course but please don't call your puzzle "cryptic" if you do! "Ridiculously loose wordplay" might be a better handle.

  • tuber constructor · 2023-09-06T16:45:37.038Z

    Of course, the really silly thing is that "small" already stands for "S" without any initialism indicator at all...

    Thanks for this, your nits are worth picking at. My barometer, the setter to whose standards I most aspire, is Private Eye's Cyclops, aka Eddie James.