The Monthly Digest

Doctor’s Notes

As a non-partisan organisation, the Clue Clinic would not typically comment on political events, but the resignation of Keir Starmer as UK Prime Minister this month has left the Clinic’s team wondering how cryptic crossword setters might fare without him. Starmer (or “broken armrest”, if you will) was a veritable gift to cruciverbalists, providing flexible fodder for a wide range of clues during his time as Labour’s leader. Just a day before he announced his attention to step down, he featured in a Gemelo clue: 

Starmer worked with left wing, in conflict with members (12, 2 words)

We’ll have to wait until July to find out who’ll be replacing Sir Keir, but we suspect that the exclamation “Unhand my bra!” may soon be emanating – cruciverbally, of course – from No. 10… 

UK politics aside, the Clinic continues to go from strength to strength – last month the homepage received well in excess of 5,000 visits. It’s wonderful to see so much interaction across the site and from a real spread of visitors, from hardened solvers’ comments on the regular Observer puzzles to questions from first-time setters on the Ask the Doctor page. June saw visitors asking Dr Clue for advice on various aspects of clue-writing, including the placement of indicators, full vs partial homophones, and transitive vs intransitive verbs. Please keep your questions coming!

Clinical Observations

Four Observer puzzles to challenge our little grey cells this month:

• Azed 2,780: Plain, 1.5/5 difficulty. We started with old liquor at 1A and finished with sweet wine at 28D, having consumed mulled wine, Merlot and Scotch along the way! A questionable plural prompted discussion of the Chambers app’s handling of uncountable nouns (for those still clear-headed enough to engage).
• Gemelo 37: Plain, 3.6/5. A more sober affair, with just one London Pride in 4D, but entertaining nonetheless, as Shakespeare and Austen rubbed shoulders with Eric Bana and a couple of Marvel villains.
• Gemelo 38: Plain, 2.7/5. Around the world in 36 clues, with visits to Spain and Swaziland, Bannockburn and Belgium. Dr Clue considered whether “almost” is acceptable to indicate the first letter of a two-letter word – perhaps a question for a future poll…
• Gemelo 39: Plain. Early votes suggest this was at the easier end of the spectrum. If you haven’t cast your vote yet, let us know how difficult you found it. 

Clinic Refurbishment Project

The Clinical Data section of the site is very popular with setters and solvers alike, and we’re keen to make our tables of indicators presented here as user-friendly as possible. With that in mind, the first swathe of our planned enhancements was implemented this month. And perhaps the most significant of these is the addition of filters.

Previously, tables could be sorted by one of the column headings – for example, “drag and drop” indicators could be sorted by their clue type (across, down, or either) or by their effect (first letter to end, last letter to start, and so on), but not by both simultaneously. Thanks to Dr Clue, you can now apply drop-down filters to find what you’re looking for much more quickly and easily. Further details on the Clinical Data table enhancements here. 

If you find these new filters helpful – or have other suggestions for enhancing the Clinical Data tables – we’d love to hear from you.

Poll of the Month

Results of May Poll

The question related to the enumeration of multi-word and hyphenated answers in barred puzzles. Although 56% of responders supported change, either to ‘(a, n words)’/'(a, hyphen’) [36%] or ‘(a,b)’/'(a-b)’ [20%], a substantial minority voted for the preservation of the status quo. Despite the outcome being inconclusive, it’s something that we may take up with the editors of the major barred puzzles at some future point.

June Poll

It is not uncommon to see words in a clue given an initial capital letter which is not required in the cryptic reading, while occasionally a word which requires a capital in the cryptic reading is not given one. Some examples would be:

A. A word which is not a noun in the cryptic reading is given a false capital letter, eg “Stick with it in Nice” for POLITE [POLE with IT in].
B. A word which is a common noun in the cryptic reading is given a false capital letter such that it appears to be a proper noun, eg “Left in street, perplexed Sturgeon” for STERLET [L in STREET*].
C. A word which requires a capital in the cryptic reading does not have one, eg “Scour inside broad part of bath” for WIDCOMBE [COMB in WIDE].

Doctor’s Notes

This month marks one year since Doctors Clue and Cluelittle first met at the Azed 2,750 celebrations in Oxford, when Doctor Cluelittle first heard of the Clue Clinic over tea and scones with cream and jam (or was it jam and cream?) generously laid on by the Crowther family. 

For Doctor Cluelittle, this site soon became an indispensable aid and she asked if she could join the practice. Having just finished a course in crossword anatomy, she brought with her a pair of fresh eyes, a listening ear, and a willingness to lend a hand, which complemented Doctor Clue’s diagnostic insights, surgical precision, and years of medical experience. With the clinic’s team now 100% larger, momentum for a refurbishment project began to build – more on that below.

This month also brought another milestone, as the Clue Clinic received its 3,000th comment (from John Atkinson, a regular on the site since 2021). It’s always a joy to see your comments, and this milestone provides a good excuse to thank you all for your engagement and support. The Doctors look forward to seeing more discussions in the Forum (coming soon).

Clinical Observations

May was a bumper month with five barred puzzles from the Observer:

• Azed 2,779: Plain, 2.5/5 difficulty. A clue mentioning red underwear wasn’t quite backed up by the Big Red Book.
• Gemelo 33: Plain, 2.6/5. Hobnobs, Hearts and Citizen Kane – this puzzle had something for everyone and received a couple of LOLs from satisfied solvers, though Dr Clue was not content with “content” as a contents indicator.
• Gemelo 34: Plain, 3/5. This puzzle attracted a fair few comments, including discussions of singular/plural anagram indicators and how hyphenated clues should be enumerated. If you have a view on the latter point, take a look at the poll below.
• Gemelo 35: Special ‘Bonus Shares’, 4.4/5. Cruciverbal Marmite, with one commenter calling this “the best Gemelo yet” while others found it too gimmicky.
• Gemelo 36: Plain. If you’ve completed the puzzle, don’t forget to give it a difficulty rating so we know how you got on.

Clinic Refurbishment Project

May saw the first swathe of enhancements implemented, as part of our ongoing Clinic Refurbishment Project. These included a new layout for the home page, an expanded About This Site page to aid orientation, and more intuitive options for you to comment and interact with the clinicians.

The Doctors have further enhancements up their sleeves (rolled up for reasons of hygiene, of course), including making the Clinical Data lists more user-friendly, and re-launching the discussion forum. Updates will be shared on the Refurbishment Project Status page; this is also where you can comment on changes to the site – prior or planned. Please do share your reactions, questions or suggestions – we want to make the site as useful and intuitive as possible, so your feedback is most welcome.

Ready, Get Setting, Go!

A call to action for any would-be setters among you. Big Dave’s Crossword Site has an area called Rookie Corner which supports up-and-coming setters; several Rookies have gone on to create puzzles for national newspapers and the Clinic’s own Dr Cluelittle is a recent ‘graduate’.

Each puzzle submitted is published, reviewed and commented on by solvers, giving new setters a fantastic opportunity to receive feedback and hone their skills. The Rookie Corner queue is currently empty, so for those of you dreaming of being the next Azed or Gemelo, we strongly encourage you to submit. Email bdSubmissions@outlook.com to express interest and find out more.

Poll of the Month

There was some recent discussion on the blog for Gemelo 34 about the enumerations used in most barred puzzles (including Azed and Gemelo) for answers shown by Chambers as either being hyphenated or comprising multiple words. Currently the answer DOUBLE BASS would be enumerated as (6,4) in a blocked puzzle, but (10, 2 words) in a barred puzzle; ONE-SIDED would be shown as (3-5) in a blocked puzzle but (8) in a barred puzzle. The poll is now closed, the result being as below.

How should multi-word and hyphenated answers be enumerated in barred puzzles?

As currently, DOUBLE BASS shown as (10, 2 words) and ONE-SIDED as (8) – 44%
As in blocked puzzles, DOUBLE BASS shown as (6,4) and ONE-SIDED as (3-5) – 20%
A hybrid, DOUBLE BASS shown as (10, 2 words) and ONE-SIDED as (8, hyphen) – 36%