Crossword blogCrosswordsAlan Connor demystifies the devices used in cryptic crosswords. This time: the sneaky apostrophe
Welcome back, you cryptic-curious!
Inspired by a recent comment, this week’s instalment of cryptic tips looks at the apparently unobtrusive apostrophe.
Newcomers to cryptics: remember that a cryptic clue consists of a definition of the answer (indicated in bold in the examples below), followed by some wordplay that gets you to the same answer – or wordplay followed by a definition. Working out which is which is, as we shall see, part of the fun.
How does it work?
The short answer to the question “What should I make of the punctuation in a cryptic crossword clue?” is: ignore it. All of it.
While this is generally sound advice, a sense of what an apostrophe might be up to might help a few clues yield a little quicker.
There’s no single answer, by the way.
Cryptic crosswords use the English language as a plaything and exploit all the ambiguities peculiar to our mother tongue: verbs that look like nouns, words that mean their exact opposite, and so on.
Apostrophes, as any child or non-native speaker learns the hard way, do more than one job: possession is usually mentioned in this context, likewise omission. And their very ambiguity is grist to the mill of the setter.
Some examples
An exhaustive list of every job an apostrophe has carried out in the service of crosswording would be exhausting, and you need to get on with your solving lives. Here is a useful selection of examples from recent puzzles. We start with one from Arachne:
3d Certain people crash Tim’s stag do (10)
[ make an anagram of (“crash”) TIMS STAG DO ]
So this is one where you simply disregard the apostrophe. “Tim’s stag do” becomes a string of letters, TIMSSTAGDO, which you jumble for the answer: DOGMATISTS, or people who are certain.
Just as straightforward is when the apostrophe links the wordplay to the definition. Here’s Crucible:
18d Private Russell’s cheaper product (3,5)
[ synonym for “Private” + surname of a “Russell” ]
In effect, Crucible is saying that swapping OWN for “Private” and BRAND for “Russell” is the same as finding a term for a cheaper supermarket product: OWN BRAND.
Then again, we know that “’s” can mean has as well as is. So it is with Orlando:
20ac Shaw’s good old city (3,5)
[ first name of a “Shaw” + abbrev. for “good” + abbrev. for “old” ]
[ SANDIE + G + O ]
So SANDIE has a G and then an O for the city SAN DIEGO. (Watch out, though: here, “x has y” means that you put y after x; in other clues, you might put y inside x. But nil desperandum!)
In some of the devices we’ve looked at in previous instalments, the apostrophe is nudging you towards the use of a certain trick. Last time, for example, we enjoyed seeing that fragments like I’M and SHE’LL can make up parts of an answer. So it is with Brummie ...
27ac Setter’s toilet has use of computers etc — yen for greatness! (9)
[ synonyms for “setter’s”, “toilet” and “use of computers etc” + abbrev. for “yen” ]
[ I’M + MEN’S + IT + Y ]
... where, since the person writing the clue is the setter, “Setter’s” becomes, via “I’m”, the IM of IMMENSITY.
We’ve also practised taking the initial letters from words in a clue. And Picaroon shows how the apostrophe can be part of the fun here ...
25 Comprehensive school’s head in great distress (8)
[ first letter of “school” + synonym for “in great distress” ]
[ S + WEEPING ]
... where “school’s head” becomes the S of SWEEPING.
A couple more. Here’s another from Picaroon where the apostrophe says “use such-and-such a device”:
14ac Liberal’s new, dotty messages? (7)
[ anagram (“dotty”) of “Liberal” ]
So “Liberal” is, in a “new” form, BRAILLE.
Finally, Dac gets playful ...
17d Missionary given job in ‘ealthy environment (7)
[ synonym for “job” inside synonym for “healthy” without initial H ]
[ POST inside ALE ]
Recalling our work with Cockneys, you do to “hale” what Dac has done to “healthy” en route to APOSTLE.
Over to you
You’ll have gathered by now that the apostrophe is a slippery glyph.
In brief: try and ignore them if you can. And if that doesn’t get you to the answer, think through the various things an apostrophe might be doing if the clue were a normal piece of language.
It’s likely, of course, that the apparent sense will not be the one that yields dividends. In “Liberal’s new, dotty messages”, it looks like it’s a has when it’s really an is.
Newcomers: any questions? And seasoned solvers: any omissions, or favourite uses of the apostrophe? I’d like to end with a clue from Quixote. Don’t spend long looking at the apostrophe in the clue ...
6d What’s strange to a shopper (when greengrocer abuses it!) (10)
[ anagram ‘strange’ of ‘to a shopper’ ]
... because there’s one in the answer.
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