Sunday Times clue writing contest 1857: Narrow boat

One contestant told me that in The Times’s Quick Crossword 1837 on 24 March, CANAL BOAT was clued by “This won’t turn in the lock” as a cryptic definition. I’m pleased to say that if any of you saw that clue and got an idea from it, it was one that was subtle enough not to seem like copying. That may sound a bit cynical, but crossword setters certainly do see ideas from other setters and reuse them. And just occasionally, we use a clue that has appeared elsewhere but seems worth repeating, as newer solvers may not have seen it. Some of you may notice this in a Sunday Times crossword quite soon.

Good clues

John Hood, Whitney on Wye, Herefordshire
Brown rat also evacuated wrecked vessel
Several of you spotted “brown rat + A,O” as possible anagram fodder. This clue uses it in a variation on the idea of rats leaving sinking ships.

Steve Randall, Reading
No argument, it can be constricting inside craft such as this
The wordplay in this clue starts with an indication you may not have seen in a printed crossword, “no” indicating N. I believe I’ve mentioned in previous reports that this is fine with me, and so is “yes” indicating Y, because both of these short forms can be used when filling in paper or online forms, or as keyboard shortcuts when a bit of software asks you a Yes/No question. Our setters have had this opportunity for quite a few years, but if I recall correctly, N=no has been used once or twice, and no-one has yet used Y=yes. This may seem a strange variation from my usual faith in dictionary content, but I’m prepared to think that makers of dictionaries occasionally make mistakes (especially those of omission), and it’s a fact that there are just a few one-letter abbreviations used in The Times crosswords which are not in their reference dictionaries. Back with the clue, “argument” indicates ROW and “it can be constricting” indicates BOA, with those two inside ART=craft, and “such as this” as a continuation to complete a statement about narrow boats. Steve described it as a “semi-&lit”, and although it seems slightly different to what I think of as a semi-&lit, I can’t see what else to call it.

Graham Davies, Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex
With a new bat Root almost runs riot, displaying craft
This is an anagram of “W, A, N, BAT ROO(t), R”, with R=runs echoing the cricketing surface although the meaning of “runs” there is different. Strictly speaking, to “run riot” is to act without restraint, which seems a bit different from “displaying craft”. But in a sporting context, where words like “thrashing” have different meanings, this seems somehow less important.

Catherine Cobb, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk
Craft book about two killers
Like the winning clue, this includes an old cryptic crossword idea – “book” meaning part of the bible. In this case it’s a testament rather than a book, but there have been editions of the bible with the two testaments in separate volumes, and the Gideon bible given to me at some point in my school life was the New Testament plus Psalms and possibly Proverbs. Inside NT we have ARROW and BOA as the “two killers”.

Lynne Davis, London NW7
Craft piece of oak into fine stick
This time we’re crafting a top-quality walking stick or similar in the surface reading. The wordplay is O=piece of oak, inside (NARROW=fine, BAT=stick).

RC Teuton, Frampton Cotterell, South Gloucestershire
Craft shop restricting line with unpleasant smell after article’s returned
A tale of a strong reaction to customer feedback disguises instructions to put (ROW=line, B.O.=unpleasant smell) inside RAT = shop, all of which follows a reversal of AN = (indefinite) article. Collins dictionary has this meaning of “rat” marked as “usually followed by on”, so this indication is OK on the basis of the implied “sometimes not …”.

Elizabeth Manning, Malvern, Worcestershire
Note containing something that might direct you to a wrecked vessel
The surface here seems to me to have a hint of “X marks the spot” or something similar in adventure fiction. In the cryptic reading, “note” as an imperative indicates “NB”, inside which is ARROW=”something that might direct you”, followed by an anagram of “to a”, indicated by “wrecked”.

Martin Ede, Fareham, Hampshire
Lock fitter’s specialised craft
In this clue, “lock fitter” is a cryptic definition, as narrow boats must fit in canal locks. This time “specialised craft” is additive indication with “specialised” indicating “narrow” in its “limited in scope” sense, and “craft” meaning “boat”. Strictly, using “craft” to mean “boat” in an answer that’s a boat is a bit weak, but I’d be happy to allow it given the different meaning in a convincing surface reading.

Some comments on other clues

One option for a staycation afloat in ordinary rowboats, after a year lost
This clue is a hidden word with subtraction, which is very unusual, but potentially OK as a way of adding something to what’s often thought of as the easiest kind of clue. But “rowboats” in a clue to another kind of boat means that it’s too suggestive of the answer or something very close to it. Which is a shame as the surface reading relates well to present-day real life.

Maybe one in the Grand Union has got a pinched face
The definition here is “Maybe one in the Grand Union”. As practically all of my adult life has been spent quite close to the Grand Union canal, it’s the obvious “Grand Union” to me, so omitting “canal” doesn’t really disguise it, which means that “has got a pinched face” doesn’t sound plausible. And in that “pinched face”, “face” is supposed to indicate “boat” in Cockney rhyming slang. But in my experience of that slang, “boat race” meaning “face” is not used with the second word dropped in the style of “butcher’s” as a short version of “butcher’s hook” and therefore “look”.

A robot war erupts with initial naval involvement leading to a squeeze on marine transport
The entrant confirmed that N = “initial naval” is followed by an anagram of “a robot war”. But the definition side was not explained. I’m assuming that it’s “a squeeze on marine transport”. As such, it seems to describe a process affecting the marine transport, rather than the result of the process. It also seems possible to read “leading to a squeeze” as indication for “narrow”, followed by “marine transport”=BOAT. But that would mean two versions of wordplay and no definition, which isn’t a format we allow.

Bearer of thin gravy barging in
I think this is intended to be a double definition clue, but neither definition works properly. From the idea of a gravy boat, you could use “bearer of gravy that’s thin” to mean “boat that’s thin” and therefore “narrow boat”. But you cannot expect the solver to see that “bearer of thin gravy” needs to be translated to “bearer of gravy that’s thin” before they decide what that might indicate. There are a few ideas sometimes used in cryptic clues that effectively do this, like “asleep” meaning “in bed” and therefore “inside ‘bed’”, but I don’t think we should be adding new ones. Similarly, “barging in” has to be understood as “something you could barge in” with “barge” meaning “transport goods by canal boat”.

Clue writing contest 1860 Parkour

You are invited to write an original cryptic clue for the word above, in Sunday Times crossword style. Email your entry to puzzle.entries@sunday-times.co.uk. The contest closes on Monday, April 19, and the best entry wins £25

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