Case for Ship's Compass Crossword Clue

In the example clues below, I explain the two parts of each: the definition of the answer, given in bold type , and the wordplay – the recipe for assembling its letters. In a genuine puzzle environment, of course, you also have the crossing letters, which will greatly alleviate your solving load if you have them. The explanations contain links to previous entries in this series on such matters as spelling one word backwards to reveal another. And setters' names tend to link to interviews, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.

Cryptic clues are riddled with abbreviations: "hour" indicating an H in the answer, "second" an S, and so on. Many of them are nice and easy to spot.

If you see "north" in the clue, get ready to write an N somewhere in the answer; the same goes for "north-west" and NW …

… but there are some, well, more advanced tricks worth knowing.

E

Cherry blossom during spring in Arashiyama. Photograph: Rolf_52/Alamy Stock Photo

There exist other, more poetic, ways of referring to, say, the east. Here's Rufus:

26d Travel free over the Orient (4)
[ wordplay: synonym for 'free' (as a verb) + abbrev. for 'Orient' ]
[ RID + E ]
[ definition: travel ]

It's a down clue, so that word for "free" (as in "Trump vows to rid US of 'bad hombres'") goes "over" the E for Orient, delivering us a RIDE. (Both words, incidentally, allude to what happens in that direction: dawn ("east") and rising ("orient").)

SE

Shere, Surrey. Photograph: T Marshall/Getty

SE is not always handed to us on a plate with the phrase "south-east". Sometimes, the setter will allude to somewhere in the south-east of the UK. Rufus again:

11ac House in the home counties by the motorway (4)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for home counties + abbrev. (more or less) for a motorway ]
[ SE + M1 ]
[ definition: house ]

Since we don't enter letters, M1 becomes MI and we get our SEMI. A setter might also use the name of one of the relevant counties. Outside of crosswording, some joyless types try to restrict the inherently vague "home counties" to Middlesex, Essex, Kent and Surrey, because they're the ones which buffet London; we need only keep an eye out for anything that might be turned into "south-east" (even "Berkshire") and then to SE.

NE

Grey Street, Newcastle upon Tyne. Photograph: Alamy

This one shouldn't come as a surprise. Here's Paul (in his Mudd incarnation):

24ac Excitable thing taking new money to Newcastle? (7)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for 'new' + a currency ('money') + abbrev. indicating 'Newcastle' ]
[ N + EURO + NE ]
[ definition: excitable thing ]

In the end, the "excitable thing" is not a person but a NEURONE. Lest you're tempted to complain that the north-east of the country contains Wick, Thurso and John O'Groats rather than Newcastle, the Newcastle postcode area uses NE, so solvers are free of English chauvinism. Even when they use "Tyneside" or "Geordies".

SW1

In the background: Admiralty Arch, SW1. Photograph: Central Press/Getty

Talking of postcodes, is it London-centric to assume that solvers will know the capital's postcodes? Not if they're the ones you'd use to write to the Queen or the prime minister. Here's Crucible:

3d Flyer in posh part of London paper (5)
[ wordplay: postcode for a posh part of London + abbrev. for a newspaper title ]
[ SW1 + abbrev. for Financial Times ]
[ definition: flyer ]

Again, we turn the 1 into an I; again, the definition is misleading and the flyer is not paper but a bird: the SWIFT. "Westminster", "Belgravia", even "Victoria" may indicate an SWI in your answer.

EC

The City of London, January 1, 1999 Photograph: Frank Baron/The Guardian

Finally, we've mentioned this abbreviation before, but it bears repeating because of its colossal potential for misdirection. Orlando does just that:

16d A northern city shows excessive affection for tales (9)
[ wordplay: A ('A') + abbrev. for 'northern' + abbrev. for 'city' + synonym for 'shows excessive affection' ]
[ A + N + EC + DOTES ]
[ definition: tales ]

In the end, it doesn't matter which part of the country we've been thinking about: 'city', as it so often does, denotes EC via the City of London and the answer is ANECDOTES.

And if you fancy making this an international game, you might enjoy our guide to those letters that appear on the back of holidaymakers' cars.

Beginners: any questions? Seasoned solvers and setters: what else runs through your mind when compass points appear in clues?

Case for Ship's Compass Crossword Clue

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/2019/aug/12/cryptic-crosswords-for-beginners-points-of-the-compass

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