Solution: The Copy Culture Cryptic Crossword
from the filling-in-the-blanks dept
Last Saturday, I posted The Copy Culture Cryptic Crossword, just in case there were any cryptic fans in the Techdirt audience. It turns out there are quite a few, including at least one AC who almost solved it in less than 24 hours. All in all it was a great response, and while I can’t promise regular cryptics on Techdirt, I will definitely try to put another one together in the not-too-distant future.
But, for now, it’s time to reveal the solution to last week’s puzzle. The completed grid is below, followed by a list of answers. I’ve used some basic notation to show how the answers were arrived at wherever it’s easy to do so in a self-explanatory way; as for the rest, I’ll answer any questions (and accept any criticisms for sloppy clue-writing) in the comments! One reasonable concern was already raised, which is that BMG is not quite a “collection society” by definition, and on that one I offer a mea culpa.
1. Kick start (4)
BOOT
3. Right after six, America gets infection (5)
VI+R+US
6. With acknowledgements, reveals modification (4)
HACK
8. Collaborated on and bragged about bad grade at bad church (12)
CROW(D+SOUR+C)ED
10. Software publishers initially bemoan slow adoption (3)
BSA
11. Television standard is oddly not a sect (4)
NTSC
13. Terrible prefix and terrific prefix for the obsolete (4)
DINO
15. Note measurement for collection society (3)
B+MG
16. Cultural commons remixed old iambic pun (6,6)
PUBLIC DOMAIN
17. Activists cut short, shortly (4)
ANON
18. Amended drier amendment (5)
RIDER
19. Bully sacrifices rights for a fee (4)
TOLL
Comments on “Solution: The Copy Culture Cryptic Crossword”
Crossed words
This crossed words game is stupid! So glad so many people are having fun playing.
I myself am brain and pain overload and i am only interested in one love one life… So have at another word play game im outtie.
Re: Crossed words
Yeah. This puzzle thing was just weird.
Re: Crossed words
The shills must be working overtime again
weird and stupid
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Why yes OOTB and his ilk are absolutely
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The fact that you don’t understand cryptic crosswords doesn’t make everyone else stupid. If anything, it’s the opposite.
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IP extremists have a very hard time with the English language and it’s not because they speak any other languages either.
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I’m at a loss how you jumped from the statement being against the puzzle to “everyone”.
Nevermind. I forget this is the internet.
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Well, calling the puzzle stupid suggests the person who made it and the people who enjoyed it are stupid. In this context, that’s what I meant by “everyone”
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Got it, everyone? If you didn’t get this crossword, it’s YOUR fault for not being a twisted son-of-a…anyway, no funniest or favorite posts of the week?
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no favorites — funniest/insightful coming at the usual time
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“Got it, everyone? If you didn’t get this crossword, it’s YOUR fault for not being a twisted son-of-a…anyway, no funniest or favorite posts of the week?”
No… I didn’t get most of the clues either, but unlike you I don’t suffer from an inferiority complex, so I can still understand why a lot of people find them fun and challenging.
Re: Re: Re:2 Re:
Is that your diagnosis, Herr Doctor, seeing as how you know me so well and all?
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oh, we understand cryptic crosswords just find, done many of them.
What we are commenting on is THIS “cryptic” crossword, if you can call it that.
We did not say cryptic crosswords are stupid or weird, JUST THIS ONE.
It appears when your not good at something, then you just post it at TD.
I am not an American, I don’t have the US level of “understanding” you have.. fortunately.
I no I don’t really give a shit where you come from.
I agree, in general a good cryptic crossword is a please to do, a good crossword.. this one is simple really bad.
Very bad, even for a first effort.
Re: Re: Re: Re:
“just find”? “I no”?
I’m starting to see why you feel fit to shit all over this attempt, darryl. Your command of the English language remains atrocious. Do they really not teach you proper spelling in Australia or is that just you?
Cryptics more common in Britain (I think?)
The slightly baffled might like to refer to some of the internet guides on (I would say, normal) crosswords
http://solving-cryptics.com/
http://www.gptucker.net/crosswords/solvinghelp.htm
And if you’re prepared to get hooked
http://puzzles.telegraph.co.uk/site/crossword_puzzles
gives access to a decent cryptic
Re: Cryptics more common in Britain (I think?)
More common on Britain indeed. I remember the other day I saw Victoria Coren on some panel show comment on doing crosswords, and someone asked her if she meant cryptic or regular. Her response? “Cryptic, obviously — I’m not an idiot.” 🙂
I really do not understand how the answers are derived. Would it be possible to explain.
Re: Re:
I really do not understand how the answers are derived. Would it be possible to explain.
I’m with that AC. 🙂 A little more explanation, please.
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Not really room here to give a full explanation of how cryptics work… but here’s a good intro guide: http://www.crosswordtools.com/cryptic-crosswords.php
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when you have to ‘explain’ a cryptic crossword EVER AFTER giving the answers, that shows you have FAILED COMPLETELY…
that is all they are saying. it is SO BAD, that even after being provided with the answers people cant work out your ‘logic and reason’.
People can only conclude that it’s YOU at fault, who are unable to construct a crossword..
The term “total failure’ comes to mind;
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Cryptic crosswords are basically a way of saying ‘I am smarter than you are’. It seems the author has issues in that area.
A full explanation of clues would be nice
While not a complete stranger to cryptic crosswords, I was never really good at them. Sometimes the clues make some sense after the solution is revealed and others are so cryptic they completely escape me.
For instance:
1. Kick start (4)
BOOT
Ok … a bouncer may boot (kick) an unruly patron from a club, and you must boot (start) your computer before you can use it. That makes sense.
8. Collaborated on and bragged about bad grade at bad church (12)
CROW(D+SOUR+C)ED
I see how ‘Collaborated on’ is synonymous with the correct answer CROWDSOURCED. And I can see ‘bragged about’ (CROWED) a ‘bad grade’ (D). That leaves SOUR+C somehow equating to ‘church’. I don’t get it. Am I missing something?
Re: A full explanation of clues would be nice
Well…Bad can = Sour…and church….I dunno…church begins with a c?
Re: A full explanation of clues would be nice
Church becoming a C is a fairly common abbreviation in cryptics.
Re: Re: A full explanation of clues would be nice
and SOUR comes from the second use of “bad” so
CROWED = bragged, which goes “about” (around) “bad grade at bad church”
bad grade = D
bad = SOUR
church = C
thus…
CROW(D+SOUR+C)ED
Re: A full explanation of clues would be nice
Yes, the church thing flummoxed me as well. I’m looking forward to an explanation …
Re: Re: A full explanation of clues would be nice
“Church” most commonly translates to “CE”, “CC” or “CH” in cryptics — though that’s a very british thing in my mind. In some clues, though, it merely becomes “C”
Mostly I try to minimize the use of those types of one-letter abbreviations in cryptics, since I often find them annoying. But, they exist for a reason… and that’s one of the clues where one slipped in.
Don’t worry, you won’t catch me using “sailor” to mean “AB” or any of those other weirdly obscure ones — those drive me nuts.
Code Breakers
Yes, Cryptic Crosswords are more common in the UK, the “Times Crossword” being one of the best known.
And they are very challenging and require a particular type of mindset, so they tend to be most popular with “intellectuals” – many of the most famous code-breakers during the second world war were excellent at solving them.
I get a lot of the cryptic clues [I got BSA and CISPA right off], but I’m still baffled as to how “Terrible prefix and terrific prefix” result in “dino”. (Yes, I understand that dinosaur is slang for obsolete. But how are the “prefixes” supposed to guide me there?)
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“Dino” is technically not a word by itself, thus the specification of “prefix”. Overall, that clue is one that’s slightly more on the playful side — I had considered putting a “?” at the end as is sometimes done on such clues, but I didn’t think it quite warranted that, and worried that the “?” might actually be misleading. So basically it’s a double definition clue, with one of the definitions being more suggestive than direct:
“Terrible prefix” = DINO, quite literally (dino- as a prefix means “terrible”, derived from greek)
Then “DINO” is also a “terrific prefix for the obsolete” in a less literal sense, merely a suggestive one
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And just as I logged in to reply with something along the lines of this, a post shows up saying exactly what I was about to say.
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(I suppose “dino-” can have a few different meanings as a prefix — in “dinoflagellate” it means “whirling” — but certainly the most common is “dinosaur” in which it means “terrible”)
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so try this google ‘dino’ first 2 hits you get are for
Dean (Dino) Martin
2) is the Dino 206 GT car, then the Dino 256 GT and the Dino 308 GT4
also plenty of references to restaurants.
Also as most here are Americans, a Dino is some place you stop to get a coffee and a mean.
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There’s also musician Dino Kartsonakis and some other Dino guy who had a hit in the 80s or something.
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Dino is not a prefix of Dinosaur !!!.
face it leigh, you are fucking hopeless at this, please NEVER do it again..
better yet, stay from all things technical or intellectual. It’s just not your thing.
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Drop the ad-homs and maybe Leigh might listen to your opinion.
“17. Activists cut short, shortly (4)
ANON “
except, Anonymous (group) are HACTIVISTS…
not activists.. HACTIVISTS..
you cant even get the answer right Leigh !!!!
once again, you are just not good at this, and one day you might find what it is you are good at..
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You’re not aware of Anon’s analog attempts to inform people about Scientology, are you.
FFS, darryl. I know research and truth-telling aren’t your thing but this makes it even harder to believe you’re a solar panel engineer of a caliber any higher than “shit”.
Re: Re:
except, Anonymous (group) are HACTIVISTS…
not activists.. HACTIVISTS..
Hactivists are to activists as squares are to rectangles.
Wrestle with that one for a bit darryl 🙂
oh, we understand cryptic crosswords just find, done many of them.
What we are commenting on is THIS “cryptic” crossword, if you can call it that.
We did not say cryptic crosswords are stupid or weird, JUST THIS ONE.
“We”? Who are you, Yoda?
It appears when your not good at something, then you just post it at TD.
Like writing grammatically correct sentences? Yep, you’re living proof of that fact.
Wow...!
Interesting. Leigh decides to have some fun creating a cryptic crossword. Some readers are happy to take up the challenge and see if they can solve it. Others feel so humiliated by the fact that it’s way beyond their limited mental capacity that they resort to throwing insults instead. Very sad. Human nature I guess.
Re: Wow...!
No, they’re not throwing insults. They’re throwing shit. I wouldn’t call what they wrote insults. Where I come from, insulting someone is an art-form and what darryl et al did…is NOT.
Now darryl, I have to admit – I too found this a bit beyond me. What I didn’t do is turn up on the comments and fling my feces around, bemoaning that fact. By constantly complaining about it, you’ve only driven more attention to your single digit IQ.
You did not have to even attempt this little puzzle. Since you found it too hard, you then didn’t have to screetch about it. Drop it and move on. But no, I forget. This is Techdirt, where the trolls have OCD times infinity.
Re: Re: Wow...!
darryl’s IQ isn’t single digit. I’d wager it’s three digits… with a minus sign in front.
I’ve been solving cryptics for twenty years. I enjoyed the puzzle and thought it was very well done. I might quibble with one or two definitions, but so what. I find the complaints posted here beyond bizarre. There’s a favorite saying in a church I used to belong to: “If you don’t like it, you can’t have any!”