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When a cryptic has a double meaning for its clue, how can I tell which answer it wants
Clash Royale CLAN TAG#URR8PPP
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Let me preface this by saying this is not a puzzle, it's a genuine question
I'm working on a cryptic puzzle (it's an official one, store bought in a book), and one of the questions is
School bosses talk of standards (10)
The answer is principals / principles (because school bosses = principals and standards = principles), but how can I tell which one? The last 3 letters intersect another word, so if I could get that word it would help, but unfortunately I don't know the answer to that.
Is there anything in the clue that would indicate which word it's looking for, or must I be able to answer the other clue before I know which exact answer it is.
I understand the talk part refers to a phonetic clue, but couldn't it refer to either of them (i.e. school bosses talk vs talk of standards)?
cryptic-clues puzzle-creation
edited 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
asked 3 hours ago
Tas
820514
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
favorite
Let me preface this by saying this is not a puzzle, it's a genuine question
I'm working on a cryptic puzzle (it's an official one, store bought in a book), and one of the questions is
School bosses talk of standards (10)
The answer is principals / principles (because school bosses = principals and standards = principles), but how can I tell which one? The last 3 letters intersect another word, so if I could get that word it would help, but unfortunately I don't know the answer to that.
Is there anything in the clue that would indicate which word it's looking for, or must I be able to answer the other clue before I know which exact answer it is.
I understand the talk part refers to a phonetic clue, but couldn't it refer to either of them (i.e. school bosses talk vs talk of standards)?
cryptic-clues puzzle-creation
edited 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
asked 3 hours ago
Tas
820514
Maybe this should go on Puzzling Meta?
– Robert S.
3 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
favorite
up vote
4
down vote
favorite
Let me preface this by saying this is not a puzzle, it's a genuine question
I'm working on a cryptic puzzle (it's an official one, store bought in a book), and one of the questions is
School bosses talk of standards (10)
The answer is principals / principles (because school bosses = principals and standards = principles), but how can I tell which one? The last 3 letters intersect another word, so if I could get that word it would help, but unfortunately I don't know the answer to that.
Is there anything in the clue that would indicate which word it's looking for, or must I be able to answer the other clue before I know which exact answer it is.
I understand the talk part refers to a phonetic clue, but couldn't it refer to either of them (i.e. school bosses talk vs talk of standards)?
cryptic-clues puzzle-creation
edited 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
asked 3 hours ago
Tas
820514
Let me preface this by saying this is not a puzzle, it's a genuine question
I'm working on a cryptic puzzle (it's an official one, store bought in a book), and one of the questions is
School bosses talk of standards (10)
The answer is principals / principles (because school bosses = principals and standards = principles), but how can I tell which one? The last 3 letters intersect another word, so if I could get that word it would help, but unfortunately I don't know the answer to that.
Is there anything in the clue that would indicate which word it's looking for, or must I be able to answer the other clue before I know which exact answer it is.
I understand the talk part refers to a phonetic clue, but couldn't it refer to either of them (i.e. school bosses talk vs talk of standards)?
cryptic-clues puzzle-creation
cryptic-clues puzzle-creation
edited 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
asked 3 hours ago
Tas
820514
edited 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
asked 3 hours ago
Tas
820514
edited 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
edited 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
edited 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
12.6k237173
asked 3 hours ago
Tas
820514
asked 3 hours ago
Tas
820514
asked 3 hours ago
Tas
820514
820514
Maybe this should go on Puzzling Meta?
– Robert S.
3 hours ago
add a comment |Â
Maybe this should go on Puzzling Meta?
– Robert S.
3 hours ago
Maybe this should go on Puzzling Meta?
– Robert S.
3 hours ago
Maybe this should go on Puzzling Meta?
– Robert S.
3 hours ago
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
up vote
4
down vote
The word "talk" is not actually ambiguous here; "[talk of] standards" being a homophone of "principles" makes sense, and then we have a clear division "School bosses / [talk of] standards". This makes "principals" the clear solution.
If instead we had "school bosses talk", not only is that extremely awkward and probably an invalid way to signify a homophone of "school bosses", but "of" is left as a filler word that does nothing.
Taking "principles" as the answer would imply a very bad clue with a filler word, versus no issues if "principals" is the solution.
answered 2 hours ago
Eric Tressler
1,7581215
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Hopefully, the clue is related to both
Principals (leaders of an education institution)
and
Principals (Matters or things of primary importance: such as
a capital sum earning interest, due as a debt, or used as a fund)
in which case the spelling is the same.
answered 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
2
I disagree that the second half of the clue might refer directly to "principals". "Matters of primary importance" are not the same as "standards", whereas principles are -- and there is a homophone indicator, which we would have to toss out the window if "standards" were to give us "principals" directly.
– Eric Tressler
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
2 Answers
2
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
4
down vote
The word "talk" is not actually ambiguous here; "[talk of] standards" being a homophone of "principles" makes sense, and then we have a clear division "School bosses / [talk of] standards". This makes "principals" the clear solution.
If instead we had "school bosses talk", not only is that extremely awkward and probably an invalid way to signify a homophone of "school bosses", but "of" is left as a filler word that does nothing.
Taking "principles" as the answer would imply a very bad clue with a filler word, versus no issues if "principals" is the solution.
answered 2 hours ago
Eric Tressler
1,7581215
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
The word "talk" is not actually ambiguous here; "[talk of] standards" being a homophone of "principles" makes sense, and then we have a clear division "School bosses / [talk of] standards". This makes "principals" the clear solution.
If instead we had "school bosses talk", not only is that extremely awkward and probably an invalid way to signify a homophone of "school bosses", but "of" is left as a filler word that does nothing.
Taking "principles" as the answer would imply a very bad clue with a filler word, versus no issues if "principals" is the solution.
answered 2 hours ago
Eric Tressler
1,7581215
add a comment |Â
up vote
4
down vote
up vote
4
down vote
The word "talk" is not actually ambiguous here; "[talk of] standards" being a homophone of "principles" makes sense, and then we have a clear division "School bosses / [talk of] standards". This makes "principals" the clear solution.
If instead we had "school bosses talk", not only is that extremely awkward and probably an invalid way to signify a homophone of "school bosses", but "of" is left as a filler word that does nothing.
Taking "principles" as the answer would imply a very bad clue with a filler word, versus no issues if "principals" is the solution.
answered 2 hours ago
Eric Tressler
1,7581215
The word "talk" is not actually ambiguous here; "[talk of] standards" being a homophone of "principles" makes sense, and then we have a clear division "School bosses / [talk of] standards". This makes "principals" the clear solution.
If instead we had "school bosses talk", not only is that extremely awkward and probably an invalid way to signify a homophone of "school bosses", but "of" is left as a filler word that does nothing.
Taking "principles" as the answer would imply a very bad clue with a filler word, versus no issues if "principals" is the solution.
answered 2 hours ago
Eric Tressler
1,7581215
answered 2 hours ago
Eric Tressler
1,7581215
answered 2 hours ago
Eric Tressler
1,7581215
answered 2 hours ago
Eric Tressler
1,7581215
1,7581215
add a comment |Â
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Hopefully, the clue is related to both
Principals (leaders of an education institution)
and
Principals (Matters or things of primary importance: such as
a capital sum earning interest, due as a debt, or used as a fund)
in which case the spelling is the same.
answered 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
2
I disagree that the second half of the clue might refer directly to "principals". "Matters of primary importance" are not the same as "standards", whereas principles are -- and there is a homophone indicator, which we would have to toss out the window if "standards" were to give us "principals" directly.
– Eric Tressler
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
Hopefully, the clue is related to both
Principals (leaders of an education institution)
and
Principals (Matters or things of primary importance: such as
a capital sum earning interest, due as a debt, or used as a fund)
in which case the spelling is the same.
answered 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
2
I disagree that the second half of the clue might refer directly to "principals". "Matters of primary importance" are not the same as "standards", whereas principles are -- and there is a homophone indicator, which we would have to toss out the window if "standards" were to give us "principals" directly.
– Eric Tressler
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
up vote
0
down vote
up vote
0
down vote
Hopefully, the clue is related to both
Principals (leaders of an education institution)
and
Principals (Matters or things of primary importance: such as
a capital sum earning interest, due as a debt, or used as a fund)
in which case the spelling is the same.
answered 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
Hopefully, the clue is related to both
Principals (leaders of an education institution)
and
Principals (Matters or things of primary importance: such as
a capital sum earning interest, due as a debt, or used as a fund)
in which case the spelling is the same.
answered 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
answered 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
answered 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
answered 3 hours ago
Chowzen
12.6k237173
12.6k237173
2
I disagree that the second half of the clue might refer directly to "principals". "Matters of primary importance" are not the same as "standards", whereas principles are -- and there is a homophone indicator, which we would have to toss out the window if "standards" were to give us "principals" directly.
– Eric Tressler
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
2
I disagree that the second half of the clue might refer directly to "principals". "Matters of primary importance" are not the same as "standards", whereas principles are -- and there is a homophone indicator, which we would have to toss out the window if "standards" were to give us "principals" directly.
– Eric Tressler
2 hours ago
2
2
I disagree that the second half of the clue might refer directly to "principals". "Matters of primary importance" are not the same as "standards", whereas principles are -- and there is a homophone indicator, which we would have to toss out the window if "standards" were to give us "principals" directly.
– Eric Tressler
2 hours ago
I disagree that the second half of the clue might refer directly to "principals". "Matters of primary importance" are not the same as "standards", whereas principles are -- and there is a homophone indicator, which we would have to toss out the window if "standards" were to give us "principals" directly.
– Eric Tressler
2 hours ago
add a comment |Â
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Maybe this should go on Puzzling Meta?
– Robert S.
3 hours ago