Continuing our series for those tempted or daunted by cryptics, we look at what a mention of certain jobs in a clue might mean
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 greatly alleviate your solving load. 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.
Many lines of work have their own worlds of shorthand and abbreviations. We’ve looked here before at the religious and maritime milieux, as well as journalism. But any job whose abbreviation has made it into a general-purpose dictionary is fair game for a setter. Here are five regular visitors to our clues.
13a Salesman, flier and maintenance worker (9)
[ cryptic: synonyms for ‘salesman’ & ‘flier’ ]
[ REP & AIRMAN ]
[ definition: maintenance worker ]
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