Re: Ambiguous clue?

Jonathan Buss said:

Steve B. wrote:
Jonathan Buss said:


Peter T. Daniels wrote:

Brian Smith wrote:


Can anyone say with any real degree of confidence whether the setter is
expecting STEEL or STEAL as the answer to this clue?

"To rob reportedly requires nerve(5)"


If the fourth letter isn't checked, this is a defective clue. If it were
"To rob reportedly nerve is required," it would clearly be STEAL.
Similarly, "Reportedly, to rob requires nerve" is STEEL.

PTD's first example has the same problem as the original clue.
It would have to be something like "To rob requires nerve, reportedly".


Somebody help me. I don't see the problem. Surely the clue parses as
"[wordplay] requires [definition]" How else can you accommodate "requires"?
Therefore, 'reportedly" can only refer to "To rob". It would properly be
written as "To rob, reportedly...", but even Ximenes allowed missing (as
opposed to additional, misleading) punctuation.

Steve = : ^ )

In the surface reading, "reportedly" modifies "requires"

True...but that's less than irrelevant to the cryptic reading.

Here's how it looks to me:

To rob = STEAL

reportedly = homophone indicator => STEEL

requires = link to...

nerve = definition = STEEL

I see no ambiguity, nor any other problem. The answer is STEEL.

Steve = : ^ )


(A comma
would seem odd, at best; I'd call it wrong.) But an allowable cryptic
reading permits all kinds of re-punctuation and re-parsing. Any
contiguous words might need to be brought together as a single part.

Jonathan

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Ambiguous clue?
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