Hidden Pleasures
On paper, hidden clues are easy. The answer you seek is the answer lying within the clue, a sneaky cluster of consecutive letters.
Add to that a handy signpost, a tip-off to look within the clue such as ‘inside’ or ‘housing’ – and you’d reckon most of us would solve these clues in a snap.
But.
But, an elegant hidden, with a subtle signpost, can make anyone bark up the wrong eucalyptus for minutes at a time. Now and then a hidden remains the one clue you’ve yet to crack, simply because the camouflage is so good.
Some recent gems from around the English traps:
Part of impeccable career that could make one upwardly mobile = CABLECAR
IT expert enlisted by corporate chief = TECHIE
Opera part is thought to restrict performer = RAP ARTIST
As a setter, I rejoiced when realising that tennis player WAYNE ARTHURS could be bedded inside the phrase ‘away near Thursday’”¦. The brainwave inspired a devious clue:
Retired tennis champ away near Thursday Island (5,7)
Assuming ‘island’ could serve as a signpost, telling solvers the answer is ‘marooned’ and intact within a larger mass. And if that argument won’t wash with the puzzle editor, I could wangle a kinder draft:
Secluded away, near Thursday’s tennis champ once (5,7)
Though not every hidden deserves a huzzah. Over the last few weeks, gnawing through a collection of old Guardian grids, a lot of brilliant stuff in the main, I did encounter a shabby pair of hiddens. Namely:
Actor in Oedipus Rex (tragedy) = EXTRA
This clue derives from the august Araucaria, a black-and-white demigod, but not without flaw. My beef is twofold. First, the clue carries a surplus word – Oedipus. Good hiddens avoid the need to pad the camouflage. Just as Wayne Arthurs would be a stronger clue if allowed more couching, I feel my hands are bound.
Second beef – the brackets. Even if the clue was pared, why the ‘extra’ punctuation? Perhaps a better clue the next time round: Actor in complex tragedy. Or: Sex trade absorbing actor…
Far more tragic, a clue from Gordius in the same al-dente volume:
Name of girl called Nancy = EDNA
Seriously Gordius, that will knot do. Where’s your signpost? Your editor? Take a leaf from Paul who composed this paragon a few months back:
Memories linger imbibing wine (8)
On that note, cheers. And if the hidden urge moves you, tell us what horrors and delights you’ve met in this simple-to-solve (but hard-to-see) category.