Unusually Cryptic

Question

Here are some cryptics which have been made to be particularly unusual. You might find some easy, some hard, but hopefully, and most importantly, you find them all fun!
Edit: I've added an extra clue and changed the order so that there's now a meta. I'm sure you'll be attracted to the meta-answer.

Strange non-uncle, perhaps? (4)
One ton one under sun begun, perhaps (10)
Weird Y (8)
Mixing endless accessories (5)
Disconcerting　major exit! (6)
Perhaps, a resting spot with an eccentric, eccentric start (9)
Direct, and headless (7)
Perhaps, every permuted tie and portion (12)
Under-emphasise (9)
Gained for the first mixture with. (8)

EDIT: So as to not break (too many) cryptic clue rules, clue 3 should read 'Weird, weird Y (8)'. I've left it unedited in the main body since the improved wording

breaks the meta.

Everything has been solved! Not sure who to green tick for now.

Are you familiar with cryptic clues? Each line clues at a word, and the number tells you how many letters are in the word. — TheGreatEscaper, Jan 26 '17 at 10:38
Either accept M Oehm's solution with most solve or create a community wiki. — Techidiot, Jan 27 '17 at 05:59

M Oehm · Accepted Answer · 2017-01-27T08:03:23.783

[Note: I have solved only five of the ten clues and the meta puzzle. Clues I didn't solve reference the actual solver. If you like this answer, please consider upvoting these answers, too.]

Strange non-uncle, perhaps? (4)

RARE — def. strange; UNCLEARER (perhaps?) − UNCLE (non-uncle) = (RARE*). Mike Q has found the answer, RARE.

One ton one under sun begun, perhaps (10)

MONOTONOUS — &lit. and def. by example, because of the repeating un-un-un's; MONO (one) + TON + UOS (first letters of One Under Sun). Solved by Neil W.

Weird Y (8)✻

ATYPICAL — def. weird; indirect anagram (weird) of CAPITAL Y. Solved by Mike Q.

Mixing endless accessories (5)

BLING — def. accessories; BLENDING (mixing) − END (end-less). Solved by Neil W.

Disconcerting major exit! (6)

ESCAPE — &lit.; anagram (disconcerting) of SPACE (the extra space between the first two words) + first letter (major) of Exit; Found by F1Krazy.

Perhaps, a resting spot with an eccentric, eccentric start (9)

PERCHANCE — def. perhaps; PERCH (a resting spot) + AN + CE (starting letters of eccentric, rearranged or eccentric). Thanks to Silenius for correcting the wordplay.

Direct, and headless (7)

COMMAND — def. direct as verb; COMMA (the punctuation mark in the clue) + [a]ND headless. Found by Techidiot.

Perhaps, every permuted tie and portion (12)

ALLITERATION — &lit. and def. by example of words beginning with P and probably read as "Perhaps punctuation ..."; ALL + (TIE)* + RATION

Under-emphasise (9)

UNDERLINE — def. emphasise; UNDER + LINE, represented by the hyphen

Gained for the first mixture with. (8)

PROFITED — def. gained; anagram of FT (first letters of for and the) and PERIOD, the punctuation at the end.

The meta-puzzle:

If we take the solved clues and take the letter at the position that corresponds to the number of words in a clue, we get:

RAR E — Strange non-uncle, perhaps? (4 words)
MONOTO N OUS — One ton one under sun begun, perhaps (7)
A T YPICAL — Weird Y (2)✻
BL I NG — Mixing endless accessories (3)
ES C APE — Disconcerting major exit! (3)
PERCHANC E — Perhaps, a resting spot with an eccentric, eccentric start (9)
CO M MAND — Direct, and headless (3)
ALLIT E RATION — Perhaps, every permuted tie and portion (6)
U N DERLINE — Under-emphasise (2)
PROFI T ED — Gained for the first mixture with. (6)

And the meta answer is: ENTICEMENT

✻ The clue "Weird Y" was changed to "Weird, weird Y" in order not to make "weird" do double duty as definition and anagram indicator. The OP said that changing the clue would break the meta, so the meta had something to do with the clue itself, probably with the number of words. This information helped me to find the meta before the last three clues were solved and privided at least one letter for the answers to these clues.

Nice work with the 'eccentric' clue. You have a different wordplay than me for the last 4 letters, but solved is solved! — TheGreatEscaper, Jan 26 '17 at 13:10
@Sid: In the spoiler in the addendum to original question, edited in half an hour ago or so. — M Oehm, Jan 26 '17 at 15:45
@MOehm Then for the one ton clue, we need a 10-letter word where the 7th letter is N? — MikeQ, Jan 26 '17 at 15:59
@MikeQ: Yes, I think so. lots of -ning and -ness words that fit. — M Oehm, Jan 26 '17 at 16:01

Neil W · Answer 2 · 2017-01-27T04:45:37.977

12

Mixing endless accessories (5)

Mixing = BL-end-ING, end-less, = BLING = accessories

One ton one under sun begun, perhaps (10)

One (MONO) + TON + One Under Sun begun (OUS), perhaps = MONOTONOUS, the construction doubles as the definition (by example) in that un-un-un-un-un-un is monotonous

edited Jan 27 '17 at 04:45

answered Jan 26 '17 at 12:18

Neil W

2,288
12
13

Nice! Hope you enjoyed the unusual use of common cryptic words :) – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 12:19
I'd got the answer, but yes it took me a while to realise the end was in the middle. :) – Neil W Jan 26 '17 at 12:29
I'm pretty sure you're answer for #2 is correct, but what's the definition? – MikeQ Jan 27 '17 at 04:39
I think the construction is the definition (by example), un-un-un-un-un-un is monotonous – Neil W Jan 27 '17 at 04:41
@NeilW Ah, it seems to obvious now! – MikeQ Jan 27 '17 at 04:43
Good question anyway, I added that to my answer. – Neil W Jan 27 '17 at 04:46

Techidiot · Answer 3 · 2017-01-26T14:51:58.950

11

Direct, and headless (7)

Direct - def - COMMAND
,(comma) -> and headless -> nd -> COMMAND

Strange non-uncle, perhaps? (4)

AUNT - Non uncle is Aunt (Considering its a lateral thinking with "?" indicator)

One ton one under sun begun, perhaps (10)

Okay, this could be a huge stretch but things fit. One ton -> One hundred is an album -> one under sun -> produced by -> DJ Sun -> begun perhaps(the DJ was born in) -> NETHERLAND :)

edited Jan 26 '17 at 14:51

answered Jan 26 '17 at 13:16

Techidiot

18,902
1
43
120

Nice job!!! :D Hope you liked this one – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 13:21
Hmm, the uncle clue definitely has a wordplay and a definition. Your current answer seems to be missing a wordplay, and also doesn't really make use of the whole clue. – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 13:48
Hmm.. "Well" could be an answer but not sure how to deduce it. Or may be a wordplay in "perhaps" – Techidiot Jan 26 '17 at 13:56
:0 ...that's definitely not the intended answer for the one ton clue! I don't quite see how your answer accounts for the 'ton', or the 'one under'. Additionally, Netherlands is usually spelt with an S at the end. – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 15:03
1

If that's the answer, there has to be a trivia tag. and Netherland is not the country. It is spelt with an S. – Sid Jan 26 '17 at 15:05

F1Krazy · Answer 4 · 2017-01-26T13:21:31.337

8

I've never been good with cryptic clues but I have a partial answer - I believe #2 is

Assonance ("one ton one under sun begun" is a good example of assonance)

EDIT: Disconcerting　major exit (6)

ESCAPE (there's an extra space -- jumble it up ("disconcerting") and perhaps add the first ("major") letter of "exit"?

I had ideas for how you'd solve #4 and #7 but they've both been proven wrong now:

#4: Find a word that means "accessories", remove the last letter ("endless"), and rearrange the remaining letters ("mixed") #7: Find a word that means "direct" and remove the first letter ("headless")

I'll try and come back to this later.

edited Jan 26 '17 at 13:21

answered Jan 26 '17 at 12:06

F1Krazy

8,048
1
33
62

On the right track with #2, but remember that cryptics also need a wordplay! If you can't make the clue wordplay to 'assonance', then maybe you're looking for a slightly different word. – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 12:08
Your answer to disconcerting major exit is correct! However, it's not a standard wordplay/def clue, which is what might be causing some confusion as to the specifics. Check out this awesome page for some other types of clues. – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 13:07
I've seen the space, too, but couldn't make anything of it. E major is a musical scale and disconcerting is an anagram indicator for "space". – M Oehm Jan 26 '17 at 13:09
(These comments all need to be expanded now so I'm okay with spoilers here) The clue is intended to be an &lit. Disconcerting was the best word I could find that both implied 'disallowed' and also is a decent anagram indicator. Maybe this will help with getting that last E. – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 13:12
1

Regarding the fact that it's an &lit, an escape is a "disconcerting major exit". Think of escaping from prison: it's disconcerting for the escapee, as well as major (i.e. serious). – DyingIsFun Jan 26 '17 at 13:21
@Silenus indeed! F1Krazy, your explanation is now the intended one :) – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 13:23
@TheGreatEscaper, Nice clue! For that one, I would signal the &lit with an exclamation point, unless you think that would make it too easy. (I don't think it would.) – DyingIsFun Jan 26 '17 at 13:25
Oh, good point! I forgot about the '!' = &lit general rule of thumb. I'll edit it now. Thanks! – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 13:26
Sweet :D My first correct answer on Puzzling SE. Thanks for the assistance! I'll come back to #2 later. And yeah, I might have recognize it as an &lit earlier if I'd seen the exclamation mark. – F1Krazy Jan 26 '17 at 13:27

score 8 · Answer 5 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:50

8

Weird Y (8)

ATYPICAL = Definition is "Weird", Wordplay is an anagram (weird) for "CAPITAL Y".

Strange non-uncle, perhaps? (4)

~~CLUE~~ My original guess was RARE, which seems to be the correct answer, but MOehm gets credit for the better explanation.

Combining everyone's answers, and applying MOehm's theory, this is the meta puzzle:

Strange non-uncle, perhaps? (4) = RAR{E} (credit: MOehm)
One ton one under sun begun, perhaps (10) = MONOTO{N}OUS (credit: Neil W)
Weird Y (8) = A{T}YPICAL
Mixing endless accessories (5) = BL{I}NG (credit: Neil W)
Disconcerting　major exit! (6) = ES{C}APE (credit: F1Krazy)
Perhaps, a resting spot with an eccentric, eccentric start (9) = PERCHANC{E} (credit: MOehm)
Direct, and headless (7) = CO{M}MAND (credit: Techidiot)
Perhaps, every permuted tie and portion (12) = ALLIT{E}RATION (credit: MOehm)
Under-emphasise (9) = U{N}DERLINE (credit: MOehm)
Gained for the first mixture with. (8) = PROFI{T}ED (credit: MOehm)

Meta puzzle: When you put together the selected letters (at the letter position equal to the number of words in the clue), you get ENTICEMENT!

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:50

Community

1

answered Jan 26 '17 at 14:19

MikeQ

6,830
1
14
42

1

Cool! That's the intended answer for the Weird Y clue :) – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 15:04
Hmm can't say I'm the biggest fan of your non-uncle answer. The definition through two steps seems a bit out there? Additionally, the indirect anagram and the anagram marker are both a bit dodgy. – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 15:06
Doesn't weird do double duty in that Y clue? I am not sure, that's acceptable – Sid Jan 26 '17 at 15:09
@Sid Yup, I've since been told that's a rule breaker :( oh well. – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 15:13
@TheGreatEscaper Regarding the non-uncle, I think the definition is either "Strange" or "?". I found no meaningful anagrams for NONUNCLE, and I don't know any synonyms for "question mark". – MikeQ Jan 26 '17 at 15:14
I half expected Y to be sometimg like "ponytail" (except that that doesn't mean weird, of course). – M Oehm Jan 26 '17 at 15:20
1

UNCLEARER - UNCLE = (RARE)* - In good cooperative style, I've added that to my own answer. :) – M Oehm Jan 26 '17 at 15:51
@MOehm That makes sense, although what about the "non-" part? – MikeQ Jan 26 '17 at 15:52
1

Non-uncle means UNCLEARER doesn't have an UNCLE. What's left, ARER, is strange, i.e anagrammed. – M Oehm Jan 26 '17 at 15:54
Rearding you musings about the last missing clue: F1Krazy has proposed "assonance", but without any wordplay, and the OP has said that this was on the right track. I think it's likely that this is another &lit or that the definition is by example: "sun begun, perhaps". the "one ton one" is another example, but it could also mean "anti" (AN + T + I). I have no idea where to go with this one, really. – M Oehm Jan 26 '17 at 20:09
Hmm, I still don't quite see how your current answer makes use of the whole clue. The wordplay itself will be standard cryptic fare. – TheGreatEscaper Jan 26 '17 at 23:11

Unusually Cryptic

5 Answers5