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So I was working on my first cryptic puzzle for this site, writing the front part of each clue on one slip of paper, and the back part of each clue on another, as you do. Somehow things got mixed up and I forgot which back part went with each front part. I stuck all the fronts and backs back together best I could but I don't think they're right. Fortunately, I made all the letter counts for the answers to each clue the same so it'd be easy to remember, unfortunately I didn't remember. I also misplaced the answers. Maybe you can help get me back on track?

  1. Cook or meld, somehow plucking a goose?
  2. Go watch mums keep upright for fast food.
  3. Musical role reversal to get directions.
  4. Breaking out each contained desire goes down the drain.
  5. Making notes about who's drawn a bird.
  6. Act confused, land a bird it's a mystery!
Neil W
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  • Are the answers present in the words as well? Or they are just cryptic clues? And, is there a particular pattern in the way they are scribbled or its random? – Techidiot Dec 19 '16 at 18:32
  • Once you've matched the right back and front you've a traditional cryptic crossword clue, definition and cryptic clue. – Neil W Dec 19 '16 at 18:36
  • Are the punctuations part of the count? – Techidiot Dec 20 '16 at 07:54
  • @Techidiot: I don't think that the answers include punctuation. Hyphens and sometimes apostrophes are included in the enumerations, but I think the solutions are all single words of the same length. If you have found a solution with eight letters, you can be sure that the rest have eight letters, too. – M Oehm Dec 20 '16 at 08:04
  • @MOehm- The puzzle says, the letter count for every line is correct. So, I was checking if the count considers the punctuation marks as well. – Techidiot Dec 20 '16 at 08:09
  • @Techidiot: The puzzle doesn't say anything like that. It says: "I made all the letter counts for each clue the same", which I take to mean the letter (and not punctuation) counts for the solution to each clue. – M Oehm Dec 20 '16 at 08:13
  • @MOehm- I posted my findings. Not sure if they are right. Hope it helps someone else figuring it out. – Techidiot Dec 20 '16 at 08:25
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    I mean the letter counts that specify the length of the solutions, that are normally part of a clue. – Neil W Dec 20 '16 at 08:59
  • I've tweaked the puzzle description to make these things clearer, I hope that's kosher. – Neil W Dec 20 '16 at 09:08
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    How do we know where a front ends and a back starts? – Beastly Gerbil Dec 20 '16 at 10:22
  • That's part of the puzzle. The properly matched parts should be coherent. – Neil W Dec 20 '16 at 11:16
  • Are "front parts" and "back parts" in every case the two parts of a cryptic clue, or could the break be in mid-definition or mid-wordplay? – Gareth McCaughan Dec 20 '16 at 15:08
  • The former. There are no broken definitions or wordplays. – Neil W Dec 20 '16 at 15:14
  • And just to be clear, the front parts are still at the fronts and the backs at the backs, yeah? (i.e. each clue as given is the front of a final one, and then the back of another, and not front+front/back+back/back+front) – Alconja Dec 20 '16 at 23:17
  • Yes fronts are all still at the front, backs at the back. – Neil W Dec 21 '16 at 02:20

1 Answers1

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The original clues and their answers were:

LOCKED ROOM [1] Cook or meld, somehow | it's a mystery [6]
GOOGLE MAPS [2] Go watch mums keep upright | to get directions [3] (thanks, Tom!)
GREASE TRAP [3] Musical role reversal | goes down the drain [4] (thanks, Rubio!)
BURGER KING [4] Breaking out each contained desire | for fast food [2]
TAKING DOWN [5] Making notes about | plucking a goose? [1]
DONALD DUCK [6] Act confused, land a bird | who's drawn a bird [5]

Gareth McCaughan
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    (and annoyingly I really need to go to sleep now. I will not be offended if someone else has solved the remaining two while I sleep, nor will I be annoyed if they haven't.) – Gareth McCaughan Dec 22 '16 at 02:56
  • Good work. Everything's correct so far. – Neil W Dec 22 '16 at 03:03
  • [3]-[4] is possibly: LIQUID (which apparently is a synonym of musical) TRAP (role = part reversal) (def: goes down the drain, referring to S-bends & P-traps, etc) – Alconja Dec 22 '16 at 03:48
  • On the right track @Alconja but not there yet. – Neil W Dec 22 '16 at 04:51
  • it's GREASE|TRAP (the musical, and the part reversal). a grease trap indeed goes down the drain. but I still can't get the last one. – Rubio Dec 22 '16 at 04:58
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    [2]-[3] Go-ogle Ma(p)s with p for post? – Tom Dec 22 '16 at 09:07
  • Rubio is certainly right. Tom too, though I'm not buying "p for post". I've seen PI for "upright" (short for "pious") but am still not quite sure how this one works. – Gareth McCaughan Dec 22 '16 at 10:55
  • I think it's a lift-and-separate clue: up right = the right (letter) of up. (I'm not so happy with some of the definitions. But maybe I'm just grumpy because I've spent too much time with this and coudn't get anywhere.) – M Oehm Dec 22 '16 at 11:25
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    Yep that's it. P is just the right (as opposed to left) part of 'up'. – Neil W Dec 22 '16 at 11:27