Baring my Heart

Question

_{This is an entry into the Fortnightly Topic Challenge: Restricted title 1}

Alice has sent a message to Bob. Can you help Bob figure it out?

Ordinary vehicle turning all
Finished challenged
Industrious real king after not so easy win
Bent nail bone
Unfavourable right with small Energy after victory following advantage
Manner in the French following Street
Knife from Rand in wager
Sprint to right point

But ... I wouldn't gamble my knife. – Rand al'Thor Jun 05 '18 at 17:36 — Rand al'Thor, Jun 05 '18 at 17:36

ffao · Accepted Answer · 2018-06-05T18:48:55.320

14

The encoding of the message is related to...

the fact that, in each of the cryptic clues, the central letter (heart) is missing from the wordplay.

The clues and their solutions:

Ordinary vehicle turning all VAN[I] + LLA<, thanks to Philip
Finished challenged COMP[L]ETED
Industrious real king after not so easy win HARD+W[O]+R+KING, also from Philip
Bent nail bone AN[V]IL*
Unfavourable right with small Energy after victory following advantage AD+V[E]+R+S+E
Manner in the French following Street ST[Y] + LE
Knife from Rand in wager B(AY[O]N)ET, from TwoBitOperation
Sprint to right point R[U]+N

The final message is...

I LOVE YOU

edited Jun 05 '18 at 18:48

answered Jun 05 '18 at 18:39

ffao

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1

This is correct. Once you figure out all the clues, I will accept this answer. – Sid Jun 05 '18 at 18:40
Damn, you beat me for a few of the CCs :-D – Phylyp Jun 05 '18 at 18:41
1

#1 is rot13(inavyyn) – Phylyp Jun 05 '18 at 18:41
1

#3 is (I think) - rot13(uneqjbexvat) – Phylyp Jun 05 '18 at 18:41
1

@Philip: ouch, I tried to think of words ending in yyn, but somehow that didn't come to mind! :) – ffao Jun 05 '18 at 18:43
1

#7 might be rot13(onl[b]arg), but I don't have the full wordplay – TwoBitOperation Jun 05 '18 at 18:45
@TwoBitOperation, that was my thought for the definition as well though I didn't see the wordplay until you pointed it out, so thanks! – ffao Jun 05 '18 at 18:47
Ooh, that's a nice one @TwoBitOperation , it took the parentheses that ffao used for me to see it. – Phylyp Jun 05 '18 at 18:50
2

Even with all the answers, I have no idea what's going on here. – Lord Farquaad Jun 05 '18 at 19:49
5

@LordFarquaad: Are you familiar with cryptic clues? These are cryptic clues, but with the additional twist that the middle letter of each answer, the "heart", has been omitted in the wordplay. – M Oehm Jun 05 '18 at 20:03

Baring my Heart

1 Answers1