ADOPTING words of similar meanings, i.e. synonyms is a common practice in cryptic clueing. It is therefore a big advantage to know many words. In the sport of treasure hunts, such requirement is extended to both English and Malay, since hunters are required to think in both languages. Thankfully, however, there is no restrictions on seeking help from dictionaries and thesaurus. In Malaysia, treasure hunt clues are still overwhelmingly English. Some Malay clues may emerge every now and then but they are relatively much lesser than their English counterparts.
Of the two languages, English is much tougher as far as synonyms are concerned. It is tougher because a single word may have many different meanings—so much so that when the setter opts to employ the service of a synonym, he is in danger of choosing the wrong word.
The thing about employing synonyms is that they must obey grammatical rules too. In other words, if for example, we use the word DEPARTS, it can be equated to, say, LEAVES. But it doesn't fit LEAVE because of the missing "S". Similarly, DEPARTS can be equated to GOES, but not GO.
Apart from that, many English words can be nouns as well as verbs; and setters are quick to adopt words which may appear as nouns in the clue, but which are intended as verbs instead.
Q5) Two vowels introduced for a crazy exit in merger.
As usual, let's start by identifying the keywords first. We start with "crazy" which is probably an anagram indicator. I think by now most of you must have noticed that the Captain is not very good in his choices of words for anagram indicators. There must be many more words which would fit in better in this sentence, but he chose "crazy" instead. It makes us all ponder about the logic of a "crazy exit", does it not? A "crazy man", yes; but a "crazy exit"? But of course we have all seen that the Captain is not particularly concerned with surface reading anyway. So let's leave it at that.
What are the other words we need to investigate here? Well, "Two vowels" appear to be easy enough—there are only 5 vowels: A, E, I, O, U. So two of those. But which ones? If I am not mistaken, there is a combination of 25 possibilities for "Two vowels" including repeats, e.g. AA or EE.
Then we have "introduced", which usually mean we have to include something into something. That, too, doesn't seem to be very difficult.
Next is the word "for"—the enigma! But in this clue, there is at least a small justification for its presence. However, I have a feeling that there are better words instead of "for". In this clue, "for" is intended to mean "replacing".
Then, coming back to "crazy exit", as I have said earlier, involves an anagram operation, i.e. to reconfigure the letters in "exit". But I think you're fast catching up with the Captain's idea now—he expects the solver to change "exit" to OUT first. And after than the letters are rearranged to OTU.
That word "merger" is intended to be the synonym of the result of all those operation in the earlier part of the clue. In a way, it is something like the definition part of the clue. And the Captain expects the solver to equate "merger" to JOIN.
So now we more or less have the raw materials, and we are ready to maneuvre all of them to derive the required answer.
Two vowels: Assuming that you have been hardworking to sift out the other possibilities, you should come up with OI.
Introduced: Means that OI is inserted into something.
For: Taking the meaning of "replacing", it means that OI is inserted into something, thus replacing...
Crazy exit: Works out to be OTU as explained above. This OTU is replaced by OI.
Merger: After all those steps above, we are supposed to arrive at something which means MERGER. In this case the word JOIN.
Hence, the required answer: JOTUN
Now let's do the reverse process. If you take that word JOTUN and then replace the OTU with OI, you can get JOIN. That is simple enough and quite easy to understand if explained in that manner.
But now let's look a little deeper into the Captain's dictionary and thesaurus.
First, the word EXIT. What does it mean? Well, as you know, EXIT can be a noun as well as a verb. And there are many possible ways to use the word. In its most common usage as a noun, it can mean "a way or passage out". Note the emphasis on the words "way" and "passage". If you think of it carefully, EXIT is not OUT. Rather it is the PASSAGE out. An OUTLET, yes, but not OUT without the LET. It is easy to make that kind of mistake, but one which the setter can't afford to make!
If you checked the meaning of EXIT as a verb, you will probably find something like "to go out", but not "out" on its own.
And what about MERGER? Well, I can accept MERGE = JOIN, but not MERGER = JOIN. MERGER is a noun which basically means inter alia "any combination of two or more business enterprises into a single enterprise." I spoke briefly with a friend regarding this word. I was given to understand that some people are also using it as a verb, and therefore would attempt to equate it to JOIN. I'm not sure about the accuracy of this, so perhaps if any of my readers are well-versed with the English language, he would be kind enough to help us out here?
Of the two languages, English is much tougher as far as synonyms are concerned. It is tougher because a single word may have many different meanings—so much so that when the setter opts to employ the service of a synonym, he is in danger of choosing the wrong word.
The thing about employing synonyms is that they must obey grammatical rules too. In other words, if for example, we use the word DEPARTS, it can be equated to, say, LEAVES. But it doesn't fit LEAVE because of the missing "S". Similarly, DEPARTS can be equated to GOES, but not GO.
Apart from that, many English words can be nouns as well as verbs; and setters are quick to adopt words which may appear as nouns in the clue, but which are intended as verbs instead.
Q5) Two vowels introduced for a crazy exit in merger.
As usual, let's start by identifying the keywords first. We start with "crazy" which is probably an anagram indicator. I think by now most of you must have noticed that the Captain is not very good in his choices of words for anagram indicators. There must be many more words which would fit in better in this sentence, but he chose "crazy" instead. It makes us all ponder about the logic of a "crazy exit", does it not? A "crazy man", yes; but a "crazy exit"? But of course we have all seen that the Captain is not particularly concerned with surface reading anyway. So let's leave it at that.
What are the other words we need to investigate here? Well, "Two vowels" appear to be easy enough—there are only 5 vowels: A, E, I, O, U. So two of those. But which ones? If I am not mistaken, there is a combination of 25 possibilities for "Two vowels" including repeats, e.g. AA or EE.
Then we have "introduced", which usually mean we have to include something into something. That, too, doesn't seem to be very difficult.
Next is the word "for"—the enigma! But in this clue, there is at least a small justification for its presence. However, I have a feeling that there are better words instead of "for". In this clue, "for" is intended to mean "replacing".
Then, coming back to "crazy exit", as I have said earlier, involves an anagram operation, i.e. to reconfigure the letters in "exit". But I think you're fast catching up with the Captain's idea now—he expects the solver to change "exit" to OUT first. And after than the letters are rearranged to OTU.
That word "merger" is intended to be the synonym of the result of all those operation in the earlier part of the clue. In a way, it is something like the definition part of the clue. And the Captain expects the solver to equate "merger" to JOIN.
So now we more or less have the raw materials, and we are ready to maneuvre all of them to derive the required answer.
Two vowels: Assuming that you have been hardworking to sift out the other possibilities, you should come up with OI.
Introduced: Means that OI is inserted into something.
For: Taking the meaning of "replacing", it means that OI is inserted into something, thus replacing...
Crazy exit: Works out to be OTU as explained above. This OTU is replaced by OI.
Merger: After all those steps above, we are supposed to arrive at something which means MERGER. In this case the word JOIN.
Hence, the required answer: JOTUN
Now let's do the reverse process. If you take that word JOTUN and then replace the OTU with OI, you can get JOIN. That is simple enough and quite easy to understand if explained in that manner.
But now let's look a little deeper into the Captain's dictionary and thesaurus.
First, the word EXIT. What does it mean? Well, as you know, EXIT can be a noun as well as a verb. And there are many possible ways to use the word. In its most common usage as a noun, it can mean "a way or passage out". Note the emphasis on the words "way" and "passage". If you think of it carefully, EXIT is not OUT. Rather it is the PASSAGE out. An OUTLET, yes, but not OUT without the LET. It is easy to make that kind of mistake, but one which the setter can't afford to make!
If you checked the meaning of EXIT as a verb, you will probably find something like "to go out", but not "out" on its own.
And what about MERGER? Well, I can accept MERGE = JOIN, but not MERGER = JOIN. MERGER is a noun which basically means inter alia "any combination of two or more business enterprises into a single enterprise." I spoke briefly with a friend regarding this word. I was given to understand that some people are also using it as a verb, and therefore would attempt to equate it to JOIN. I'm not sure about the accuracy of this, so perhaps if any of my readers are well-versed with the English language, he would be kind enough to help us out here?
1 comment:
This anagram is a keeper, a a rust keeper.
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