All aboard! A selection of rail-related references to help your daily solve
In the example clues below, I explain the two parts of each: the definition of the answer and the wordplay – the recipe for assembling its letters. In a genuine puzzle environment, of course, you also have the crossing letters, which greatly alleviate your solving load. The explanations contain links to previous entries in this series on such matters as spelling one word backwards to reveal another. And setters’ names tend to link to interviews, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.
Labour, it tells us, will nationalise the train network in its first five years. So let’s revisit an old initialism, one which never really went away in the world of crosswords – and the other rail-related things every solver needs to know.
21d Fruit is dear in France on the railway (6)
[ wordplay: French for ‘dear’ + abbrev. for ‘railway’ ]
[ CHER + RY ]
[ definition: fruit ]
3d Leading actor’s lines are bright and pointed (6)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘leading actor’ + abbrev. for ‘lines’ ]
[ STAR + RY ]
[ definition: bright and pointed ]
4d City with old railway company first linked to Circle line (7)
[ wordplay: abbrev. for ‘old railway company’ + IST (‘first’) + O (‘circle’) + L (‘line’) ]
[ BR + IST + O + L ]
[ definition: city ]
10a Radio device’s error, dropping station (4)
[ wordplay: synonym for ‘error’ without (‘dropping’) abbrev. for ‘station’ ]
[ MISTAKE – STA ]
[ definition: radio device ]
11a Fair chance this number’s lost its line (5)
[ wordplay: ELEVENS (‘this number’s’) without EL (‘lost its line’)
[ELEVENS – EL ]
[ definition: fair chance ]
