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We’re used to picking out the indicators in a clue by how they imply some sort of dynamic change. Usually, in the interest of making the clue concise, setters use succinct indicators marked by a single word. But now and then, a single indicator can be rather long, running into a three-word phrase, leaving you rummaging your brain trying to work each word out instead of treating a group of words as a single phrase.
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The Hindu Cryptic #13301 | Afterdark | 13 Across
Clue explained:
Musical work, enchanter pouring soul out on centre stage (5) CLUE:
: abbreviation, deletion, letter-pick Clue types
: musical Definition
: AnswerOPERA
We need a 5-letter word here that means ‘musical’.
Another word for ‘work’ is operation, which can be abbreviated as OP.
‘Pouring soul out’ is a deletion indicator asking us to remove the contents of the word ‘enchanter’. This means we are left with only its shell, its outermost letters, E and R.
‘Centre stage’ is a letter-pick indicator telling us to select the middle letter of ‘stage’, which is A.
And altogether, that spells OPERA, a kind of ‘musical’!
