Cryptic Split Lines
(Published on 3. May 2025, 22:55 by marty_sears)
- Hole discovered in hospital (3)
- Cool joint (3)
- Tree has changed (3)
- Is able to cancel the first half (3)
- Tear drops within split seconds (3)
4 LETTERS:
- Disc useful for a better snack (4)
- Pinched the middle part of a foot (4)
- Fashion accessory reportedly from Bangkok or thereabouts (4)
- Bits of advice given to person who’s been waiting? (4)
5 LETTERS:
- Breathes heavily on bottoms (5)
- Rodent is returning to an Indian music producer (5)
6 LETTERS:
- Photos of royalty, by the sounds of it (6)
- Take tin openers to all the care homes (6)
7 LETTERS:
- Musician reimagines rap hits (7)
- In stomach, pin found instead of cat food (7)
9 LETTERS:
- Penguin has face part and back parts (9)
Rules:
Fill the grid with the digits 1-9 so that digits don't repeat in any row or column.
Each digit is represented by a letter of the alphabet, to be determined.
Using these letters, the answer to each cryptic clue below can be placed into the grid in a straight line, reading from left to right or downwards. Each peach circle marks the start of at least one word, and each peach diamond marks the end of at least one word. Every word starts at a circle and ends at a diamond. Different words can not share more than one cell.
If a blue dot sits on a word, it divides that word into segments which each have the same sum when the letters are translated to digits.
CLUES (sorted by answer length)
3 LETTERS:
Solution code: The letters corresponding to 158962347
Comments
on 25. August 2025, 21:33 by ThymePass
I'm still giggly from typing in the solution code! Another lovely puzzle and I'm going to remember "Disc useful for a better snack (4)" for a goodly li'l while. Fun!
on 17. July 2025, 20:07 by fthompson
In case anybody else is not very familiar with cryptic clues, I found this guide to be super helpful: https://www.minutecryptic.com/guide
on 7. May 2025, 13:38 by ninjamunk
With English not being my first language, the cryptic clues was very hard to crack! But with a little from Claude, it worked out in the end :)
on 4. May 2025, 22:10 by jakestilesowen
Brilliant puzzle with a great mix of cryptic clues, geometry, and even a bit of sudoku.
on 4. May 2025, 17:17 by mscha
Oof, cryptic clues... I'm lousy at them even in my native Dutch, let alone in English.
But with some help from ChatGPT and Copilot I got them all.
Nice one!
on 4. May 2025, 15:32 by ChinStrap
Marty I absolutely loved this present. My cryptic skills are definitely below my sudoku skills but you kept the clue level appropriate for someone like me that more just watches the Friday videos than solves a ton. Every clue got a smile out of me once I finally got them to click.
But the way it combined in the grid with the sudoku was really great. Even the split dots get used in some surprising ways and the the diamond circle setup leads to really interesting questions.
Thanks again for the present and for being such a great support for the past year!
on 4. May 2025, 13:22 by stickx
loved it :) thanks again marty. (i'm still stuck on taxi rank!)
on 4. May 2025, 01:02 by ViKingPrime
I'm so glad you managed to work that in somewhere, smartyarse. Excellent work as always! I really hope to see more cryptic puzzles from you in the future, they're always such a breath of fresh air, truly.
on 3. May 2025, 23:15 by Ratfinkz
Awesome puzzle, loved this!!!
