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How to solve Kropotkin, Tossman and other cryptic crosswords.
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Hi. I’d appreciate an explanation of the answer for 15 across please, it really has me stumped.
Not very confident about my answer for this one! I saw ‘early sketch’ as S. Then another word for sketch is DRAW – unfinished it is DRA and ‘sent back’ is ARD. It all seems pretty far-fetched really, and as sard is really a pigment not a paint I’m not convinced this is right. WARD would work better but I can’t see the connection with ‘paint’. Sorry I can’t be more positive on this one, Rick…
I wonder if they’re referring to WARD as in guard/protect in its ‘early’ sense? I suppose you could consider paint to mean ‘protect’.
Good suggestion, Rick – although it seems a bit unfair of Kropotkin to rely on such a tenuous reference!
I’ve updated the solution to show the correct published solution for 15 Across. Personally, I find cryptic clues which rely on very obscure and archaic words to be less satisfying than those which use clever word-play!
I have to agree with you, although it’s always good to learn something new.