Minute Cryptic Clue

This is the 107th Minute Cryptic clue, playable on 10 October 2024. Play the free daily clue at minutecryptic.com
#crypticcrossword #crypticcrossword

[@andrewc6126]

Feature suggestion: after solving the clue you can rate the difficulty out of 5 stars, and then everyone can see how difficult everyone else ranked the puzzle!

[@MinuteCryptic]

Love this idea!!

[@ltablet1429]

That's a great idea!

[@randomcreek]

I like the idea, but I don't think stars are the best symbol. Stars would make people that didn't read the question rate the clue more generally and not in terms of difficulty. Something more neutral or even negative (a skull?) would be better.

[@gavincraddock5772]

This was a really hard one. I thought I'd cracked it over the last two days but this stumped me.

[@juniper_jon]

Lightbulbs, i found this one 💡💡💡

[@Jakaluma]

This one totally stumped me, but it's a cool clue once I heard the explanation

[@jean-claudevandal5069]

I cannot even start to describe the ecstasy I feel from solving this. I feel like an absolute mastermind..

[@gracegrass4462]

Me too! Had to take the definition hint but it didn’t take long after that!

[@jean-claudevandal5069]

@@gracegrass4462 Hell yeah.. I thought for the longest time that trash would be the definition.. but i literally found that by eggs they are talking about the oos and then the rest of the clue all fell together like a house of cards..

[@mystery1710]

This was a fantastic lesson for me, each video teaches me something, but this was above and beyond, thank you.

[@SuspenduAuGaffa]

This one took till about 5:00PM (UK time) for the penny to finally drop for me. Great clue! BTW, using "egg" for 0 or O is of course common in cricket, where the word "duck" is a shortening of "duck egg".

[@scottm2292]

And "love" in tennis for nil points is a mispronunciation of l'oeuf

[@prowsey99]

This stumped me. Had to get two letters to get get the answer. Even then I couldn’t reverse engineer the word play. Tough one.

[@susannaweng1420]

Cann🥚t believe I g🥚t this 🥚ne

[@yessirge]

despite assuming "eggs" was code for two O's and also seeing the two O's in "cooling", it took me two letters to get it lol

[@alexmoonstone]

same dog

[@londonchocoroll9850]

Even though I've done a lot of cryptic crosswords, this one had me for some reason. I was confused with what to do with 'In the trash'', was trying to find a synonym for trash ' to put 'oo'' (the eggs) into. And then I didn't know what to do with cooling either but I should have realised it had two o's.

[@aashimsen1]

It was an incredible clue that stumped me at midnight. I had to return in the morning, hoping a fresh perspective would help. I got stuck on ‘Bin’ for quite a while until ‘OO’ clicked-purely by luck. It kept me on the edge, tempting me to take a hint, but I resisted. Finished 3 under par.

[@GoranNewsum]

Fun fact about eggs being Os, in tennis 0 is referred to as love, and it's nothing to do with the emotion love, it's because a 0 kind of looks like an egg and in French (where tennis originated) eggs are l'oeuf which when brought to English became love.

[@Caitlinm007]

Had no clue what this wordplay was until this video. It’s so good and now I feel an idiot. I love these puzzles.

[@daniella8913]

got that eggs=oo but kept trying to come up with words that used "oo" in it. hard puzzle today!

[@Vikette1000]

Yes ... and crook is a stick

[@MikeGossmann]

I kept trying to put the "oo" into a synonym for trash 😅

[@kateneubecker4720]

Was trying to put AC for cooling in the answer as well as two OOs for the eggs, made it way more complicated than it was. Finally got it after a letter clue and looked at synonyms for stick... Great clue!

[@nothombium]

Found it with one letter. Realized the wordplay immediately after, and it made me laugh. Would’ve never thought of that. Had NO clue what to do with “cooling” or “eggs”

[@tanoathome]

This was the fastest I’ve gotten a Minute Cryptic after a couple weeks of doing these!

[@andrewy5251]

Found this super tough. Got “o”s for the eggs, picked the definition, but that was about it. Couple of letter hints and I guessed the answer, but no idea on wordplay until I saw this vid! Level up. Cool clue in the end

[@BrianaMcZant]

Super challenging! But absolutely loved it!

[@rishabhrastogi17]

Somedays I'm quite pleased with my self and sometimes not. Came back to this after an entire day, and got it! So happy.

[@lindarehill4965]

I couldn’t figure out what cooling meant until I guessed the word and worked backwards. Took me a while!

[@bradleyjdee]

Another groan from me at 2:10! Great puzzle and not sure I would’ve gotten it without revealing 3 letters!

[@andrewmcmahon6432]

That was a tough one today, I ended up 1 over par. Good clue to get me thinking about wordplay indicators

[@SheenaTrinder]

Even after I got this one(after two hints) I still didn’t realise about removing the eggs! Will hopefully remember for another time 😂

[@arm_613]

This one got me 😢 I used the hint and got a clue. This got the answer from the combo of the definition and a letter. Somehow got one under par. Came here to find out what is supposed to happen.

[@Alex_Meadows]

Good job, I was wondering how you were going to explain this one!

[@scottm2292]

Love the fact that the definition, STICK, also works as part of the wordplay 😊

[@matt_the_musician]

Wow! I was too late to do this on the website, but I guessed it while watching the video. As soon as he said that eggs in the trash is the word play indicator, I paused and said, "The o's look like eggs," and I guessed it was cling.

[@TeddySurgery]

Had to get a couple of letters, came here to learn and damn that’s clever and tricky! Tried using o’s in the clue, but didn’t think about the eggs looking at me

[@dav-w5i]

I've been doing these every night in front of my partner and this is the first one she got before me !! I was blind to eggs so glad to have the help 🎉

[@alexthompson8815]

This was the hardest one I’ve done so far. I was convinced “cooling” was an indicator to make a word smaller, and trash was an anagram indicator! I eventually got it after looking up synonyms for stick and noticing how cooling could become cling. Very good clue

[@louisaeggleton3426]

It helped that I knew the eggs meant o but took me ages to work out that I had to bin them!

[@th.nd.r]

I kept on thinking I needed “c” for cooling, a four letter word for “eggs” like “ovae” or something, and then put that “in the trash” as a potential anagram indicator. I was also thinking of “coo” inside a two letter abbreviation for “trash.” Only got it after two letter reveals - the first two letters to be exact

[@hassantahir4152]

Felt extremely proud of myself that I’ve learnt enough to know “cooling eggs” means the eggs in cool 😂😂😂 - a few weeks ago I’d have been screaming at the setter

[@coltonmoore9047]

Eggs in the trash… clever. I just guessed a synonym for stick but it made sense once I was able to look at it after knowing the answer

[@nikkideller3332]

Took the hint, then got it very quickly after thinking about synonyms for stick. Great clue!

[@TW-pp1tm]

Damn it.

[@brianheneghan]

Had the answer and then figured out the word play. Eggs being a way for describing the letter "O" is a new one for me.

[@lera_216]

Feature suggestion: for the clues, it would be nice if you could choose from three different clues. Maybe like "identify definition (which you have)," "explain wordplay" (e.g., eggs can sometimes represent "o" in words), and then another could be a hint from us players. For puzzles you allow us to preview beforehand, people can suggest a hint known as the "player's hint" (?). Sometimes, a letter and identifying the definition portion isn't enough, but I want to resort to your video just yet.

[@shaniswriting]

Got it off a synonym for stick, then laughed and cursed the setter.

[@gillybean3308]

yes me too need a whole crossword to “help” sometimes

[@vhimeras8030]

I figured almost immediately that the "eggs" were a double o, but I kept trying to think of solutions that had them inside, like "brook" (I thought I had to insert them in a synonym for "trash", which of course "brk" isn't, plus I didn't know what to do with "cooling"). I had to take a pause and come back, and then it clicked almost instantly. Great clue!

[@CeltInClaverack]

Loved this! Got it with one letter hint but had to come here to understand the clue.

[@prhecuh]

Hard one today. Realized stick is the definition and tried everything that could be a synonym for it. Will know in the future!

[@howzatstew]

Absolutely loved this clue, really tickled me when I got it

[@horniddle]

I was never ever going to get this one from the clue. Managed to get it from the cl__g with hints but had no hope of reverse engineering it

[@Alex_Meadows]

That's how we learn, right? You were stumped by this one because you hadn't seen the "eggs" contrivance before, but now you'll remember it next time you see it. (I'm assuming that you're smarter than I am; I needed several lessons before it stuck but I got there in the end.)

[@horniddle]

@@Alex_Meadows dunno about the next one but maybe the one after that 😅

[@jaktracy]

I'm surprised I got this without hints. For some reason the idea of eggs representing "oo" occurred to me really quickly, but it took me a minute to see how to use that correctly. I kept trying to fit "oo" into a word for trash.

[@joejs4613]

Genuinely that was, in my opinion, the best clue we’ve had on here! I can’t wait till this is the biggest puzzle app so I can say I was here from the start🤣😍

[@Stilvoid]

The thumbnail 😆 Took me a while to get through this one this morning but got there in the end, more by luck than judgement.

[@bungaIowbill]

I actually audibly laughed when realizing the answer. Absolutely brilliant

[@benjosaur8569]

Thank you for the good clues recently

[@allyp7204]

Got the "oo" as "eggs" right away, after that it was all downhill.... Oddly enough "oo" was also my response when I watched the explanation!

[@tagnatios]

Never would have got it using the described method, just happened to see cling in cooling 😅

[@supersleepycj]

I got OO so fast and couldnt figure out what to do with it before deciding that I had to be wrong! 😂

[@wordsinahandle]

I loved this... after i saw the answer

[@wbking100]

Nice one. Pretty fresh way to solve a clue.

[@yagoduppel]

It's been a while since I found one so easy. I feel like either you get it instantly or this will completely stump you, no in between.

[@TheCJD89]

Really tough wordplay. I assumed "cooling" was wordplay indicator and "eggs" was fodder but struggled to make it work for ages

[@nbartlett6538]

Some interesting history behind this clue. Occasionally the letter "o" is hinted at with the word "love" because in tennis, love means zero points. The tennis term actually comes from the French "l'oeuf", the egg, because an egg looks like a zero.

[@SaraEngmyr]

did it with the definition hint and still proud!

[@baybee6379]

Cant believe i got this one without looking up synonyms or using any hints or letters

[@judithstein2137]

First I thought “stick” was a word play indicator as in we have to keep something, but I then realised that it makes more sense to be a definition. Once I decided trash was word play indicator I got the answer. I had to listen to explanation to get the o egg correlation.

[@TiliaCordata]

Ah, I'm so mad I didn't get this one!

[@baybee6379]

Nice clue today, first had to think of the definition, cuz stick and trash both worked... Then I thought if trash is the def then cooling eggs should be some Wordplay fodder then we stick it in "the" then I thought the same for stick, and that lit the bulb that trash could be delete. Meanwhile I had also thought of eggs as o in cooling earlier but couldn't make anything of it, but when I got trash I thought what if I delete the oo, and bam got cling

[@btuftin]

This one was "get two letters and just guess the word, then have no clue on the wordplay". Until I opened the video that is. Had the epiphany seeing the word cooling there as the video started. New wordplay shenanigans learned!

[@_banja]

Ahhhhhh... I hated it so much until you explained it, that's actually so smart

[@pizzapuntthomas]

I clicked the hint for the definition an one letter, so I looked up synonyms starting with c and looked which would fit.

[@claudegoeminne9134]

I was very sure that the straight part of the clue was "in the trash" and that "cooling eggs" meant to drop the "g" from eggs - and this pointed me at "dregs" which would be "in the trash".

[@kranthiraj667]

You're 53 under par on your 32-day streak

[@AlohaFourpeaks_]

keep counting!

[@kranthiraj667]

@@AlohaFourpeaks_ guardian has started. Cryptic crossword . Those are quite difficult for me

[@thecayzers]

Got my son to try this. He enjoyed the explanation if not our (failed( attempt to solve it!

[@DavidMarr-s8k]

Got this in 10 seconds. Have seen the "O" trick a few times now.

[@ScarletGhost53]

This was one of the toughest so far. Had to brute-force it with synonyms.

[@ajplaysagame]

Didn’t get this one, but it’s one of my faves for sure. Got today’s in 3 seconds though, so swings and roundabouts.

[@thescottko]

Really appreciating the increasing complexity of some of these clues, after a streak that (for me) felt a lot more straightforward. Thanks for getting me into Cryptic Puzzles! For everyone else, I've found the New Yorker Cryptics Puzzles a great 'next step' into the world of cryptics, with clues that are similar-ish to the Minute Cryptic's level of complexity. Would love any suggestions from others who have found great cryptics elsewhere.

[@Alex_Meadows]

The Times (a UK newspaper) has a quick cryptic every day except Sunday. I'd say that the clues are a bit harder than Minute Cryptic, on average, but not offputtingly so. They're behind a paywall which can be unlocked by subscribing to their puzzles section (much cheaper than a subscription to the whole newspaper).

[@RogerBamforth]

The Guardian (also UK newspaper) also has a quick cryptic puzzle on Saturdays which is just about my level, i.e. almost beginner. They even explain the type of clues that will be in the puzzle. Just click on the crossword section on any day and you can scroll back through the old puzzles. Edit: I’ve just discovered that you need to have an account to get the crosswords.

[@Alex_Meadows]

@@RogerBamforth Excellent call, I'd forgotten about those! Yes, I think the Guardian's QCs are a perfect starting point for anyone wanting to progress from Minute Cryptic to full-blown cryptic crosswords.

[@hugh3431]

No way was I ever going to see eggs meaning Os. I did consider trash as a deletion indicator, but couldn’t see what of.

[@alexfisher4207]

for some reason this one just made sense to me

[@johnmckenzie1623]

Wow. Tough again. Following this is helping me with IRL cryptic crosswords though.

[@DronedLove]

Only understood it after getting it with a clue.

[@seancolepeper4410]

This was bloody obscure

[@michaelkhng6956]

Did not get this for some time and had to sleep on it. I thought of the answer, but only figured out the wordplay because of a story my father told me! People would call a mark of 0 (so nothing correct), "eggs" when he was at school.

[@TheJamesM]

I came quite quickly to "eggs" potentially being _OO_ (or possibly _OS,_ as in "several Os"), I was stuck for ages trying to construct something rather than treating the wordplay as one whole unit. I think my tendency is to assume everything is a charade clue, but I guess when there's a lot of words for quite a short answer, that can be a hint that it's probably not going to be made up of lots of different one- or two-letter parts.

[@TheJamesM]

Once I realized how it actually worked, it occured to me that "eggs in the trash" could mean any number of Os, and that they needn't be consecutive. Again, I was fixated on it being a two-letter combination because that was the only plural quantity that would have made sense had this been a charade clue; there wasn't space for more letters, and no (sensible) English word contains "ooo". As it happens it _was_ a sequence of two consecutive Os that were to be removed, but there's no reason it couldn't have been any number of Os distributed throughout a word or phrase.

[@davidburgess2370]

Got the two Os part quickly but went down the wrong path with what to do with them. I was sure I had to put them in something - either another word for 'the trash', or in 'the', with trash being an anagram indicator. The only thing I was certain of was the answer had to have double O in it 😂

[@noire9703]

Got it but here for the explanation 😵‍💫

[@BrianYoung-g5g]

Not even close today 😂

[@sallytolladay4663]

Got it and GROANED...... :)

[@lindelsoaveiro]

Took a bit, but was trying to figure out where the definition (thinking it was "in the trash".) But "throwing it out there", I got the O's released.

[@YolandeOosthuizen]

This one was tricky! 😮

[@BZ-bo8dp]

I would have been eggstatic if I got this one.

[@derfunkhaus]

I needed both hints today but I did solve it. I seem to be getting better at these but when I try to do the Guardian's cryptic crossword I never get very far.

[@drumsarenotnoise7774]

Played around with igloo but had to buy two letters again. Simple enough then but too difficult without the letters. Similar feelings when facing a blank newspaper crossword. I liken this experience to eating oily fish. I hate it but know its good for me so I carry on.

[@TheScottTubes]

I got that eggs meant oo, but got stuck when the answer wasn't cloof

[@al201103]

Real talk - has the clue setter changed? This one properly had me beat. Yes, I could see the logic once I finally got the word. But it's very different to what we've been working with previously. Had to use hint and three letters (though I suspected I had it at two letters). I would never have gotten there otherwise.

[@MinuteCryptic]

It’s still Liam, but I agree, some of this week’s clues are a bit different. All in all, a good thing, IMO, to get the variety. But maybe a bit jarring 🫨

[@al201103]

@@MinuteCryptic Very different style. I agree that stretching us and getting us fluent in other methods is definitely a good thing. I guess I need babysteps!!!!

[@Riccc23]

I'm at a point where I somehow associated EGGS to OO, but I thought we needed to put it in another word. Should've saw TRASH as taking it away. Wrote this before watching the video btw loll I understood it after I got CL as hints and just guess the answer 😑😑😑

[@42nuala]

And I learn another way of solving!!!!

[@phoebelim5138]

knew i wanted the oo from cooling but was trying to put it into different words that mean trash instead of throwing it away 😅😂

[@SallyMcMillan-f7p]

Had no idea!

[@jesusluigi3787]

i am appauled.

[@olliemacfarlane826]

Genuinely in what world are eggs an indictor for the letter O?

[@caesarsalad77]

I had the eggs right, but didn't tie it to cooling.

[@darrellsims4115]

This one frustrated me all day! I assumed that eggs was an anagram indicator for cooling (because you scramble the eggs!) and then I assumed that the "in the trash" meant that you remove the i and the n from cooling. I tried every possible variant of coolg and never got it. Never considered that eggs meant o o...

[@pranavbatra6286]

Got this in 15 secs I love this clue

[@TarenNauxen]

I spent a majority of my time thinking "cooling egg" meant a "b" or "d", since the vertical portion of those letters could represent steam coming off an "o". Overthinking as usual!