Another Cryptic Acrostic from Minch Quiz

Answer: functional

The key word rearranged is the signal that this clue is an anagram, meaning you will need to find one or more words in the clue whose letters can be rearranged to form one or more words whose meaning is also defined in the clue.

The hint says there are ten letters in the one-word answer, and anagrams use entire words, not just parts of them. The only words that contain ten letters between them are 'final count'. They can be rearranged to make the word functional, an adjective which describes something that has the capacity to perform its specified task.

Answer: ugli

The words 'we hear' are an indication that the clue refers to two words which sound the same, but have two different meanings, both contained in the clue. As a rule, the one closer to the indicator is the homophone to the correct answer.

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with U.

An ugli is a hybrid citrus fruit with a wrinkled yellowy skin. Something unpleasant to look at could be called ugly. Since the fruit is the one not adjacent to the indicator, that is the one to select as the correct answer.

Answer: nearest

A container clue has two words, one of them contained inside the other. The indicator for this type of clue may be something like holds, contains, or (as in this case) inside. The two smaller words and the full word should all be either written in full or defined.

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with N.

The bird's home is a nest, which leave three letters to fit inside it, and a definition of the final answer, to be found in 'closest relations are'. The letters from 'are' can be written surrounded by the letters of nest to give NEareST. One's closest relations are often called one's nearest and dearest (or not so much, if familial relations are strained).

Answer: chef

The indicator initially suggests that the first letters of some of the words in the clue can be used to create a word whose definition also appears. The hint provides the information that this will involve four words, and they will usually be adjacent words.

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with C.

While we could test all the words four at a time, the indicator is usually not one of the relevant words, so the four words that follow it are the obvious place to start. The first letters of Created Highly Exotic Food give the word chef, which is a synonym for cook, the word that is providing the definition of the answer.

Answer: Titanic

The word changes indicates that this clue is an anagram. We need to rearrange the letters of one or more words to form an answer whose definition is given by another part of the clue.

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with T.

In this case we need 7 letters. Almighty has 8 letters, so it looks like the definition of our final word. Ignoring punctuation, as usual for anagrams, 'it. I can't' can be rearranged to spell titanic, for which almighty is a possible synonym. (There are closer synonyms, but almighty is used here because is can be used not only as an adjective, but also as a noun, so that a coherent sentence with it as the subject can be written.)

Answer: idled

The indicator 'in' tells you to look for a word that is hiding in plain sight, surrounded by other letters and often split between two or more words. If your attempts to find a hidden word fail, you may also consider the possibility that it is a container clue, but plaid lederhosen is such an unusual image that it is unlikely to be the case.

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with I.

Looking for a hidden word, the plaid lederhosen look like the candidate, and there we can indeed find a word that is similar in meaning to the remaining term, loitered: plaID LEDerhosen gives us idled.

Answer: oysters

While it may look as if sort is the indicator for the anagram, it turns out that in this case the indicator is ingredients, meaning that the letters of the preceding word or words are the ingredients to be mixed in the formation of the answer.

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with O.

The seven letters of 'yes, sort' can be rearranged to give oysters, which is a type of shellfish, as indicated by the end of the clue.

Anagram of 'yes sort'. Ingredients is the anagram indicator word.

Answer: novel

Homographs are two words that look alike, and may or may not be pronounced the same, but have different meanings. When a cryptic clue only has two words, this is one possibility to consider. Can you find synonyms for the two words that look the same? Homographs can also be indicated by an indicator such as looks like.

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with N.

Something which is new, possibly a bit unusual, can be said to be novel. And a novel is a type of book, a work of prose fiction with a narrative element. The two uses of the word are actually related - in the 14th century Italian writers began collecting short stories into a longer collection, which they called a 'novella', meaning it was a new form of literature. English adopted the term when the novel form developed in that language.

Answer: audit

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with A.

This clue is actually a combination of two techniques. First, sometimes the names of elements are used to indicate that you may be using their chemical symbols. (In the same way, numbers may indicate the use of Roman numerals.) So, the word gold is pointing to the letters AU.

Second, the reference to another language may mean that you are going to use a word from that language to provide the letters for your answer. A French person says, translated into French, could be "il dit", "elle dit", "on dit", or "[name] dit". The common part here is DIT, which nicely has the three letters we need.

Putting them together, AU + DIT = audit. To audit something is to inspect it closely, as in having the tax office audit your returns.

Answer: lighter

This time we have two phrases side by side, with no explicit indicator. Since one is a noun phrase and one is an adjective phrase, we need to consider homographs, one an adjective and one a noun.

If the first word in this acrostic has been correctly identified, you know that the answer begins with L.

Starting with the adjective, weighing less could be lighter. Then, considering the noun, you can use some type of lighter to start a fire.