Cryptic Crosswords - Container Clues Quiz

Answer: heather

The indicator word, that tells you this is a container clue, is about. If this quiz hadn't already told you that all the questions will be that type, you might have been distracted by the word hear, which is often an indicator that you are looking for a homonym.

In this case, the two small words are in plain sight, they just need to be combined correctly. The letters of the word HEAR are written about (or outside) the letters for the word THE, producing the word HEATHER, for which a standard crossword clue is moorland flower. Heather, also called ling, and formally identified as Calluna vulgaris, is an evergreen shrub which usually bears mauve flowers (although white are sometimes found).

Answer: vacant

The indicator phrase here is put in, so we need to find an American tin to put inside a container for liquids. Since the final word has six letters, it is likely that each of the smaller words has three, which gives us a starting point. The answer probably means empty, according to the clue.

American tin suggests that the small word to be placed inside another is something for which American English and British English use different words. The metal container in which food is stored that is called a tin in the UK is called a can in the US, so CAN looks like a logical choice.

A large container for liquids could be a tank, keg, barrel or vat. (Or more, but that list of possibilities includes the final choice.) Having only three letters left to use, we can consider keg and vat as the letters to be on the outside of the final word. KeCANg and kCANeg are not words, but vaCANt is. Since VACANT means empty, that also fits the overall clue.

Answer: ballet

With six letters, we once again expect to use two three-letter words to form the large word. The indicator word is in, so it looks as if a three-letter synonym of everyone and a three-letter synonym of wager will be combined to produce a dancing performance.

Once that is decided, there are not a lot of choices. If everyone is doing something, they ALL are involved, and a wager is more commonly called a BET. Putting them together we can form BALLET, a classical style of dance performance.

Answer: marked

The indicator for a container word is once again in, so we expect to see a word suggested by the phrase Noah's ship to be the interior part of the final word. The word briefly is a hint that an abbreviation is going to be used in the question.

Noah's ship was an ark, and we can be reasonably confident of that. Next we need a three-letter word that goes around it. That word might mean noticed, and produce a word that is a synonym for Mediterranean, but nothing springs to mind. (Saw, for example, doesn't combine with ark in any meaningful way.) Thinking flexibly, perhaps this time the overall word is being defined early in the clue instead of at the end. This would mean we need to find a three-letter word that is suggested by Mediterranean, and combine it with ARK to get a six-letter word meaning noticed. While the Mediterranean is a sea, sARKea and seARKa don't make much sense. But recalling that there was a hint about an abbreviation in the clue, we can shorten the Mediterranean and call it the MED. Bingo - if you have MARKED something, you can be said to have noticed it.

Answer: lunacy

The indicator phrase is go around, and the words in short suggest an abbreviation.

Once again, the clue to the overall word is at the start, so we need a six-letter word that is a synonym of madness. North America in short is NA. Ms Ball suggests Lucille Ball, better known as Lucy from the classic television show 'I Love Lucy'. Placing LUCY around NA gives LUNACY, a word meaning insanity or madness (of a type once associated with the phases of the moon).

Answer: spices

The indicator word is around.

Whenever you see a number in a cryptic clue that is associated with a Roman numeral, the idea of using that single letter should immediately spring to the forefront of your mind, even if it doesn't always work out. In this case, the inclusion of the word Roman is a clear indicator that you will use the letter C, which is the Roman numeral for 100.

That leave five letters for the encasing word, which means either espionage agents or flavoring agents, with the six-letter word having the other meaning. Espionage agents are more commonly called SPIES, and SPICES are used as flavoring agents in cooking.

Answer: Lille

The indicator word is in.

This clue uses another standard cryptic convention, 'the French'. The French word for 'the' could be la, le, les or l' (although that last one is rare in cryptic clues). From the clue, we expect the answer to have these letters on the outside, so it will start with L.

Taken sick is likely to be the source of the other two or three letters, with the answer being a five-letter city in France. To ail is to be sick, but it doesn't fit (no city is called LAILa or LAILe). Next try is Ill (which looks really strange on the font I see here!) which gives us LILLE, a city in the north of France, near the border with Belgium.

Answer: pagan

The indicator phrase is in. The word found strongly suggests that the overall word is defined by heathen, with silver and container as the two smaller words.

There are a number of elements whose names used in a cryptic clue suggest the use of their chemical symbol as part of the answer. In this case, silver suggests that the letters AG will be part of the answer. Those letters are in a container, so we need a three-letter word for a kind of container that will go around them to produce a word that is synonymous with heathen. One possibility is PAGAN, which we see does indeed have AG inside of PAN, a type of container.

(This is a standard crossword reference, so not the time to argue the difference between heathen and pagan, which describe related but not identical spiritual practices.)

Answer: spartan

Why (and how) would you display a painting in a bridge? Don't ask, it doesn't have to be practical to get the relevant words together in a clue. The indicator is displayed in - displayed on or beside wouldn't be an appropriate indicator for a container clue.

The overall word looks likely to be suggested by austere or bridge, with the other one combined with a word suggested by painting or sculpture. Let's start there - ART is a likely word from that definition. That leave four letters for the other word. There are lots of words that can describe a type of bridge, so it might be easier to start with austere. Stark is too short for the full word, and too long for the second small word. Strict, severe, plain, simple - no luck yet, but severe brings to mind the seriously disciplined lives of the ancient citizens of Sparta, and a spARTan lifestyle could be described as austere. SPAN, the portion of a bridge between two supports (or sometimes used to refer to the entire bridge) provides the rest of the word, so SPARTAN is the answer.

Answer: epidemic

The indicator word is about, so we are looking for words suggested by long poem, half, and plague.

There are lots of poetic types, but a really long one, especially if it is about heroic feats, may be called an EPIC. That looks good for the outer word, so the inner word could mean half, and the whole word plague. Four-letter prefixes describing half of something include semi- and demi-, and it is the latter that fits here. Putting EPIC around DEMI gives us EPIDEMIC, another word for a widespread disease which could be called a plague.