Where the Cryptic Things Are Trivia Quiz

Answer: NECTAR

There are many sweet liquids, but in this case, the word is NECTAR. This particular type of cryptic clue is an anagram: "Nectar" is an anagram of "Cretan". (That is, someone who comes from or lives on the island of Crete.)

As stated, the solution to question 10 is formed by combining -- in order -- the FIRST LETTER of the answer to the first nine clues. In this case, the first letter in "NECTAR" is (obviously) N, so that's our first letter.

Answer: ALLY

For this cryptic, there are a couple of layers. To start, take "a political event" -- namely, a RALLY. Now consider "leader leaving." This was a cryptic way of hinting that you should take the "leader" of the word "rally" -- that is, the first letter, an R -- and since it is "leaving", drop it from the word. Now RALLY becomes ALLY -- a synonym for "friend."

Thus the second letter is A.

Answer: SCARLET

This was another instance of having to think mostly in terms of synonyms. One type of "mark" is a SCAR -- usually, a mark caused by, and a reminder of, an injury. And another word for "allowed" -- a past-tense word meaning permitted -- is LET. Put those two synonyms together to get the intended synonym of "red" -- SCARLET.

Now we have the third letter, S.

Answer: HABIT

Compared to some of the others, this was fairly straightforward, using just a double meaning. What describes both a "garment for a nun" and a "custom"? That's right -- a HABIT.

So our fourth of nine letters is H.

Answer: VETO

Remember, there are all different kinds of cryptic clues -- so-called "containers," homophones, double-meanings, anagrams ... and in this case, a hidden word. The first word, "reject," was an indicator of what to look for. Another word for "reject" is VETO -- and that's hidden within the words "defectiVE TOkens."

That brings us to our fifth letter, V.

Answer: ITEM

This one took a couple of little twists. The fact that the first phrase sounded rather vague or nonspecific was meant to give you a bit of a hint -- what's a generic word, of four letters, that means "a single thing"? Well, in this case, there are two parts. One of them was simply "I." And another word for "encountered" is "met." But remember, the clue said "when reversing" -- that is, a reversal of "met" -- TEM. So I + TEM = ITEM, which is indeed a word that refers to "a single thing."

For our sixth letter, we have an I.

Answer: LONE

You may well have deduced that this clue uses a homophone (two words, same pronunciation, different spelling), with a little bit of synonymy. "By the sound of it" was the indicator to think of a homophone. Now, what is another word for "advance"? Well, in the sense of borrowing -- especially if it's money -- the intended synonym is "loan," which can be either a verb or a noun. (Example: If a person or bank gives you a "cash advance," they are giving you a "loan" -- money that is to be repaid later.)

However, "LOAN" is not the answer but a homophone of it -- note the emphasis on the word "SINGLE," as well as "an adjective" in the hint. "Loan" can be a verb or a noun, but not an adjective -- that was a further hint away from "loan" and toward LONE instead. And it is, indeed, both a *homophone* of "loan" AND is an adjective that's synonymous with "single."

Seven letters down, two more to go -- letter 7 is L.

Answer: LEATHER

This time around, part of this particular cryptic made use of an anagram, though "shoe material" should have kept things from getting too out-of-hand. The word "changing" should have been the giveaway -- namely, to simply rearrange the words "the earl" and wind up with LEATHER, the "shoe material" in question. That's all there is to it!

For letter 8, we add another L.

Answer: EAT

There were actually two ways to solve this one -- you may well have simply seen "consume" and realized what the three-letter answer is. However, if we take the scenic route -- that is, if we play out the actual cryptic in full -- we can see the other components of the sentence. (As an aside, "consume" most often means "to eat," but it can also mean "to use up.") The "first pieces" of "eggs and toast" = the first letters from those three words = E + A + T = EAT. (How apropos!)

Our final letter is E. That's nine down and no more to go, so let's see where we are arriving.

Answer: NASHVILLE

If you said NASHVILLE as your final answer, you are correct and have arrived in Music City, USA! Before we take in a performance at the Grand Ole Opry, let's review how we got here. As stated, question 10's answer was formed from the first letter of the first nine answers, in order. To review, they are:

N, from NECTAR
A, from ALLY
S, from SCARLET
H, from HABIT
V, from VETO
I, from ITEM
L, from LONE
L, from LEATHER
E, from EAT.