Cryptic crosswords for beginners: doctors

In the example clues below, I explain both parts of each: the definition of the answer, given in bold type, and the wordplay – the recipe for assembling its letters. In a genuine puzzle environment, of course, you also have the crossing letters, which greatly alleviate your solving load. The explanations contain links to previous entries in this series on such matters as spelling one word backwards to reveal another. Also, setters’ names tend to link to interviews, in case you feel like getting to know these people better.

How does it work?

How do crossword setters enjoy indicating letters in an answer? As abbreviations for words in the clue, of course! And how do you abbreviate “doctor”? Naturally, it is “Dr”.

So it is clear what to do with at least the first word of Hectence’s clue:

So the “doctor” in the clue becomes the DR of the answer, DROLL. Class dismissed.

It is not always that simple

Except … the doctor in the clue may not be explicitly described as a doctor. Here is a recent one from Imogen:

So it is a different kind of bed – and it is DREDGES. Hang about, though, you may be thinking: what about that “GP” itself? Can we flip it? Can a clue’s “doctor” be an answer’s GP? Carpathian certainly thinks so, kicking off a quiptic (the Guardian’s weekly “puzzle for beginners and those in a hurry”) with this:

So the doctor is a GP and the fastener is a DRAWING PIN. But hang about a little more, you may be thinking: are there not other abbreviations for doctors? Like the one that comes after rather than before the doctor’s name?

Well intuited. “Medicinae doctor” gives us MD and clues such as this, from the Observer’s entry-level Everyman:

Also, in the armed forces, is the doctor not a medical officer? The setter Provis …

… uses that for AMORAL, while Qaos prefers the honorary kind of doctor …

… in a clue for DECIPHERED (as with all prize puzzles, the Guardian gives an annotated solution), reminding me of other doctors I have encountered in crosswords such as a DD (coctor of civinity), a DPhil (another doctor of philosophy), a BS (bachelor of surgery) and other Bs and Ds. Got all that?

Good, because here is the kicker. When I see “doctor” in a clue, I don’t start out by thinking of any of those abbreviations. Since “doctor” is also a verb meaning to alter the appearance of something, it falls into the near-endless list of words that setters use to indicate the meat and potatoes of cryptic crosswords. It is seldom done more pleasingly than by the setter and novelist Picaroon:

… in this clue for SELF-EXAMINATION.

Beginners: any questions? Setters and seasoned solvers: any favourite references to doctors or important devices that I have missed?

• Here is a collection of all our explainers, interviews and other helpful bits and bobs