Cryptic crosswords for beginners: royal abbreviations

In the example clues below, I explain the two 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. Hence “crossword”.

Often, a cryptic clue is made up of little bits and bobs which give you one, two or three letters of the answer. Very often two. Many of these are straightforward: an “afternoon” in a clue suggests there’s a PM in the answer; “peacekeepers” for UN, and so on.

There are others, though, which the new solver needs to learn, often from a friend or family member, or by seeing the clue dissected at a solver site such as Fifteen Squared. Here are some connected examples.

RA

When an artist becomes a member of the Royal Academy of Arts, he or she becomes a Royal Academician. If you move in such circles, you may call that artist “an RA”. Even if you don’t move in such circles, R and A are the letters you should think of first when you see “artist” in a clue. Here’s Picaroon:

So we have RA TRACE, or rather RAT RACE.

RE

Likewise, even if you’re not of a military mindset, it’s worth remembering that, because the French use the word “sapeur” to describe digging a ditch, Her Majesty’s Royal Engineers are the Sappers. And so “sappers” in a clue suggests an RE in an answer. So too does “engineers”, which can be more easily hidden (sometimes looking like a verb). Here’s Nutmeg:

So we put our RE inside APPAL (here’s our guide to putting one thing inside another) for the answer APPAREL.

RM

You will have noticed the connection between these bits of jargon. Our next two-letter Royal abbreviation is RM for Royal Marines. These can be referred to using the most general terms, like “troops” or “soldiers”; equally, it may be an individual Royal Marine, indicated by “fighter”, or by a nickname such as “jolly”, as in this one from Rufus:

RA again

And since matters have got all military, let’s finish with another way of indicating RA. It’s the Royal Artillery. So an RA in a clue might be indicated by something as straightforward as “artillery” but also by “Gunners”, which means you may at first read the clue as having something to do with football. Compare and contrast the Royal Academician clue above with this one, another from Nutmeg:

… which also gives us RA TRACE, or rather RAT RACE. And if you’re wondering why we haven’t looked at the Royal Navy, I refer you to our discussion of sailors and boats.

Newcomers: any questions? And seasoned solvers: what two-letter abbreviations beginning with R have I missed?

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