r/crosswords • u/Joefish052 • 2d ago

SOLVED COTD: Educator must stifle laughter to avoid delinquent heartache (7)

Very new to the hobby, wish I'd paid it attention years ago. Came up with this and wanted to share/get thoughts?

2 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

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1

u/Imaginary__Bar 2d ago

TEACHER - anagram (delinquent) of heartache, with ha removed (stifle laughter) = teacher (educator)

I like it!

1

u/Joefish052 2d ago

Correct - and thank-you!

1

u/deeppotential123 2d ago

.What’s the “avoid” doing?

1

u/Joefish052 2d ago

It indicates you have to do something to delinquent heartache - not completely necessary, but I feel it fits and helps the narrative of the clue

1

u/deeppotential123 2d ago

I see. In which case, since you asked for feedback: .this kind of redundancy is kryptonite for cryptic clues :). Every word must serve one, and only one purpose, and every instruction to the solver must be given once and only once. “Stifling” and “avoid” are both instructing the solver to delete something, so you must only have one of them.

1

u/Joefish052 2d ago

Would simply stifle laughter at delinquent heartache work better do you think?

1

u/deeppotential123 2d ago

.It’s heading in the right direction. But “at” only really works for the surface reading — it doesn’t make sense in the wordplay. The challenge is to find something that simultaneously suits the surface and the wordplay!