Can anyone recommend a solving blog of some kind that goes into more detail than the WSJ provides? My wife and I just tried our hand at the Cryptic Crossword for the first time, and despite reading the WSJ's page explaining how the cryptic puzzle works, it's still fairly impenetrable to us. We understand how some of the solutions work, but not others.
For example:
21A. "Error in electing bum attractive to viewers" is solved as TEL(E)GENIC ("electing" anag.). First of all, adding an extra "e" means it is not, in fact, an anagram. We were pulling our hair out trying to find a nine letter answer, little did we know it's allowable to simple add letters whenever you please. Also, I see how TELEGENIC is pleasing to viewers, but where does "bum" fit in, here? Are we saying "error in electing" extends to "electing bum" because one might make the error of electing a "bum" because he/she is TELEGENIC? What is happening, here?
13D. "Taking in Rhode Island, said "Groovy"" is solved as ST(RI)ATED. Let's break this down. The abbreviation for Rhode Island is RI. "Taking in RI" would lead me to believe that taking--or a synonym of taking--will be contained "in" Rhode Island (or RI). Here it appears RI is contained "in" "said." So "said" is "taking in RI." Fair enough. But by putting "Groovy" in quotes after the word "said," the cluer seems to be directly linking those two words, "said" and "Groovy," where in fact "Groovy" is the separate clue meant to represent the entirety of the solution, and "said" is merely "stated." This strikes me as wildly confusing, and never in my lifetime would I have come up with it on my own. Preposterous. Can someone shed some light on this type of cluing?
15D. Made fast time, ultimately, in low road" is solved as "MOORED" MOO+R(E)D." I totally don't understand this one. Moored, to me, means tied down, as a ship in harbor. Where is "moo" coming from? Why is an "e" inserted into Rd. (which I'm understanding to be the abbr. for "road," but why "low?")? Really can't wrap my head around this one.
17D. "Beer put outside by trucker's bar?" is solved as A(X)LE. So...an ale is a beer, and a trucker's "bar" is a truck's axle. Sure. Hate it, but I'll take it. Where is the "X" coming from? Is the word "put" being used in a way that human beings don't use it? Is "X" somehow meant to contain in it the meaning "outside," because of the prefix "ex?" What is happening?
The QUEST ones I didn't even dare approach. It's enough trying to parse the solutions I can place on the board.
One big question/complaint I have is how are we to know when an entire word will simply be represented by a single letter? Examples: A for Area (OK, math term, sure), T for Time (are we saying that's a math usage, too?), P for phosphorus (periodic table, ugh). I'm not saying these aren't acceptable abbreviations in some use cases, but to know when the cluer is intending those use cases, one would think you'd have to be in their head.
Needless to say this puzzle was deeply frustrating to us, but I think there may be some shift in our approach that could clear it up. We do the NYTimes crossword daily, and perhaps our brains are stuck in that realm. Any help is appreciated.