An Ode to Cryptic Stations: ANSWERED AT LAST!

[RobbieM]

FIRST CLASS:
DrainBrain - 15/15
FrancesM (my mum) - 15/15

SECOND CLASS:
greatkingrat - 5/15

That's it! Anyone else who tries to enter now gets 'Steerage Class' ratings.

Hope you're all satisfied with the answers! If not, I expect the mailbag to be full

And if you were new to cryptic crosswords, I wonder if the explanations might help you to try doing some others. Beware of addiction...

[The Orange One]

Stanmore, Gloucester Road, Chigwell, Monument, Borough, Temple, Chesham, Angel, MHE, Fairlop, East Ham, Colindale, Bounds Green, Upney, Pimlico.

Imagine that was a R15 variant. *shudders* 2 out of the 3 and Chesham.

[RobbieM]

Stanmore, Gloucester Road, Chigwell, Monument, Borough, Temple, Chesham, Angel, MHE, Fairlop, East Ham, Colindale, Bounds Green, Upney, Pimlico.

Imagine that was a R15 variant. *shudders* 2 out of the 3 and Chesham.

What a GREAT idea !!!!

[tubeguru]

Not necessarily. The trick is working out which word(s) in the clue are the straight definition (usually at the start or end), and then using the rest of the clue as material for getting to an answer that fits the definition.

Not all cryptic clues are anagrams, but a lot do use them.

[The Orange One]

Stanmore, Gloucester Road, Chigwell, Monument, Borough, Temple, Chesham, Angel, MHE, Fairlop, East Ham, Colindale, Bounds Green, Upney, Pimlico.

Imagine that was a R15 variant. *shudders* 2 out of the 3 and Chesham.

What a GREAT idea !!!!

I hope for the sake of everyone on this forum that you never get a chance to choose a R15 twist, RobbieM.

[RobbieM]

I hope for the sake of everyone on this forum that you never get a chance to choose a R15 twist, RobbieM.

Hee hee hee!!!!

[The Orange One]

I hope for the sake of everyone on this forum that you never get a chance to choose a R15 twist, RobbieM.

Admittedly I wouldn't be much better. These are the products of my twisted mind.

"You can arrive OR depart from your R15 stations, but not both"

"You may not visit a station with a repeated letter (e.g. GOOdge StrEEt, PiCCadiLLy Circus) in the name unless you are forced to (i.e. one of the stations has a repeated letter like Goodge Street, or is surrounded by two stations with a repeated letter like Euston Square is)"

"After visiting each R15 station you must use the drain before going to the next one"

"You cannot be in the same carriage twice - e.g. if travelling from Bond Street to Queensway you must be in 3 different carriages as there are 3 stops"

"When going up, you must use the down escalator, and vice versa"

"You may only use trains with odd numbers - train 413 is ok, 412 is not"

"One of your team must wear a blindfold"

[RobbieM]

I trust everyone's enjoyed reading through the answers. Incidentally, I just wanted to give credit for one answer I received from GKR which, although it wasn't correct, could almost have been. It's for the first one: 'Disgruntled Chap in Warehouse in North London'.

The correct answer was 'Stanmore', but GKR's suggestion was 'Brent Cross'. Now, had the clue been 'Disgruntled Chap in Office in North London', this wouldv'e been a perfect answer (think David Brent in 'The Office'). Almost worth increasing your score by half a point .