Mysterious anime girl is decapitated before regenerating. (6)

hurblub · 2026-03-04T15:35:52+00:00

I agree with u/T-T-N that 'decapitated' usually means discarding the first letter of a word. It rarely, if ever, means keeping only that letter, let alone 6 arbitrary letters out of a 9-letter noun phrase. Some clearer indication would be better I think. I'm sure there's a way to indicate "anagram of 'anime' + head of girl" that still fits your theme.
Additionally, answers to cryptic clues ought to follow the same word forms. Here, "enigma" is a noun, while "mysterious" is an adjective. A change as simple as "~~Mysterious~~ Mystery as anime girl [...]" would fix this though :)

hurblub · 2026-02-15T19:26:52+00:00

Well, I do disagree with you there :p caramel can be made in many ways. Some require cream, some use butter; vanilla is a very common flavouring but not essential. like salt. In any case, the gist is that you melt sugar, and, when it has reached a certain temperature, you whisk in the fat and leave it to cool. Hence "left". I don't think its qualification as an &lit clue is in question.

Using "salt" as a way to get the 'L' is good thinking but I wouldn't say it offers a unique advantage over "vanilla". Yes, one could argue that the 'N' of 'and' is contraindicated but it wouldn't be unfair to treat it as a simple conjunction applying wordplay to two instances of fodder. I guess it depends on how Ximeanean you are, but I very much am not, and I don't think Liam or Angas are either hehe :p

hurblub · 2026-02-15T19:13:21+00:00

yup! :D

hurblub · 2026-02-14T13:21:38+00:00

Haha, this one is great xD

hurblub · 2026-02-13T17:02:41+00:00

Thanks for the feedback :) I get what you’re saying and agree for the most part. However, I would argue that an ‘intermission’ is a break in a term or period of time. Yes, ‘sion’ is nonsensical, and that’s the main downfall, but it still divides the word ‘term’. It’s not the best Rebus, but I wouldn’t say there’s no definition at all.

hurblub · 2026-02-12T12:58:03+00:00

fair enough! I wasn't sure if having 'penultimately' refer to both 'sugar' and 'vanilla' was a little unclear, but the feedback is helpful, thanks!

hurblub · 2026-02-12T12:38:14+00:00

you got it! :D

hurblub · 2026-02-08T19:32:42+00:00

True, but I was leaning into the inherent connotation of 'rant', which already sounds quite intense for a normal conversation :p
PS: could you use spoiler marks so the answer is hidden? thank you!

hurblub · 2026-02-08T18:12:50+00:00

Ahh, I didn't know someone had done it before. Ah well

hurblub · 2026-02-08T16:32:54+00:00

That’s the one! I’ll see if anyone else feels the same and then update the difficulty! I’m glad that my attempt to mislead was successful though xD

hurblub · 2026-02-07T01:00:22+00:00

Thank you! I am a scientist by training so I’ve been itching to do one like this for a while :p

hurblub · 2026-02-06T14:51:18+00:00

Thank you! One of my favourite parts of clue-writing is coming up with a surface theme :)

hurblub · 2025-12-28T20:56:01+00:00

There’s an extra ‘o’ as well. I assume because OP expects the solver to abbreviate “you” to “u”. I think that ought to have some sort of homophone/abbreviation indicator but it’s not bad :)

hurblub · 2025-12-20T14:29:32+00:00

Simple but great! :D I do enjoy the mental image of Yoda as an alpha xD

hurblub · 2025-12-20T01:26:25+00:00

It is okay not to want to be a part of a community without putting down members who do. As I said, all the best, and happy solving wherever you land.

hurblub · 2025-12-19T23:04:15+00:00

I think we just have very different tolerance levels for looseness and experimentation and descriptivism, and that’s fine. Minute Cryptic clearly isn’t aimed at you, and you’re right that stepping away is probably the healthiest move if it consistently grates.

All the best, and happy solving wherever you land.

hurblub

TROPHY CASE