#crypticcrossword #crossword

In today's #guardian #crypticcrossword which was set by Qaos, no 29953, we had this excellent clue:

2dn: "Passionately kiss fashion designer after 1-0? (4)"

The definition is "Passionately kiss".

Bear in mind this is only a four-letter answer, so the wordplay will be succinct.

We're told:

"Designer after". Which in this case, means a two letter designer, at the end of the word.

CK for "Calvin Klein" is almost always the de-facto two-letter answer here.

Also, we're told (therefore the first two letters): "1-0?"

Qaos is well-known for his mathematical clues, and we need to read this as such. Here though, if we know the answer is:

__CK

We need to work out how `1-0` relates to the first two letters.

Remember, the definition is "Passionately kiss".

I recall from my school days that "necking" or "to neck" as doing just that.. biting the tongue off some poor girl. Ahem.

So if the answer is:

NECK

Where does NE come from?

Well, if we look at `1-0`, what if we spell out `1`:

ONE

Now we take `ONE - 0` as in take the `O` out, and hence we're left with:

NE

Hence:

NECK

This clue is excellent. Thank you Qaos!!