Deletion indicator
bare
“bare” is a deletion indicator in cryptic crosswords.
You remove part of a word — its head, tail, heart, or ends — before using what remains. Deletions use the imagery of loss, cutting, or being incomplete.
- Clue types
- Deletion
- Forms
- bare, bared
- Subtlety
- moderate
- Part of speech
- adjective
“Taunts cutting the French — bare necessities (5)”
Answer: NEEDS
Definition: "bare necessities" — the things one requires. Taunts → NEEDLES (to needle is to goad). "the French" gives LE ("the" in French). "cutting" signals a deletion. Removing LE from the middle of NEEDLES: NEED-LE-S. NEEDLES minus LE gives NEEDS.
Related indicators
- abbreviate
- abridge
- after the first
- almost
- behead
- borderless
- boundless
- brief
- briefly
- centreless
- clip
- clipped at both ends
- core
- coreless
- crop
- curtail
Explore indicator types
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