Deletion indicator
prematurely
“prematurely” 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
- Subtlety
- subtle
- Part of speech
- adverb
“Entrepreneur losing male company (8)”
Answer: BUSINESS
Definition: "company". "Entrepreneur" gives a word for a commercial type: BUSINESSMAN. "losing male" tells you to drop MAN (a male) from the end. BUSINESSMAN minus MAN leaves BUSINESS.
Related indicators
- abbreviate
- abridge
- after the first
- almost
- bare
- behead
- borderless
- boundless
- brief
- briefly
- centreless
- clip
- clipped at both ends
- core
- coreless
- crop
Explore indicator types
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