Cryptic crossword abbreviations
Setters love to turn a word into one or two letters. 'Sailor' becomes AB, 'love' becomes O, 'about' becomes C or RE. Once you know the regulars, a lot of clues fall into place.
| Letters | Clued by |
|---|---|
| A | one, ace, answer, about (approx.), article, first-class |
| AB | sailor, able seaman |
| B | bachelor, born, book, bishop (chess), black (pencil) |
| C | about (circa), hundred, caught, cold, conservative, century, carbon |
| CE | church, Church of England |
| CH | church, companion of honour |
| D | daughter, died, old penny, 500, Democrat |
| DR | doctor, drive, debtor |
| E | east, energy, ecstasy, English, European, key (music) |
| F | female, fine, loud (forte), Fahrenheit, following |
| G | good, grand, gravity, gram, key (music) |
| GI | soldier, American soldier |
| GP | doctor, general practitioner |
| H | hospital, hot, hard (pencil), husband, hydrogen, hour |
| I | one, island, iodine, current |
| K | thousand, king (chess), kilo, potassium |
| L | learner, student, left, large, pound, lake, 50, Liberal |
| LE, LA, LES | the (French) |
| M | married, male, thousand, metre, mile, motorway, Monsieur |
| MO | doctor, medical officer, moment, second |
| N | north, new, knight (chess), noun, nitrogen |
| O | love, nothing, zero, ring, round, circle, oxygen, old |
| OR | men, soldiers, other ranks, gold (heraldry) |
| P | page, penny, pence, quiet (piano), parking, phosphorus |
| PE | exercise, physical education |
| Q | queen, question |
| R | right, river, king (rex), queen (regina), rook (chess), run |
| RA | artist, gunners, Royal Academy |
| RE | about, concerning, on, religious education, engineers, soldiers |
| RN | navy, sailors, Royal Navy |
| S | south, son, small, second, saint, shilling |
| SS | ship, steamship, saints |
| ST | saint, street, stone, way |
| T | time, ton, tee, junction (T-junction) |
| TA | thanks, volunteers, Territorial Army |
| TAR | sailor, Jack |
| U | upper-class, posh, university, universal (film), uranium |
| V | five, very, versus, against, verse, volt |
| W | west, wife, with, women, watt |
| X | ten, kiss, cross, times, unknown |
| Y | yard, year, unknown, yen |
| Z | zero, unknown |