Deletion cryptic clue
Remove the head, tail or heart of a word and keep what is left.
How it works
Chop the head, tail, or heart off a word and keep what is left. Indicators describe the amputation: beheaded, endless, heartless, curtailed — or soften it with nearly and almost.
The surviving fragment is the answer, or feeds another device. The trick is realizing which end the knife went to.
Worked example
Lose the tail of CART and it still drives.
Almost a cart, but still a vehicle (3)
AnswerCAR
- Definition: vehicle — CAR.
- Almost softens the cut: CART loses its last letter.
- CAR (3) — still perfectly drivable.
Spotting it in the wild
- headless / beheaded → drop the first letter; endless / curtailed → drop the last; heartless / gutted → drop the middle.
- Nearly and almost are the polite, frequent forms of "cut something off".
- The deleted letters are never reused — resist the urge to recycle them.