help with a iycf crossword clue please

[frodo_uk]

almost completed a crossword in iycf except for one clue ....i'm sur its me being thick but i can't figure it .....it is as folows:- hooked fish frustratingly stuck in pond growth (7).

letters are w_e_e_d..... the "_" being a space of one letter inbetween the letters which as a pure coincedence spell weed .

I keep wondering if its weekend but cant see why? or weedend but that dosn't sound like a word to me, anyone shed any light on it?

much appreciation fanks

[The Flying Tench]

Can't help. You prompted me to have a crack at the crossword. Mostly very easy, and i agree your other letters, but I'm stumped too.

[Peter Waller]

Weeded, but that's only six. Snagged is seven but that throws everything else out the door.

 

[ 20. August 2003, 11:09 PM: Message edited by: Peter Waller ]

[frodo_uk]

well john it seems you and i are in unison on the crossword and that causes me to wonder wether or not iycf having made a little boo boo.

[snotty]

I've had a little look at it myself and I agree with the missing clue, however I think there may be a hidden meaning here guys...

 

'hooked fish frustratingly'... stuck in pond growth... the latter part we agree being 'w_e_e_d'

so what could be inserted into 'w_e_e_d' to imply 'hooked fish frustratingly'? :confused:

 

As I am quite useless at cryptic puzzles I consulted a dictionary and assuming the clue is one word (?) the only word that I can come up with to fit is 'weekend' by adding 'e k n' but how this fits the clue I cannot begin to imagine so back to you guys...

[Apache]

It would appear that IYCF have made a slight mistake then, as I have just done the crossword and cant figure it.

[The Flying Tench]

I'm not convinced iycf have made a mistake. People who write crosswords start with the answer and then write the questions, and it's hard to see how they'd have an answer that isn't a word at all. Of course the clue might be a bit iffy. I think Snotty's on the right track, but I'm frustratingly stuck at that point like everyone else!

[frodo_uk]

i'm convinced about your theory there snotty and have been thinking along the same lines myself and going by what john clark says there, it seems unlikely to be an error but it does seem to be a challange that no-one can crack. so if you get the answer its certainly worth entering the competion i reckon

[Guest sslatter]

If it's a cryptic clue, then the true meaning is either at the beginning or the end of the clue. So, it's either "Hooked" or "Hooked fish", or "growth" or "pond growth".

 

Words like "stuck" and "caught" and "hooked" are often used to imply a word-within-a word, i.e. R-EEL-ING. "Caught" often also implies the letter "c", as in cricket score notation. Words like "frustratingly" are often used to imply an anagram. So in this case it might be an anagram of a word, contained inside another word, although I have never encountered such a cryptic clue before: one that had an anagram inside another word. It would be very unusual. If the letters are correct, W-E-E-D, then I'd rule out a past participle like "hooked". This word can only end with A, E, L, N, or R, between the 5th and the seventh letter.

If it's a normal cryptic clue format, then, with the letters that I've already got, I'd read it as a word that means "hooked fish frustratingly caught" inside the letters WEE(-E-)D, or W(-E-)EED, but that hasn't seemed to help. :confused:

 

Maybe it's the name of a type of weed. "W-EWEED"??

[Chris the Fish]

i was hoping someone would have got the answer by now.

 

not to worry, weederd fits...