I Cryptic Crossword No 635

[DestressTermly]

The clue was as follows: Cue ball's dead short? Who cares? (8) and the answer was REMINDER.

Having looked elsewhere on this site, I see that the answer was built up from RE (D short) and then MINDER for (someone) who cares. The whole thing would be cue = REMINDER.

However my question is how did we get from cue ball to RE(D). Aren't cue balls white?

[bibblebub]

'cue' is the definition for 'reminder'

'ball' is part of the subsidiary not the definition

[DestressTermly]

I'm sorry bibblebub, but I didn't really understand that answer. I think you're saying that RE(D) is derived from ball dead short, rather than cue ball. How is ball meant to get you to RED? Balls can be any colour?

[chelle7272]

But the colour would need to have the letter d

[DestressTermly]

I still don't see why "ball" is in anyway suggestive of a colour as an answer. It's not even as if it's standard that balls have to be single colours, I can think of many multicoloured beachballs, footballs and American pool balls. Why would the answer need to have the letter D?

[bibblebub]

The latter part of the clue gives 'minder' which leaves just 2 letters to get and 'dead short' indicates that a D is missing, so you're looking for a 3 letter word for a ball that includes a D. The sense of the whole clue also suggests a game such as snooker or pool.

[shoota]

Sometimes things just are......

[chelle7272]

The clue tells you d is dropped from the word.
To me the clue is suggestive of pool or snooker due to 'cue'. The colour that fits would therefore be red.
Someone may be able to explain it better than me sorry!

[DestressTermly]

Okay, thank you all for your input and comments. Shoota made me laugh and I appreciate the efforts of chelle and bibblebub.

[chelle7272]

I liked shootas answer too :-)