Independent Cryptic 1274 Monday August 4Th 2014

[gillie3431]

Help please. Fathers first clue initially alarmed mother. 6 letters....??C?LA

[Neveracrossword]

Wasn't this in yesterday's Independent, the Beelzebub crossword?

It's Fecula - anagram of 'clue' and 'f', father and 'a' (first letter/initially of 'alarmed').

[factor-fiction]

Is that the exact clue (apart from the apostrophe) and are you sure of all the letters, gillie? I can't work out what the definition part could be

[factor-fiction]

http://www.crosswordsolver.org/quicksolve.php?action=search&;letters=6&;word%5B1%5D=&word%5B2%5D=&word%5B3%5D=C&word%5B4%5D=&word%5B5%5D=L&word%5B6%5D=A&;word%5B7%5D=&word%5B8%5D=&word%5B9%5D=&word%5B10%5D=&word%5B11%5D=&word%5B12%5D=&;word%5B13%5D=&word%5B14%5D=&word%5B15%5D=
Yes, Fecula is one of the few words that fits but I can't see the definition.

[factor-fiction]

I assume the key is Mother

[factor-fiction]

Here's the definition. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/fecula
I don't see the definition in the clue or see where mother fits in

[gillie3431]

Yes. This was in the beelzebub crossword yesterday. To get the second letter of the answer the following clue needs to be solved. Eager to ignore first of pipind voices. 5 letters -----RE?DY .... MISSING LETTER IS SECOND LETTER OF FIRST CLUE.

[Neveracrossword]

From Chambers: 'Mother noun, dregs, scum a slimy mass of bacteria.'

I should have included this when I gave the answer, sorry.

[factor-fiction]

pipind? Should that say PIPING?
Could be reedy or ready

[dannyk13]

(g)reedy

[factor-fiction]

Thanks Neveracrossword. Do you have a link please? I don't know what 'mother noun' means

[Neveracrossword]

Sorry,ff - It should just have been ' Mother (noun) dregs, scum...'

It is the second definition for 'mother; in my Chambers.

[factor-fiction]

Thanks. So do you think there was an extra word in the clue after mother? (I have no idea what mother dregs are- will google)

[Neveracrossword]

Fecula means dregs
Mother means dregs

I think the clue is fine as it is!

[factor-fiction]

Thanks.
Mother= dregs is a new one on me.
I realise now you meant to put a comma between mother and dregs

[Neveracrossword]

FF, glad we got there in the end. I hate copying things from dictionaries as I get distracted by the punctuation marks, italics, abbreviations for grammatical info etc.

[factor-fiction]

Thanks. Maybe it's time I bought myself a new Chambers- mine is nearly 40 years old and so tatty I never use it.