"Pretty far-fetched information" Cryptic Clue

The Surface Reading: A Convincing Disguise

At first glance, Pretty far-fetched information sounds like a description of unreliable or exaggerated facts. That natural reading is the clue's camouflage. The phrase flows as ordinary English, encouraging you to interpret far-fetched as an adjective rather than as an instruction.

Cryptic clues often use this double life. One reading creates a believable sentence; the other supplies the machinery for the answer. Here, the surface sends your thoughts toward questionable information, while the wordplay quietly points toward construction.

Cracking the Cryptic Logic

1. Find the definition

The definition is Pretty. In this clue, it means attractive or fair, giving us the target meaning before the wordplay confirms the letters.

2. Identify the fodder

The useful material is far plus a short form of information. In cryptic shorthand, information can be represented by INFO, but the clue needs only the compact abbreviation I.

3. Read the indicator correctly

Fetched is the containment indicator. It suggests that one piece of material is gathered up and held inside another. That is the key instruction: do not simply rearrange the words or take them at face value. Build one letter into another sequence.

4. Perform the insertion

Start with FAR. The abbreviation for information, I, is fetched into it, producing:

FAR with I inside = FAIR

The result is FAIR, which matches the definition Pretty.

The Aha! Moment

The breakthrough comes when fetched stops sounding like part of the sentence and starts acting like a mechanical command. Once it signals containment, the clue becomes a small assembly diagram: FAR provides the frame, I supplies the inserted letter, and the definition validates the finished word.

That is the secret code of the clue. The surface reading makes the phrase sound like a comment about dubious information, but the cryptic reading separates it into definition, indicator, and fodder. Follow those roles in order, and the hidden construction becomes clear.

Solution Summary

• Definition: Pretty
• Fodder: FAR plus I, a short form of information
• Indicator: fetched, signaling containment
• Construction: FAR containing I
• Final answer: FAIR