Solve of the Day
Minute Cryptic
Jun 18, 2026 · By Member: Abdul K
"Mermaid’s heart breaks from salmon being chopped up for shark bait?" (5)
Definition
Our definition here is 'shark bait?' and, with a bit of stretch (flagged by the question mark), our answer will be a kind of shark bait.
Indicator
This clue's indicators are 'heart', 'breaks from' and 'being chopped up'. One of these is a selection indicator, naming the position of an important letter in neighbouring fodder. Another is an anagram indicator - some letters will be roughly segmented and won't retain their original form. And a third is a deletion indicator flagging that some fodder will depart other fodder.
Fodder
This clue's fodder is 'Mermaid' and 'salmon'. We'll use these letters (or some of them) to construct our answer, as guided by the clue's indicator(s).
The Answer
LOANS