Are Nouns Valid Anagram Indicators?

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Yes when combined with possession or with a preposition creating an adjectival/adverbial phrase. Arrangement of FODDER etc. Admittedly going the adverbial route may require a two step process e.g by mistake = mistakenly. Otherwise No.

Yes, if the noun is also an appropriate verb or adjective as well eg ground, liquid, butcher etc. But you know that and those are not the ones you are thinking of with your title ...

In the nicest possible way, I'm going to suggest you're all rank hypocrites as adverbs are far less valid, but I bet you all use those?

😁 ... what Blah said, basically. *BUT* on a rare occasion, if the surface is good enough and with mitigating factors, perhaps a little leeway could be granted - consider Serenos in the G. (#29851): "Steps in dog mess clearly marked (10)", where "mess" has to be read as a noun (as a verb it wouldn't work *after* the fodder) ... now "crap" or "shit" would work better as they could be taken as adjectives, but they're probably not going to make it onto the back page.

In case it's not completely clear, this was just a silly idea I posted while walking to work earlier. I like the thought of someone asking this question in the future and being able to send them a link to this post. Yes, nouns that are also verbs are fine. Yes, adverbial/adjectival phrases are fine too e.g., gin cocktail ❌, cocktail of gin ✅. I felt that adding all the caveats would have spoiled the joke a bit. That said, the comments are proving genuinely useful, so keep them coming!

Hilarious ratio of comment-to-content on this blog post, it's basically a chatroom now 🤣

Good picture. The gentleman looks serious yet ready to laugh. Gerunds probably work, e.g., 'playing' as the direct object in "Question playing ska (3)" for ASK or as the subject in "Playing American electronica leads to speed-up (12)" for ACCELERATION. Or maybe these examples don't work at all? Happy to be corrected, thanks.

They're only valid if I can solve the clue (although it does depend on which side of the Ximenean bed I get out of in the morning)....

MARAUDER – Pirate state acquires a Dürer composition (8) [MA (Massachusetts, US state) + anagram of (a Dürer)*]. Brummie, for the Guardian - 28,963... Thoughts?

Why not? I mean, how is something like 'distortion' or 'chaos' not a valid indicator?🤔