凶
=
乂
+
凵
:
Mnemonic symbol: a vicious (凶) demon mask. Xu Xian (xu) tried out an electric demon mask (凶) in front of the engine ((e)ng1), but now he can't take it off anymore. He already tried to pull the cable out of the receptacle (凵), but it didn't work. Maybe he has more luck using pliers (乂) to pull at the mask.
杀
=
乂
+
朩
:
Sherlock Holmes (sh) is messing around with a sewage pipe sticking out of the floor (朩) in front of the ashram (a1) using pliers (乂). To reduce (杀) the marks he left he is trying to rub them off with an eraser (杀).