Acryptic crossword is acrossword puzzle in which each clue is a word puzzle. Cryptic crosswords are particularly popular in theUnited Kingdom, where they originated,[1] as well asIreland, theNetherlands, and in severalCommonwealth nations, includingAustralia,Canada,India,Kenya,Malta,New Zealand, andSouth Africa. Compilers of cryptic crosswords are commonly calledsetters in the UK[2] andconstructors in the US. Particularly in the UK, a distinction may be made between cryptics andquick (i.e. standard) crosswords, and sometimes two sets of clues are given for a single puzzle grid.
Cryptic crossword puzzles come in two main types: the basic cryptic in which each clue answer is entered into the diagram normally, andthemed orvariety cryptics, in which some or all of the answers must be altered before entering, usually in accordance with a hidden pattern or rule which must be discovered by the solver.
Cryptic crosswords originated in the UK. The first British crossword puzzles appeared around 1923 and were purely definitional, but from the mid-1920s they began to include cryptic material: not cryptic clues in the modern sense, but anagrams, classical allusions, incomplete quotations, and other references and wordplay.Torquemada (Edward Powys Mathers), who set forThe Saturday Westminster from 1925 and forThe Observer from 1926 until his death in 1939, was the first setter to use cryptic clues exclusively and is often credited as the inventor of the cryptic crossword.[3]
The first newspaper crosswords appeared in theSunday andDaily Express from about 1924. Crosswords were gradually taken up by other newspapers, appearing in theDaily Telegraph from 1925,The Manchester Guardian from 1929 andThe Times from 1930. These newspaper puzzles were almost entirely non-cryptic at first and gradually used more cryptic clues, until the fully cryptic puzzle as known today became widespread. In some papers this took until about 1960. Puzzles appeared inThe Listener from 1930, but this was a weekly magazine rather than a newspaper, and the puzzles were much harder than the newspaper ones, though again they took a while to become entirely cryptic. ComposerStephen Sondheim, a lover of puzzles, is credited with introducing cryptic crosswords to American audiences, through a series of puzzles he created forNew York magazine in 1968 and 1969.[4][5][6]
Torquemada's puzzles were extremely obscure and difficult, and later setters reacted against this tendency by developing a standard for fair clues, ones that can be solved, at least in principle, by deduction, without needing leaps of faith or insights into the setter's thought processes.
The basic principle of fairness was set out byListener setterAfrit (Alistair Ferguson Ritchie) in his bookArmchair Crosswords (1946), wherein he credits it to the fictionalBook of the Crossword:
We must expect the composer to play tricks, but we shall insist that he play fair. The Book of the Crossword lays this injunction upon him: "You need not mean what you say, but you must say what you mean." This is a superior way of saying that he can't have it both ways. He may attempt to mislead by employing a form of words which can be taken in more than one way, and it is your fault if you take it the wrong way, but it is his fault if you can't logically take it the right way.
An example of a clue which cannot logically be taken the right way:
Here the composer intends the answer to beDERBY, with "hat" the definition, "could be" the anagram indicator, andBE DRY the anagram fodder. I.e., "derby" is an anagram of "be dry". But "be" is doing double duty, and this means that any attempt to read the clue cryptically in the form "[definition] [anagram indicator] [fodder]" fails: if "be" is part of the anagram indicator, then the fodder is too short, but if it is part of the fodder, there is no anagram indicator; to be a correct clue it would have to be "Hat couldbe be dry (5)", which is ungrammatical. A variation might readHat turns out to be dry (5), but this also fails because the word "to", which is necessary to make the sentence grammatical, follows the indicator ("turns out") even though it is not part of the anagram indicated.
Torquemada's successor atThe Observer wasXimenes (Derrick Somerset Macnutt), and in his influential work,Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword Puzzle (1966), he set out more detailed guidelines for setting fair cryptic clues, now known as "Ximenean principles" and sometimes described by the phrase "square-dealing".[7] The most important of them are tersely summed up by Ximenes' successorAzed (Jonathan Crowther):
The Ximenean principles are adhered to most strictly in the subgenre ofadvanced cryptics—difficult puzzles using barred grids and a large vocabulary. Easier puzzles often have more relaxed standards, permitting a wider array of clue types, and allowing a little flexibility. The popularGuardian setterAraucaria (John Galbraith Graham) was a noted non-Ximenean, celebrated for his witty, if occasionally unorthodox, clues.
Most of the major nationalnewspapers in the UK carry both cryptic and concise (quick) crosswords in every issue. The puzzle inThe Guardian is well loved for its humour and quirkiness, and quite often includes puzzles with themes, which are extremely rare inThe Times.[8]
Many Canadian newspapers, including theOttawa Citizen,Toronto Star andThe Globe and Mail, carry cryptic crosswords.
Cryptic crosswords do not commonly appear in U.S. publications, although they can be found in magazines such asGAMES Magazine,The Nation,The New Yorker,Harper's, and occasionally in the SundayNew York Times. TheNew York Post reprints cryptic crosswords fromThe Times. In April 2018,The New Yorker published the first of a new weekly series of cryptic puzzles.[9] Other sources of cryptic crosswords in the U.S. (at various difficulty levels) are puzzle books, as well as UK and Canadian newspapers distributed in the U.S. Other venues include theEnigma, the magazine of theNational Puzzlers' League, and formerly,The Atlantic Monthly. The latter puzzle, after a long and distinguished run, appeared solely onThe Atlantic's website for several years, and ended with the October 2009 issue. A similar puzzle by the same authors now appears every four weeks inThe Wall Street Journal, beginning in January 2010.[10] Cryptic crosswords have become more popular in the United States in the years following theCOVID-19 lockdowns with several "indie" outlets and setters.[11]
Cryptic crosswords are very popular in Australia. Most Australian newspapers will have at least one cryptic crossword, if not two.The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age inMelbourne publish daily cryptic crosswords, including Friday's challenging cryptic by 'DA' (David Astle). "Lovatts", an Australian puzzle publisher, regularly issues cryptic crossword puzzle books.
A cryptic clue leads to its answer only if it is read in the right way. What the clue appears to say when read normally (thesurface reading) is usually a distraction with nothing to do with the solution. The challenge is to find the way of reading the clue that leads to the solution. A typical clue consists of two parts:
Sometimes the two parts of the clue are joined with a link word or phrase such asfrom,gives orcould be. One of the tasks of the solver is to find the boundary between the definition and the wordplay, and insert a mental pause there when reading the cluecryptically.
There are many sorts of wordplay, such as anagrams and double definitions, but they all conform to rules. The crossword setters do their best to stick to these rules when writing their clues, and solvers can use these rules and conventions to help them solve the clues. Noted cryptic setterDerrick Somerset Macnutt (who wrote cryptics under the pseudonym of Ximenes) discusses the importance and art of fair cluemanship in his seminal book on cryptic crosswords,Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword (1966, reprinted 2001).[12]
Because a typical cryptic clue describes its answer in detail and often more than once, the solver can usually have a great deal of confidence in the answer once it has been determined. The clues are "self-checking." This is in contrast to non-cryptic crossword clues which often have several possible answers and force the solver to use the crossing letters to distinguish which was intended.
Here is an example (taken fromThe Guardian crossword of 6 August 2002, set by "Shed").
is a clue forTRAGICAL. This breaks down as follows.
There are many codewords orindicators that have a special meaning in the cryptic crossword context. (In the example above, "about", "unfinished" and "rising" all fall into this category). Learning these, or being able to spot them, is a useful and necessary part of becoming a skilled cryptic crossword solver.
Compilers or setters often use slang terms and abbreviations, generally without indication, so familiarity with these is important for the solver. Abbreviations may be as simple aswest =W,New York =NY, but may also be more difficult.[13] Words that can mean more than one thing are commonly exploited; often the meaning the solver must use is completely different from the one it appears to have in the clue. Some examples are:
Of these examples,flower is an invented meaning (using the verbflow and the suffix-er), and cannot be confirmed in a standard dictionary. A similar trick is played in the old clue "A wicked thing" forCANDLE, where the-ed suffix must be understood in its 'equipped with' meaning.[a] In the case of the '-er' suffix, this trick could be played with other meanings of the suffix, but except forriver →BANKER (a river is not a 'thing that banks' but a 'thing that has banks'), this is rarely done.
Sometimescompiler, or the name or codename of the compiler (if visible by the crossword), codes for some form of thefirst-person pronoun (I,me,my,mine).
In theDaily Telegraph back page, Monday 15 March 2017, 7 down, is "Banish spirits with zero ice upsetting imbibing times (8)"; the answer isEXORCIZE: it means "banish spirits", and isZERO ICE rearranged, includingX (described astimes). The word "upsetting" indicates an anagram and the word "imbibing" indicates an insertion.
A typical cryptic crossword grid is generally 15×15, with half-turnrotational symmetry. Unlike typical Americancrosswords, in which every square is almost alwayschecked (that is, each square provides a letter for both an across and a down answer), only about half of the squares in a cryptic crossword are checked.
In most daily newspaper cryptic crosswords, grid designs are restricted to a set of stock grids. In the past this was becausehot metal typesetting meant that new grids were expensive.[14]
Some papers have additional grid rules. InThe Times, for example, all words have at least half the letters checked, and although words can have two unchecked squares in succession, they cannot be the first two or last two letters of a word. The grid shown here breaks oneTimes grid rule: the 15-letter words at 9 and 24 across each have 8 letters unchecked out of 15.The Independent allows setters to use their own grid designs.
Variety (UK: 'advanced') cryptic crosswords typically use abarred grid with no black squares and a slightly smaller size; 12×12 is typical. Word boundaries are denoted by thick lines calledbars. In these variety puzzles, one or more clues may require modification to fit into the grid, such as dropping or adding a letter, or being anagrammed to fit other, unmodified clues; un-clued spaces may spell out a secret message appropriate for the puzzle theme once the puzzle is fully solved. The solver also may need to determine where answers fit into the grid.
A July 2006 "Puzzlecraft" section inGames magazine on cryptic crossword construction noted that for cryptic crosswords to be readily solvable, no fewer than half the letters for every word should be checked by another word for a standard cryptic crossword, while nearly every letter should be checked for a variety cryptic crossword. In most UK advanced ('variety') cryptics, at least three-quarters of the letters in each word are checked.
There are notable differences between British and North American (including Canadian) cryptics. American cryptics are thought of as holding to a more rigid set of construction rules than British ones. American cryptics usually require all words in a clue to be used in service of the wordplay or definition, whereas British ones allow for more extraneous or supporting words. In American cryptics, a clue is only allowed to have one subsidiary indication, but in British cryptics the occasional clue may have more than one; e.g., atriple definition clue would be considered an amusing variation in the UK but unsound in the US.[citation needed][dubious –discuss]
For the most part, cryptic crosswords are anEnglish-language phenomenon, although similar puzzles are popular in aHebrew form inIsrael (where they are calledtashbetsey higayon (תשבצי הגיון) "Logic crosswords")[15] and (asCryptogram) inDutch. In Poland similar crosswords are called "Hetman crosswords". 'Hetman', a senior commander, and also the name for aqueen inChess, emphasises their importance over other crosswords. InFinnish, this type of crossword puzzle is known aspiilosana (literally "hidden word"), whilekrypto refers to a crossword puzzle where the letters have been coded as numbers. TheGermanZEITmagazin has a weekly cryptic crossword calledUm die Ecke gedacht and theSZ Magazin featuresdas Kreuz mit den Worten.
In India theTelugu publicationSakshi carries a "Tenglish" (Telugu-English, bilingual) cryptic crossword;[16] thePrajavani andVijaya Karnataka crossword (Kannada) also employs cryptic wordplay.[17] Enthusiasts have also created cryptic crosswords in Hindi.[18] Since 1994,enigmistaEnnio Peres has challenged Italians annually withIl cruciverba più difficile del mondo (The World's Most Difficult Crossword), which has many features in common with English-style cryptics.[19]
In Chinese something similar is theriddle of Chinese characters, where partial characters instead of substrings are clued and combined.
Clues given to the solver are based on various forms of wordplay. Nearly every clue has two non-overlapping parts to it: one part that provides an unmodified but often indirect definition for the word or phrase, and a second part that includes the wordplay involved. In a few cases, the two definitions are one and the same, as often in the case of"&lit." clues. Most cryptic crosswords provide the number of letters in the answer, or in the case of phrases, a series of numbers to denote the letters in each word: "cryptic crossword" would be clued with "(7,9)" following the clue. More advanced puzzles may drop this portion of the clue.
Ananagram is a rearrangement of a certain section of the clue to form the answer.[20] This is usually indicated by a codeword which indicates change, movement, breakage or something otherwise amiss.[b] One example:
givesESCORT, which means "chaperone" and is an anagram, indicated by the word "shredded", ofCORSET.
Anagram clues are characterized by the codeword (theanagram indicator or – among enthusiasts –anagrind) placed adjacent to a word or phrase made up of the letters to be rearranged (theanagram fodder). The indicator tells the solver an anagram exists, and the fodder provides the anagram to be solved. Indicators can come either directly before or directly after the fodder.
In an American cryptic, only the words given in the clue may be anagrammed; in some older puzzles, the words to be anagrammed may be clued andthen anagrammed. This kind of clue is called anindirect anagram. For example, in:
"chew" is the indicator, but "honeydew" does not directly provide the letters to be anagrammed. Instead, "honeydew" cluesMELON, which can be rearranged to form the solutionLEMON – another "fruit". Indirect anagrams are not used in the vast majority of cryptic crosswords, ever since they were criticised by Ximenes inOn the Art of the Crossword.[c]
It is common for the setter to use a juxtaposition of indicator and fodder that together form a common phrase, to make the clue appear as normal as possible. For example:
uses "dancing" as the indicator because it combines naturally with the fodderLAP, disguising the anagram. The solution isPAL ("friend").
In acharade orIkea clue, the answer is formed by joining individually clued words to make a larger word (namely, the answer).[21]
For example:
The answer isBANKING, formed byBAN for "outlaw" andKING for "leader". The definition is "managing money". With this example, the words appear in the same order in the clue as they do in the answer, and no special words are needed to indicate this. However, the order of the parts is sometimes indicated with words such asagainst,after,on,with orabove (in a down clue).
Acontainer orinsertion clue puts one set of letters inside another.[22] So:
givesPAUL ("apostle"), by placingPAL ("friend") outside ofU ("university").[d]
A similar example:
The answer isVOICE ("utter"), formed by placingO ("nothing") inside the wordVICE ("wickedness").
Other container or insertion indicators areinside,over,around,about,clutching,enters, and the like.
Deletion is a wordplay mechanism which removes some letters of a word to create a shorter word.[23] Deletions consist ofbeheadments,curtailments, andinternal deletions. In beheadments, a word loses its first letter. In curtailments, it loses its last letter, and internal deletions remove an inner letter, such as the middle one.
An example of a beheadment:
The answer would beTAR, another word for "sailor", which isstar ("celebrity") without the first letter ("beheaded").
A similar example, but with a specification as to the letter being removed:
The answer isRAVEN, which means "bird" and iscraven, or "cowardly", without the first letter (in this caseC, the abbreviation forcirca or "about").
Other indicators of beheadment includedon't start,topless, andafter the first.
An example of curtailment:
The answer isBOO (a "shout"). If you ignore the punctuation, a "read" is a book, andbook without its final letter ("endlessly") is the solution.
Other indicators of curtailment includenearly andunfinished.
An example of internal deletion:
The answer isDARING, which means "challenging", and isdarling without its middle letter, or "heartlessly".[e]
A clue may, rather than having a definition part and a wordplay part, have two definition parts.[24] Thus:
would have the answerBLIND, becauseblind can mean both "not seeing" and "window covering". Note that since these definitions come from the same root word, an American magazine might not allow this clue. American double definitions tend to require both parts to come from different roots, as in this clue:
This takes advantage of the two very different meanings (and pronunciations) ofPOLISH, the one with the longo sound meaning 'someone from Poland', and the one with the shorto sound meaning 'make shiny'.
These clues tend to be short; in particular, two-word clues are almost always double-definition clues.
In the UK, multiple definitions are occasionally used; e.g.:
is a quintuple definition ofDOWN ("blue" (sad), "swallow" (drink), "feathers" (plumage), "fell" (cut down) and "from above"),[25] but in the US this would be considered unsound.
Some British newspapers have an affection for quirky clues of this kind where the two definitions are similar:
Note that these clues do not have clear indicator words.
Inhidden words,embedded words ortelescopic clues, the solution itself is written within the clue – either as part of a longer word or across more than one word.[26] For example:
givesUNDERMINED, which means (cryptically at least) "damaged" and appears across "Found ermine deer" (as indicated by "hides").[f]
Possible indicators of a hidden clue includein part,partially,in,within,hides,conceals,some, andheld by.
Another example:
givesDOG, which is the first part of, or "introduction to", the word "do-gooder", and means "canine".
The opposite of a hidden word clue, where lettersmissing from a sentence have to be found, is known as aPrinter's Devilry, and appears in some advanced cryptics.
There are several common variations on hidden word clues:
The first or last letters of part of the clue are put together to give the answer.
An example of an initialism:
The answer would beAPE, which is a type of "primate". "Initially" signals that you must take the first letters of "amiable person eats".
Another example would be:
The answer would beANNIE, the name of a famous "orphan in musical theatre". This is obtained from the first letters of "actor needing new identity emulates".
Words that indicate initialisms also includefirstly,primarily andto start.
It is possible to have initialisms just for certain parts of the clue. It is also possible to employ the same technique to the end of words. For example:
The answer would beDAHOMEY, which used to be a kingdom in Africa (an "old country"). Here, we take the first letters of only the words "Head Office" (HO) and we take the "end of" the word "day" (Y). The letters of the wordDAME, meaning "lady", are then made to go around the lettersHO to formDAHOMEY.
That the solver should use the last letters may also be indicated by such words asends,tails,last etc. For instance:
Would beHAWK (a "bird") based on the letters at the ends of ("tips of") "rich aqua, yellow, black".
Either the odd or even letters of words in the clue give the answer. An example is:
The answer would beSUFFRAGIST, which is "someone wanting women to vote". The word "odd" indicates that we must take only the odd-indexed letters of the rest of the clue ("stuff of Mr. Waugh is set"), i.e. every other letter beginning with the first.
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings, such asnight andknight. Homophone clues always have an indicator word or phrase that has to do with being spoken or heard.[27] Examples of homophone indicators includereportedly,they say,utterly (here treated asutter(ing)-ly and not with its usual meaning),vocal,to the audience,auditioned,by the sound of it,is heard,in conversation andon the radio.Broadcast is a particularly devious indicator as it could indicate either a homophone or an anagram.
An example of a homophone clue is
which is a clue forPARE, which means "shave" and is a homophone ofpair, or "twins". The homophone is indicated by "we hear".
If the two homophones are the same length, the clue should be phrased in such a way that only one of them can be the answer. This is usually done by having the indicator adjacent to the word that is not the definition; therefore, in the previous example, "we hear" was adjacent to "twins" and the answer must therefore bePARE rather thanPAIR. The indicator could come between the homophones if they were of different lengths and the enumeration was given, such as in the case ofright andrite.[28]
The letter bank form of cluing consists of a shorter word (or words) containing no repeated letters (an "isogram"), and a longer word or phrase built by using each of these letters (but no others) at least once but repeating them as often as necessary. This type of clue has been described by American constructorsJoshua Kosman and Henri Picciotto, who write the weekly puzzle forThe Nation. The shorter word is typically at least three or four letters in length, while the target word or phrase is at least three letters longer than the bank word. For example, the four letters in the wordTENS can be used as a bank to form the wordTENNESSEE. Typically, the clue contains indicator words such as "use," "take," or "implement" to signal that a letter bank is being employed.
A more complicated example of a letter bank is:
In this case, "taking and retaking ingredients" signals that the letters of bothADVIL andNOT form a letter bank. Those letters yield a "composer", and the solution,ANTONIO VIVALDI.
Kosman and Picciotto consider this to be a newer and more complicated form of cluing that offers another way, besides the anagram, of mixing and recombining letters.[30]
A word that gets turned around to make another is a reversal.[23] For example:
The answer isREGAL.LAGER ("beer") is reversed ("returned") to yield the solution ("fit for a king").
Other indicator words includereceding,in the mirror,going the wrong way,returns,reversesto the left orleft (for across clues), andrising,overturned ormounted orcomes up (for down clues).
Here the clue appears to say one thing, but with a slight shift of viewpoint it says another. For example:
givesTHAMES, a flow-er of London. Here, the surface reading suggests a blossom, which disguises the fact that the name of a river is required. Notice the question mark: this is often (though by no means always) used by compilers to indicate this sort of clue is one where you need to interpret the words in a different fashion. The way that a clue reads as an ordinary sentence is called itssurface reading and is often used to disguise the need for a different interpretation of the clue's component words.
This type of clue is common in British and Canadian cryptics but is generally unused in American cryptics;[31] in American-style crosswords,a clue like this is generally called a punny clue[citation needed]. It's almost certainly the oldest kind of cryptic clue:[citation needed] cryptic definitions appeared in the UK newspaper puzzles in the late 1920s and early 1930s that mixed cryptic and plain definition clues and evolved into fully cryptic crosswords.
A relatively uncommon clue type,[32] aSpoonerism is a play on words where correspondingconsonant clusters are switched between two words in a phrase (or syllables in a word) and the switch forms another pair of propersounding words. For example: "butterfly" = "flutter by".
Both the solution word or phrase and its corresponding Spoonerism are clued for, and the clue type is almost always indicated by reference toWilliam Archibald Spooner himself – with some regions/publications insisting his religious title "Rev." or "Reverend" be included. In contrast to all other clue types, this makes them almost impossible to disguise. But that does not necessarily make them easy.
An example of a Spoonerism clue is:
The answer isLITTERBUG ("he will casually put down"). The Spoonerism isbitter lug, i.e. "angry" and "bear" (as in carry).
The vast majority of Spoonerism clues swap the first consonants of words or syllables, but Spoonerisms are not strictly restricted to that form and some setters will take advantage of this. John Henderson (Enigmatist in theGuardian) once clued forRIGHT CLICK using the SpoonerismLIGHT CRICK,[33] which did not sit well with many solvers.
A clue in which the only hint to the letters in the solution is that it is apalindrome,[34] for example:
where the answer isDEED or:
where the answer isMADAM.
Areverse anagram orrevenge clue (short for "reverse engineer")[35] is one which gives an anagrammed word in its text, and the solver has to determine the anagrammed word(s) and indicator that make the solution matching the definition. Such clues may or may not use an indicator.[36]
An example fromThe Guardian:
The phrase "way to make" indicates that the solver should look for a word and anagram indicator that could rearrange to the wordsDOG RUN; the solution, meaning "innovative," isGROUND-BREAKING.
Revenge clues are not limited to anagrams; for instance, "Quickly grab containers for the setter? (4,2)" indicates a revenge reversal ofPANS, orSNAP UP ("quickly grab").
An&lit.,literal orall-in-one clue is one where the entire clue simultaneously provides both the definition and the wordplay.&lit. stands for "and literally so", and originates fromDerrick Somerset Macnutt (known by his pen name Ximenes),[38] who defined it as meaning: "This clue both indicates the letters or parts of the required word, in one of the ways already explained in this book, and can also be read,in toto, literally, as an indication of the meaning of the whole word, whether as a straight or as a veiled definition."[39] In some publications, particularly in the United States, &lit clues are indicated by anexclamation mark at the end of the clue.[23][38]
For example:
The answer isODIN. The Norse godOdin is hidden in "God incarnate", as clued by "essentially", but the definition of Odin is also the whole clue, as Odin is essentially a God incarnate.
Another example:
would give the answerVETO. In the cryptic sense, "spoil" indicates ananagram ofVOTE. Simultaneously, the whole clue is – with a certain amount of licence allowed to crossword setters – a definition.
Another example:
gives the answerEGG. A goose is an example of something that finds its origin in an egg, so the whole clue gives a definition. The clue can also be broken down cryptically: "E.g." loses its full stops to giveEG, followed by the first letter of (i.e. the "origin of") the word "goose",G.
Asemi-&lit. clue is a variant of the &lit. where the entire clue still provides the definition, but the wordplay is only given by part of the clue.
For example:
givesOPERA HAT. The whole clue provides a definition of the answer (i.e. something that might be worn while listening toPuccini), but only the first part of the clue is wordplay ("bit of Puccini" cluingP, and "dressed up" clueing an anagram; overall an anagram ofTO HEAR A P).[41]
Another example:
givesDINGO. Only the first part of the clue provides wordplay ("wild" indicating an anagram ofDOG IN), but the whole clue can be interpreted as a definition of the answer.[43]
The termclue-as-definition (CAD) can be used as an inclusive descriptor covering both &lit. and semi-&lit. clues.
Ximenes identifies various other types of clue inOn The Art Of The Crossword (1966) in chapter VII, 'Improvised Clues', including:
Initial or final letter clues are also mentioned in this chapter, to be used "When the setter is in real desperation".
"Combination clues" employ more than one method of wordplay; this is particularly common for longer grid entries.[44] For example:
The answer isHONORABLE. "Baron" is reversed (or "returns") to yieldNORAB, and put insideHOLE (or "pit") to give the solution (clued by "illustrious").
In this example, the clue uses a combination of Reversal and Hidden clue types:
The answer to this clue isROTTEN. "To turn" indicates a reversal, and "part of" suggests a piece of "Internet torrid"; the solution means "cruel".
To make clues more difficult, cryptic constructors will frequently use traditional indicator words in a misleading manner.
Abbreviations are popular with crossword compilers for cluing individual letters or short sections of the answer. Consider this clue:
There are two abbreviations used here. "About" is abbreviatedC (for "circa"), and "little Desmond" indicates that thediminutive of Desmond (namely,DES) is required. TheC is "to come between"DES andANT (a worker; note that compilers also use "worker" to stand for 'bee' or 'hand'), givingDESCANT, which means "discourse".
Compilers use many of thesecrossword abbreviations.
Another type of abbreviation in clues might be words that refer to letters. For example, 'you' refers to the letter U, 'why' refers to the letter Y, etc. A clue for instance:
The answer isEGYPT. Three abbreviations are used here. "For example" clues the common abbreviationEG (forexempli gratia). "Why" clues the letterY. The phrase "didn't you put" clues the lettersPT (the word "you" refers to the letterU, and word "didn't" indicates that this should be left out of the word "put"). Adding these together gets "the country".
There are many ways in which constructors can clue a part of a clue. In this clue:
The word "spectacles" cluesOO because these letters look like a pair of spectacles "from the top". The answer is thusCOO, which is an "exclamation of surprise" withC coming fromcirca, clued by "about".
Often, Roman numerals are used to break down words into their component letter groups. E.g. In this clue:
The answer isAXIS, and the direct meaning is conveyed by the words "is pivotal". The firstA is followed byXI, which is 11 in Roman numerals (referring to the number of players on the field in a cricket orsoccer "team"). "First supporter" refers to the letterS, which is the first letter of the word "supporter".
Cryptic clue styles across newspapers are ostensibly similar, but there are technical differences which result in the work of setters being regarded as either Ximenean or Libertarian (and often a combination of both).
Ximenean rules are very precise in terms of grammar and syntax, especially as regards the indicators used for various methods of wordplay. Libertarian setters may use devices which "more or less" get the message across. For example, when treating the answerBEER the setter may decide to split the word intoBEE andR and, after finding suitable ways to define the answer andBEE, now looks to give the solver a clue to the letterR. Ximenean rules would not allow something like "reach first" to indicate thatR is the first letter of "reach" because, grammatically, that is not what "reach first" implies. Instead, a phrase along the lines of "first to reach" would be needed as this conforms to rules of grammar. Many Libertarian crossword editors would, however, accept "reach first" as it would be considered to reasonably get the idea across. For instance, a clue following Ximenean rules forBEER (BEE +R) may look as such:
While a clue following Libertarian rules may look as follows:
The Guardian is perhaps the most Libertarian of cryptic crosswords, whileThe Times is mostly Ximenean. The others tend to be somewhere in between; theFinancial Times andIndependent tend towards Ximenean, theDaily Telegraph also – although its Toughie crossword can take a very Libertarian approach depending on the setter. None of the major daily cryptics in the UK is "strictly Ximenean"; all allow clues which are just cryptic definitions, and strict Ximenean rules exclude such clues. There are other differences like nounal anagram indicators and in currentTimes crosswords, unindicated definition by example: "bay" in the clue indicatingHORSE in the answer, without a qualification like "bay, perhaps".
In terms of difficulty, Libertarian clues can seem impenetrable to inexperienced solvers. However, more significant is the setter him/herself. Crosswords in theTimes andDaily Telegraph are published anonymously, so the crossword editor ensures that clues adhere to a consistent house style. Inevitably each setter has an individual (and often very recognisable) approach to clue-writing, but the way in which wordplay devices are used and indicated is kept within a defined set of rules.
In theGuardian,Independent,Financial Times andTelegraph Toughie series the setters' pseudonyms are published, so solvers become familiar with the styles of individual setters rather than house rules. Thus the level of difficulty is associated with the setter rather than the newspaper, though puzzles by individual setters can actually vary in difficulty considerably.
It is effectively impossible, then, to describe one newspaper's crosswords as the toughest or easiest. For newcomers to cryptic puzzles theDaily Telegraph is often regarded as an ideal starting point, but this is contentious. Since all of the newspapers have different styles, concentrating on one of them is likely to lead to proficiency in only one style of clue-writing; moving to a different series, after perhaps years spent with just one, can leave the solver feeling as if they have gone back to square one. The better technique is to simply attempt as many different crosswords as possible, perhaps to find a "comfort zone" but, more importantly, to experience the widest possible range of Ximenean/Libertarian styles.
"Themed" or "variety" cryptics have developed a small but enthusiastic following in Britain, the United States, and elsewhere. Variety cryptics are arguably among the most difficult of all crossword puzzles, both to compile and to solve, since they often involve alterations to the answers before entry into the grid, meaning that there is no assurance that the cross clues will match up unless properly altered.
As an example, a puzzle entitled "Trash Talk" by Bob Stigger in the June 2019 issue of the U.S. publicationGames World of Puzzles included the following instruction:[45]
In this variety cryptic crossword, 18 clue answers are garbage, to be treated according to the mantra "13-Across 6-Across and 40-across." Specifically, six answers are too long for the grid; delete one letter. Six others are too short, double one letter. And six more don't match the crossing letters; anagram them.
A crossword that includes all the letters of the alphabet within the clue answers is known as a pangram. Crosswords have been set with clue answers that contain all the letters of the alphabet twice, thrice, four times over, and even five times. This last, a pentapangram, was compiled by Maize and published in thei on January 1, 2018.
In Britain it is traditional—dating from the cryptic crossword pioneerEdward (Bill) Powys Mathers (1892–1939), who called himself "Torquemada" after the SpanishInquisitor—for compilers to use evocative pseudonyms."Crispa", named from the Latin for "curly-headed", who set crosswords for theGuardian from 1954[46] until her retirement in 2004, legally changed her surname to "Crisp" after divorcing in the 1970s. Some pseudonyms have obvious connotations: for example, Torquemada as already described, or "Mephisto" with fairly obvious devilish overtones. Others are chosen for logical but less obvious reasons, though "Dinmutz" (the late Bert Danher in theFinancial Times) was produced by random selection ofScrabble tiles.
The Geraldine News (New Zealand)
Several setters appear in more than one paper. Some of these, with pseudonyms shown, are:
| Guardian | Times | Independent | Financial Times | Daily/Sunday Telegraph | Telegraph Toughie | Private Eye | Observer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Bringloe | x | Tees | Neo | |||||
| Michael Curl | Orlando | x | Cincinnus | |||||
| John Dawson | Chifonie | Armonie | ||||||
| John Galbraith Graham | Araucaria | Cinephile | ||||||
| Brian Greer | Brendan | x | Virgilius | x | Jed | |||
| Dave Gorman | Fed | Bluth | Django | |||||
| John Halpern | Paul | x | Punk | Mudd | Dada | |||
| Sarah Hayes | Arachne | x | Anarche | Rosa Klebb | ||||
| John Henderson | Enigmatist | x | Nimrod | Io | Elgar | |||
| Paul Henderson | Phi | Kcit | ||||||
| Margaret Irvine | Nutmeg | x | ||||||
| Eddie James[67] | Brummie | Cyclops | ||||||
| Mark Kelmanson | Monk | Monk | ||||||
| Don Manley | Pasquale | x | Quixote | Bradman | x | Giovanni | ||
| Philip Marlow | Hypnos | Sleuth | x | Shamus | ||||
| Dean Mayer | x | Anax | Loroso | Elkamere | ||||
| Roger Phillips | x | Nestor | Notabilis | |||||
| Richard Rogan | x | Bannsider | ||||||
| Allan Scott | x | Falcon | Campbell | Everyman | ||||
| Roger Squires | Rufus | Dante | x | |||||
| Neil Walker | Tramp | Jambazi | ||||||
| Mike Warburton | Scorpion | Aardvark | Osmosis | |||||
| John Young | Shed | Dogberry |
x – Denotes a compiler operating without a pseudonym in this publication.
In addition, Roger Squires compiles for theGlasgow Herald and theYorkshire Post.
Roger Squires and the lateRuth Crisp set at various times in their careers for all 5 of the broadsheets.
Research into cryptic crossword solving has been comparatively sparse. Several discrete areas have been explored: the cognitive or linguistic challenges posed by cryptic clues;[68][69][70][71] the mechanisms by which the"Aha!" moment is triggered by solving cryptic crossword clues;[72] the use of cryptic crosswords to preserve cognitive flexibility ("use-it-or-lose-it") in aging populations;[68][73][74] and expertise studies into the drivers of high performance and ability in solving cryptics.[75][76][77]
Recent expertise studies by Friedlander and Fine, based on a large-scale survey of 805 solvers of all ability (mainly UK-based), suggest that cryptic crossword solvers are generally highly academically able adults whose education and occupations lie predominantly in the area of scientific, mathematical or IT-related fields. This STEM connection increases significantly with level of expertise, particularly for mathematics and IT. The authors suggest that cryptic crossword skill is bound up with code-cracking and problem-solving skills of a logical and quasi-algebraic nature.[77][78]
Friedlander and Fine also note that solvers are motivated predominantly by"Aha!" moments, and intrinsic rewards such as mental challenge. Solvers voluntarily choose to engage with intellectually and culturally stimulating activities like music, theatre, reading, and the arts in their leisure time, and pursue active musical participation such as singing or playing an instrument at noticeably higher levels than the UK national average.[77] Solving cryptic crossword clues can lead to a succession of 'Aha!' or 'Penny-Dropping' Moments which is highly rewarding;[79] Friedlander and Fine suggest that research could take advantage of the range of cryptic crossword devices to explore the mechanics of insight in more depth.[72] Looking at expert cryptic crossword solvers – who speedily overcome the clue misdirection – and comparing them with typical, everyday solvers of equal experience may provide a better understanding of the kind of person who can overcome a solving 'hitch' more easily, and how they go about it.
Cryptic crosswords often appear in British literature, and are particularly popular in murder mysteries, where they are part of the puzzle. The characterInspector Morse created byColin Dexter is fond of solving cryptic crosswords, and the crosswords often become part of the mystery. Colin Dexter himself set crosswords forThe Oxford Times for many years and was a national crossword champion.[80] In the short story "The Fascinating Problem of Uncle Meleager's Will", byDorothy L Sayers,Lord Peter Wimsey solves a crossword in order to solve the mystery,[81] while the solution toAgatha Christie'sCurtain hinges on anOthello themed crossword.[82]Ruth Rendell has used the device in her novelOne Across, Two Down.[83] Among non-crime writers, crosswords often feature in the works ofP. G. Wodehouse, and are an important part of the short story "The Truth About George".[84]Alan Plater's 1994 novelOliver's Travels (turned into a BBC television serial of the same name in 1995) centres round crossword solving and the hunt for a missing compiler.[85]
Crosswords feature prominently in the 1945 British romantic drama filmBrief Encounter,[86] scripted by playwrightNoël Coward, which is number two in theBritish Film Institute'sTop 100 British films. The plot of "The Riddle of the Sphinx", a 2017 episode ofInside No. 9, revolves around the clues and answers to a particular crossword puzzle, which had appeared on the day of the original broadcast inThe Guardian.
We'll no longer publish a cryptic crossword on Sundays, but fans of the form can still access our archive of more than two hundred cryptics.
