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Dedication

To my dear Pam, partner for over 50 years without whose…

(her no-nonsense modesty prevented me from completing this!)

Contents

Cover

Title Page

Copyright

Dedication

Introduction

Part 1:

Crossword Basics

1 Terminology

2 Overview of Clues and Indicators

3 Clue Types and Indicators in Detail

4 Tips for Solving Clues

5 Tips for Solving the Whole Puzzle

6 The Knowledge

7 Ten Things to Consider When Stuck

Part 2:

Mastering the Finer Points

8 Finer Points: by Clue Type

9 Finer Points: General

10 Ten Especially Troublesome Words

11 Ten Ways to Raise Your Game

Part 3:

Practice Time

12 Recommended Books, Websites & Media

13 Practice Clues by Type

14 Practice Puzzles

15 Difficulty Ranking in Newspapers

Part 4:

Appendices

1 List of Abbreviations

2 Solutions: Practice Clues

3 Solutions: Practice Puzzles

4 Thanks

Index

About the Publisher

Introduction

“In Victorian times a popular game was Magic Square… In 1913 Arthur Wynne was given the task of devising a new puzzle for the World. He adapted the magic square by blackening in some squares and criss-crossing the words. Thus was the first ever crossword puzzle created.”

The Advertiser, Adelaide

What’s the aim of this book?

I hope to show that, for any daily or weekly crossword puzzle, it is possible to improve your solving skills substantially by the study and application of a few straightforward rules and techniques.

So, is this book only for beginners?

Not at all, it is also for anyone wanting to master crossword puzzles so he or she isn’t regularly left with unfinished clues before the next day’s newspaper arrives. It may also appeal to others happy to enjoy many first-rate clues and practice puzzles from the sources that abound in the book.

Is there a typical person who might benefit?

Whilst I wouldn’t wish to deter others, the person who enjoys a daily struggle with a Quick (non-cryptic) crossword appearing in nearly every newspaper, is an ideal recruit to the world of cryptics. He or she will soon find that they are being given only one way of cracking a clue ie by definition only; cryptics more often than not have two ways, sometimes more, and take full advantage of the delights and richness of the English language.

What are my qualifications?

My experience as:

1 A (not very fast) solver of crosswords for over 60 years, starting with the London Evening News, followed by the Radio Times and the News Chronicle.

2 A crossword setter whose first crossword was published in the Evening News in 1956.

3 Author of How to Master The Times Crossword (HarperCollins 2008) which explained cryptic clues in innovative charts that have been well received and are again used in this book.

4 A tutor of crossword workshops around the country for adults and children for over 20 years.

Is this then an update of How to Master The Times Crossword?

Feedback on this first book showed that it proved useful for solving crosswords other than The Times. This encouraged me to write a generic book, How to Crack Cryptic Crosswords in 2014, applicable to just about any crossword with puzzles and clues from a variety of sources, not only The Times.

Is this then an update of How to Crack Cryptic Crosswords?

Yes it is, for the following reasons:

 Practice being crucial, to give more solving opportunity via 24 all new puzzles from a variety of publications. Each is partnered by detailed explanations as to why answers are what they are;

 It contains many new example clues explaining the basics even more clearly than before and uses the same explanatory diagrams that proved popular in my earlier books;

 The update has been written after gaining from my workshops lots more experience of what new solvers find most helpful. To that end, many new clues should seem easier than their predecessors;

 The launch of the Times Quick Cryptic. Smaller and easier than the main Times Crossword, this has proved to be an excellent puzzle for teaching newcomers and is used extensively in the present update;

 There are many new internet sites and media outlets for cryptics.

My hope is that these features provide good reason for total newcomers and my previous readers of both books to enjoy and learn from this update.

Are there rules and conventions applying to all cryptic crosswords?

It surprises people to hear that there are, as set down by Ximenes (see box) and they are followed to a large extent by the clue writers and crossword setters whose work appears here.

So which crosswords are not covered?

Barred crosswords such as Mephisto (Sunday Times), Azed (Observer), the Inquisitor (the i), Beelzebub (the Independent on Sunday), Enigmatic Variations (Sunday Telegraph) and the Listener Crossword (in the Saturday Times) are not used as examples. Solvers of these puzzles at the top of the difficulty scale are not in need of instruction.

XIMENES AND AZED

Having taken his name from a Grand Inquisitor in the Spanish Inquisition, Ximenes (Derrick Macnutt), a Marlborough College student and Classics master at Christ’s Hospital, was long-term setter of a crossword puzzle in the Observer. He is remembered today, not just for his puzzles, but also because he set out fair and consistent principles for cryptic crosswords, design and clues in a ground-breaking 1966 book Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword, reissued in 2001. His successor Azed (Jonathan Crowther) and the majority of setters today in national media follow virtually all of what are known as ‘Ximenean’ principles. See here for more on these.

What about Jumbo crosswords?

No examples of these puzzles are included on the grounds of space but the clueing and solving principles and practice described are just as relevant to their solvers.

What’s the book’s focus?

It’s firmly on the solver. The teaching sections have been written after consulting a large number of solver friends, colleagues, acquaintances and workshop students, much of whose experience and techniques are incorporated. To this end, a setter’s blog in the previous book is replaced by practice puzzles.

Are there rules for solving?

No, and I certainly would not wish to be seen as laying rules down. Everyone finds their own way of doing crosswords and my hope is that I help you to find yours. Also I invite you to adopt or reject the tips according to whether they suit you.

One thing I will point out, albeit hesitantly, is that on my workshops, female students tend to be ‘instinctive’ solvers (initial guess and work out why afterwards) whereas male students tend to be more ‘analytical’ in their initial solving. But that’s naturally not always the case: the key point is that it doesn’t matter which type you are.

How to reinforce the teaching?

I follow the well-established teaching principle that adults learn best by doing, rather than reading or being talked at. So I have included lots of practice clues and puzzles, with detailed explanatory notes setting out the solutions to every practice clue and puzzle. They should leave you in no doubt about why the solutions are what they are, a common frustration for solvers. Finally, a full index is designed to encourage the book’s continual use, rather than a book that you read once and then donate to a charity shop.

The practice clues in Chapter 3 come from a variety of sources and many are to savour, as they have been selected as ‘The Clue of The Week’, a feature of The Week magazine for the past 20 years.

Why do people shy away from cryptics?

There are many fears and misapprehensions about the cryptic crossword, usually displayed at the start of my workshops. It is commonly thought that:

 you require a good knowledge of rare words, literature and the classics;

 clues lead to more than one answer;

 the cryptic is always harder than the Quick, non-cryptic puzzle

 there are no rules;

 you need to have ‘that sort of mind’.

I hope by the end of this book to have dispelled, partly or wholly, all of these myths.

What sort of knowledge is needed?

On my workshops I’ve discovered that any moderately well-educated person with a love of language and problem-solving, and average general knowledge can complete a cryptic crossword. On these points, Richard Browne, a former Times crossword editor, has explained:

‘Thirty years ago setters could confidently expect that most solvers would have a reasonable acquaintance with the principal plays of Shakespeare, the main characters and events in the Bible, probably a bit of Milton, a few lyric verses, Dickens perhaps, certainly Sherlock Holmes and some staples of the Victorian nursery such as Lear and Lewis Carroll, and you could confidently clue a word just with a reference. That doesn’t work any more, partly because the world has widened up so much.

‘We have lots of people in this country now from different backgrounds – India, Africa, America, whatever – who have a different system of education, and of course we have people logging on worldwide to Times Online, doing the crossword. So it’s a larger and more varied audience – you’re no longer talking exclusively to the public-school, Oxbridge types who were the core of your readership 50 or 60 years ago.’

Importantly, these comments apply to most cryptics published today.

Finally, why do crosswords?

‘I always do the crossword first thing in the morning, to see if I’ve enough marbles left to make it worth my while getting up.’

Letter to The Times from an elderly reader

There is indeed scientific evidence that tackling a crossword can be good for you. Medical research continues to support the notion that mental exercise from activities such as crosswords is beneficial, especially in later life, and stimulates the brain. A New York neurologist, Doctor Joe Verghese, conducted research in this area for over 21 years and found that those who kept their minds nimble were 75 per cent less likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.

‘Do something that is mentally challenging to you,’ he has said. ‘It seems that remaining mentally agile makes the brain more healthy and more likely to resist illness, just as physical exercise can protect the body from disease.’

In addition, are crosswords educational? I say yes, in the sense that they undoubtedly can improve your vocabulary and general knowledge.

Incidentally, you can check the number of words in your vocabulary via www.testyourvocab.com, against the average native English speaker’s 27,000 words. Maybe one plan is for you to check your score again after you have mastered this book!

It’s now time to get stuck into some basics, in which I assume no previous knowledge whatever.

A CLUE-A-DAY

Some Indian states have a daily cryptic clue-solving contest for children – see www.crypticsingh.com/acad

PART 1

CROSSWORD BASICS

1: Terminology

“She had another look at The Times Crossword. The clues might as well have been written in a foreign language.”

Simon Brett, The Stabbing in the Stables

The first three chapters of Part 1 establish the terms used throughout. They are essential reading for beginners, and perhaps also for some seasoned solvers who may have become used to different terminology.

What is a cryptic clue?

A cryptic clue is a sentence or phrase, involving a degree of deception, making sense and frequently conjuring an image, or triggering thoughts, in its surface reading; but when read in another way can be decoded using a limited number of well-established techniques to give a solution. Thus “cryptic” is used in its meaning of hidden or misleading.

These are the other terms we shall use:

 Answers to clues, running across and down are entered into a grid, popularly a diagram, which has across and down empty squares to be filled.

 The grids in the case of the puzzles we are considering here contain black square blocks, hence they are seen in blocked puzzles.

 The other main type not being considered here has a grid with bars rather than blocks, hence the term barred puzzles.

 Clue answers are variously called solutions, entries and indeed answers.

 Where a solution letter, or letters, is able to be confirmed by intersecting entries, they are checked letters. Unchecked letters (unches in the trade) are therefore the opposite: the solver has no second way of confirming them.

 The sense conveyed by the initial reading of a clue is the surface meaning.

 The person responsible for the crossword is a setter; more commonly, but in a term less attractive to most crossword professionals, a compiler.

 The term constructor, which suits puzzles with difficult-to-build grids, is used in North America.

 The number of letters in a clue solution, always shown at the end of the clue, is termed the enumeration.

 Other terms associated with clues such as wordplay, anagram, indicator and anagram fodder are explained as we meet them.

For completeness, there is a rarely used crossword term – light – whose meaning has fluctuated somewhat from the early days of crosswords but is defined by the Collins English Dictionary today as the solution to a clue.

ARE CRYPTICS EXCLUSIVELY BRITISH?

Commonwealth countries such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, Malaysia, Singapore, Kenya, Malta and South Africa have daily cryptics similar to British ones, as does Ireland. US crosswords are different in that grids are more open and clues are mildly cryptic or straightforward definitions. There are some occasional British-style puzzles in the New York Times and elsewhere. Nonetheless the UK can be considered the home of cryptics. For example, Daily Telegraph crosswords are syndicated to around 20 countries.

CROSSWORDS BETTER THAN SEX: DAILY MAIL ONLINE

When a cryptic crossword is solved, the brain releases dopamine, a chemical agent that makes sex, winning and eating more enjoyable.

2: Overview of Clues and Indicators

“The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.”

Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

In this chapter I provide a short overview of the basics of clues and how to recognize them. Detailed points on each clue type are the subject of Chapter 3.

Characteristics of a cryptic clue

We will consider twelve types of cryptic clue, of which the majority conform to the principles contained in this image:

Cryptic clues (mostly) have two parts

Either the definition or the wordplay can come first in the clue sentence; and either could be exploited first to obtain the solution. Whichever does come second in your solving order acts as confirmation that you have the correct solution.

Taking each element in turn:

Definition: The definition can

 take the form of a word, or words in a phrase

 be an example of the solution (e.g. fruit can be defined as apple, perhaps)

 be a (misleadingly expressed) synonym of the solution. To this end, definitions are often words that have more than one meaning

Wordplay: This is the way to elicit the solution if the definition does not do so. It can be seen as either:

 the letters of the solution needing manipulation in one of several ways to provide another indication of the definition, or

 individual word or words in the clue having to be interpreted in a different way from the surface meaning

Perhaps strictly accurately the terms should be word and letterplay (though not, as an elderly student once stumbled over, “loveplay”!).

TOP TIP – DEFINITION PLACEMENT

Beginners find it much easier to decode a cryptic clue when they are told that the definition is almost always either at the beginning or end of the clue sentence or phrase.

Solution: This can be one or more words whose word-length is shown at the end of the clue in parentheses (the enumeration).

An example of how this works is seen in this clue which has a simple juxtaposition of three parts from which the solver has to discover which parts are which before progress can be made. Here it could be that either find or above is the definition. In fact it is find.

Find record above (8)

Linkwords: Few clues are as straightforward in construction as the previous example and the first mild challenge is that there is often a linkword between the two parts to give the solution. The chart then is:

CRYPTIC CLUES WITH LINKING WORDS

Below is a clue which also starts with the definition but, in addition, has a linkword, one that is commonly used: from. The sense conveyed by from is that a synonym for church house can be formed from the two parts earlier and years (if the latter is taken as an abbreviation – more on this later).

Church house from earlier years (6)

Next is an example in which the definition is the final word in the clue and in which the linkword is in, the sense being that the wordplay is seen in the solution.

ADDITIVE CLUE: Keep wine in northern town (9)

As well as linkwords between definition and wordplay, there can also be similar linkage within the wordplay to connect its different parts. Here it is and, a simple additive indication. The other linkword is indicates that the definition can be formed from the wordplay.

ADDITIVE CLUE: What babies need is sleep and food (7)

You will notice that the last two of the example clues are labelled additive. In fact all so far have been of this type, a relatively plain construction of A + B = C which we shall consider later in more detail as one of the twelve clue types, dividing these into one group of eight and one group of four. Why split clues into two groups? Because some always contain the means of identifying their type (the first eight) and others virtually always do not (the remaining four). This distinction is amplified in the section which follows.

Indicators

At this point, beginners tend to say:

“Yes, I know that there are different types of clue but how on earth do I know which is which?”

The answer is as follows. For the first group of eight there is always a signpost to the solution, called the indicator, within the clue sentence. Remember, an indicator is the means of identifying clue types. In Chapter 3 we will consider the specific indicators for the first group of eight clue types. In the example the indicator is wrong, showing that this is an anagram clue. The concept behind this indicator is that the letters to be mixed are incorrect and must be changed to form the solution. There are many ways of giving the same anagram instruction to solvers, as you will also see in Chapter 3.

ANAGRAM CLUE: President saw nothing wrong (10)

For the remaining group of four, it’s usually a case of informed guesswork rather than indicators. This may seem unreasonable and impossible for the novice solver but I aim to prove that this is not really the case.

In the meantime, this may be a good time to point out that trial and error and/or inspired guesswork are part and parcel of good solving. This is reinforced by the clueing practice of all good setters whereby the clue type will nearly always become clear on working backwards from the solutions. Indeed, when a solver sees the solution the following day, he or she should only rarely be left thinking (as Ximenes put it):

“I thought of that but I couldn’t see how it could be right.”

We will now proceed to examine in detail all clue types and their indicators, with one and sometimes two examples of each type.

3: Clue Types and Indicators in Detail

“Give us a kind of clue.” W.S. Gilbert, Utopia Limited

Until Chapter 8, we’ll keep it simple with regard to clue types. In later chapters we will see that the clue types can and often do overlap, involving more than one sort of manipulation of letters or words within any one clue.

The first eight clue types

We will now examine each of the eight clue types in detail, together with their indicators, and offer some example clues. To give yourself solving practice, you may wish from now on to cover up the bottom part of the diagram that contains the solution and wordplay.

The first eight types are shown in the circular chart below, and we shall take each in turn, working clockwise from the top.

1. The anagram clue

An anagram, sometimes termed a letter mix, is a rearrangement of letters or words within the clue sentence to form the solution word or words.

The letters to be mixed (the anagram fodder) may or may not include an abbreviation, a routine trick for old hands but, as I have observed, a cause of some discomfort for first-timers.

ANAGRAM CLUE: Mum, listen for a change (6)

This next example is an anagram clue with a linkword:

ANAGRAM CLUE: Fish and chips cooked with lard (9)

The third example is one wherein the anagram fodder goes well with the definition to form a remarkably accurate whole:

ANAGRAM CLUE: The new stadium designed for a football club (4,3,6)

For is a linkword here in the sense that the wordplay is to be arranged for the answer. The essential point for indicators of anagram clues is that they show a rearrangement, a disturbance to the natural order or a change to be made. There are very many ways of doing this, some reasonably straightforward but others requiring a stretch of the imagination. For example, words and phrases related to drunkenness and madness have to be taken as involving disturbance so that stoned, pickled, tight, bananas, nuts, crackers and out to lunch could all be misleading ways to indicate an anagram. I am often asked for a comprehensive list but, because there are so many, unfortunately there is no such list, though the Chambers Crossword Dictionary (see here) has a large list of anagram and other indicators. The table that follows on the next page is designed to expand on the various categories of rearrangement by giving a few examples of each overleaf:

TOP TIP - ANAGRAMS

Early crosswords did not indicate an anagram; solvers were required to guess that a mixture of letters was needed. This is universally regarded as unfair on the solver so that there will always nowadays be an indication of an anagram.

2. The sandwich clue

A sandwich can be considered as bread outside some filling. Similarly in this clue type, the solution can be built from one part either being put outside another part or put inside another part.

This is an example of outside (with an abbreviation to be made in wordplay):

SANDWICH CLUE: Simple mug holding one litre (6)

This is an example of inside with a clear instruction as to what’s to be done:

SANDWICH CLUE: Family member put us in the money (6)

Note that about has multiple uses in crosswords (see Chapter 10).

3. The homophone clue

In this type, the solution sounds like another word given by the wordplay. The clue is often fairly easy to recognize but it may be harder to find the two words which sound alike.

HOMOPHONE CLUE: The Speaker’s feeble for seven days (4)

Indicators for homophone clues:

Anything which gives an impression of sounding like another word such as so to speak, we hear, it’s said acts as an indicator. This extends to what’s heard in different real-life situations; for example, at home it could be on the radio; in the theatre it could be to an audience; in the office it could be for an auditor.

4. The hidden clue

A hidden clue is arguably the easiest type to solve. That’s because the letters to be uncovered require no change: they just need to be dug out of the sentence designed to conceal them. In the first example, the indicator is inside:

HIDDEN CLUE: Parched inside Kalahari desert (4)

Indicators for hidden clues:

Commonly some (in the sense of a certain part of what follows), some of, partly, are unique to hidden clues; within, amidst, holding and in can be either hidden or sandwich indicators.

A variant of the hidden clue is where the letters are concealed at intervals within the wordplay, most commonly odd or even letters. You are asked to extract letters that appear as, say, the first, third and fifth letters in the wordplay section of the clue sentence and ignore the intervening letters. Note that there will never be superfluous words in such a clue sentence, making it easier to be certain which letters are involved in the extraction.

Here is one such clue in which you have to take only the odd letters of the bar for the solution.

HIDDEN CLUE: Drink in the bar regularly (3)

Some other indicators for hidden-at-intervals clues:

Oddly, evenly, ignoring the odds, alternately.

5. The takeaway clue

A takeaway clue involves something being deducted from something else. This can be one or more letters or a whole word. In the example below it’s one letter, R, which is an abbreviation of right, and get is an instruction to the solver. It should be noted that sometimes you will find abbreviations signposted, e.g. “a small street”, more usually not, e.g. “street”. You will find in the Appendices a list of those most frequently appearing in crosswords and all of those used in the clues and puzzles of this book.

TAKEAWAY CLUE: Get employed right away in Surrey town (6)

In our second example, it’s the last letter that is to be taken away to leave the solution:

TAKEAWAY CLUE: Silent Disney movie unfinished (4)

Indicators for takeaway clues:

These tend to be self-explanatory, such as reduced, less, extracted, but, beware, they can be highly misleading, such as cast in a clue concerning the theatre, or shed in one ostensibly about the garden. Some indicators inform us that a single letter is to be taken away. These include short, almost, briefly, nearly and most of, all signifying by long-established convention that the final letter of a word is to be removed. There is more on takeaway indicators such as unopened, disheartened, needing no introduction and endless on here, which deal with letter selection indicators.

6. The reversal clue

The whole of a solution can sometimes be reversed to form another entirely different word. In addition, writing some letters backwards or upwards is often part of a clue’s wordplay, but for the time being we are concerned with reversal providing the whole of the answer. This is a clue for an across solution:

REVERSAL CLUE: Knock back beer like a king (5)

This is a reversal clue for a down solution (see below for an explanation of why this matters):

REVERSAL CLUE (DOWN): Boat however turned up (3)

Indicators for reversal clues:

Anything showing backward movement, e.g. around, over, back, recalled.

Do be aware that some reversal indicators apply to down clues only, reflecting their position in the grid. The example above of a down clue uses turned up for this purpose; other possibilities are overturned, raised, up, on the way up and served up.

7. The letter switch clue

Where two words differ from each other by one or more letters, this can be exploited by setters so that moving one or more letters produces another word, the solution. Here is an example in which you are instructed to shift S for South along a word meaning coast to produce a fish. You are not told which of the two s’s is to be moved but trial and error will eventually show it’s the second.

An extra point to be brought out here is that if a pause or comma after the first word is imagined, the instruction should become clearer. This imaginary punctuation effect is common to many crossword clues; see Chapter 4, here, for more on this point.

LETTER SWITCH CLUE: : Fish move south along the coast (3,5)

There is also a form of letter switch in which letters are replaced rather than moved; see Chapter 8, here, for more on this.

8. The all-in-one clue

In many crossword circles this is also known as & lit. However, I have found my workshop participants usually consider this too cryptic a name! It actually means “and is literally so” but people tend to puzzle over that at the expense of understanding the concept.

In fact, it is a simple one that I prefer to call all-in-one, which is what it is: the definition and wordplay are combined into one, often shortish sentence which, when decoded, leads to a description of the solution.

ALL-IN-ONE CLUE: Heads of the several amalgamated Russian states (5)

This clue relies on the letter selection indicator heads (see here) to provide the solution. Most of the clueing techniques outlined earlier can be used to make an all-in-one clue (see examples in Chapter 8, here), always provided that the definition and wordplay are one and the same.

Probably the commonest type is an all-in-one anagram, with an anagram as part or all of the wordplay and no extra definition needed because it has been provided by the wordplay. Here is an example:

ALL-IN-ONE ANAGRAM CLUE: A pot’s stirred with one? (8)

Incidentally, this clue demonstrates how punctuation can give you some help with a clue. The question mark is telling you that a pot isn’t necessarily stirred with a spoon but it may be. For examples of when punctuation is not so helpful, see Chapter 4, here.

The remaining four types

Now we will focus on the remaining four clue types. Remember that these four only very rarely include indicators within the clue sentence. Here they are together in one chart from which we will proceed to examine each one in turn, starting at the top and going clockwise.

How do we recognize these when no indicator is included?

Punctuation may occasionally be helpful but it’s mainly intelligent guesswork that’s needed. Are these types therefore harder? You can judge for yourself but I’d say not necessarily.

9. The double definition clue

This is simply two, or occasionally more, definitions of the solution side by side. There may be a linking word such as is or ’s, but most frequently there is none, as in this clue.

DOUBLE DEFINITION CLUE: Polish fan (4)

DOUBLE DEFINITION CLUE: Eggs on toast (6)

Indicators for double definition clues:

To repeat, though no specific indicator is given the clue type can often be guessed by its shortness. With only two or three words in a clue, there’s a good chance it’s a double definition. One way of spotting this type of clue is an and in a short clue, as in our next example.

DOUBLE DEFINITION CLUE 3: Bit of butter and jam (6)

10. The additive clue

As we saw at the very beginning of this book, an additive clue consists of the solution word being split into parts to form the solution. Sometimes known as a charade (from the game of charades, rather than its more modern meaning of ‘absurd pretence’), it may be helpful to describe it as a simple algebraic expression A + B = solution C. Here is one with several misleading aspects. Note the use of the linking phrase employed ahead of, telling you to join part A to part B:

ADDITIVE CLUE: Pole employed ahead of young local worker (8)

Indicators for additive clues:

With no specific indicator, it’s a question rather of spotting that A + B can give C, the solution. Sometimes, as in above example, this is made easier by linkwords such as facing, alongside, with, next to, indicating that the parts A and B have to be set alongside each other. In the case of down clues, the corresponding linkwords would be on top of, looking down on and similar expressions, thereby reflecting the grid position of letters to be entered.

11. The cryptic definition clue

There are no component parts at all to this clue, which consists simply of a misleading, usually one-dimensional, way to describe the solution. Depending on how much information is imparted by the clue, it can be very easy or very tough. The best of these clues have an amusing or whimsical air, as in both these examples:

CRYPTIC DEFINITION CLUE: Work at home temporarily? (7,4)

CRYPTIC DEFINITION CLUE: In which all but one in party lose their seats (7,6)

Indicators for cryptic definitions:

The nature of this clue type is such that no indicator is ever given. It can be identified either from the fact that nothing in the clue looks like an indicator, and/or from the presence of a question mark. A tip is to look hard at words which have more than one meaning and then think below the surface. Otherwise, wait until some intersecting letters are available.

12. The novelty clue

From the inception of crypticity in crosswords, there have been innovative clues conforming to no single pattern which defy categorization into any of the preceding groups. These clues are often solved with extra pleasure.

The setter has found it possible to exploit coincidences or special features of a word. As with the cryptic definition type, the solver is asked to think laterally and throw away any misleading images created by the clue. In some rare circumstances when an especially novel idea is used, there may not even be a proper definition. There are more examples of the novelty clue in Chapter 8 but, as a taster, here is one:

NOVELTY CLUE: Eccentric as three-quarters of the characters in Fiji? (5)

TOP TIP – CLUE FREQUENCY

Given the twelve clue types identified, which are the most commonly found? The answer to this is that frequency patterns vary according to setter and newspaper but that the additive, anagram, cryptic definition and sandwich types are the most common; they may indeed account for more than half the clues in many crosswords. It may help you to know that there are rarely more than two or three of the following types in any one puzzle: hidden, homophone, all-in-one, novelty, letter switch.

Letter selection indicators

Before moving on to solving clues, we have to consider how individual letters within clues are signposted. We have seen what sort of indicators go with what sort of clues; now we’ll take a look at another commonly used indicator which is essential to solving skills. Take this clue as an example:

ADDITIVE CLUE: Lettuce constituent of salad, primarily (3)

Experienced solvers would be immediately drawn towards the word primarily as it indicates that the first letter or (as in this case) letters of the preceding words are to be selected as building blocks to the solution. In more complex clues they could then be subject to further treatment, such as forming part of an anagram, but here they are used simply to form cos, the lettuce salad ingredient.

There are many alternative ways of showing that the first letter is to be manipulated in some way. Some of these indicators are: starter, lead, source, opening, top, introduction and so on. They may be extended to the plural form too with the use of, say, beginnings, foremost and heads. Note that bit of, part of and suchlike by long-standing convention always indicate the first letter.

Other positions within words are indicated in a similar fashion. The last letter can be end, back, finally, tail and the middle letter centre, heart, and all of the inside letters of a word can be innards, contents, stuffing.

In their negative takeaway guise, they can be headless, unopened, failing to start; and empty signifies that the whole of the innards of a word is to be removed.

Overleaf are some examples of letter selection indicators at work:

TAKEAWAY CLUE: Endless industrial action in a Scandinavian port (4)

ADDITIVE CLUE: Every second counts for attaché in this Pacific island (6)

After a time, you will become familiar with looking beyond and through the surface meaning of a word doing duty as an indicator so that you realise what you are required to do to the relevant letter(s) or word(s).

TOP TIP – LETTER SELECTION INDICATORS

Beware letter selection indicators that, depending on the setter’s policy, can do double or triple duty:

Endless: take away last letter only, or first and last letters.

Head: first letter, or take away first letter (in its sense of behead).

Cut: last letter takeaway, sandwich (inside type), anagram (in its slang sense of drunk).

Back: last letter, reversal.

Note that in the example below extremely indicates first and last letters; in some crosswords it can indicate the last letter only of the preceding word.

ADDITIVE CLUE: Robin’s slayer gets extremely sharp weapon (7)

There are examples of indicators throughout this book but it would take an impossibly large volume to include all those used. There are books which list more (as covered in Chapter 12) but even they are not comprehensive. The point to bear in mind is that once you are aware of the possible clue types, you will often be able to infer from a word or words what you are being instructed to do.

What can be difficult, however, is where the same common word in the English language serves as an indicator for several clue types. The words in and about are the most problematic examples of this and you will find more about these and equally troublesome words in Chapter 10.

Chapters 1–3: summary

Here are two charts offering in summary form the basic points of Chapters 1, 2 and 3. First, a summary of clue types, typical indicators and what the solver must do:

CLUE TYPE | TYPICAL INDICATORS | WHAT TO DO
Types 1–8 | Indicators included in clue
ANAGRAM | New, mixed, changing, drunk, in error | Change letters to another word
SANDWICH (OUTSIDE) | Holding, keeps, contains | Put some letters outside others
SANDWICH (INSIDE) | In, breaks, cutting, interrupts | Put some letters inside others
HOMOPHONE | Mentioned, we hear | Find a word sounding like another
HIDDEN | Some, partly, within | Find a word within other words
REVERSAL (ACROSS CLUE) | Back, over, returns | Turn letters backwards
REVERSAL (DOWN CLUE) | Up, over, served up | Turn letters upwards
TAKEAWAY | Less, without, drop, cast | Deduct some letter(s) from a word
LETTER SWITCH | For, replacing, moving | Exchange or move letters
ALL-IN-ONE | Various, depending on wordplay | Use wordplay to find solution which is then defined by the wordplay
Types 9–12 | Indicators (usually) not included in clue
ADDITIVE | Usually none given | Add letter(s) to other letter(s)
DOUBLE DEFINITION | None given | Find solution from two or more distinct definitions, side by side
CRYPTIC DEFINITION | None given | Find solution from puns, hints, ambiguities; ignore surface reading
NOVELTY | None given | Think laterally

Second, here’s how each clue type can be used for the same solution word time, (defined as the US magazine in 10 clues). Indicators are underlined.

CLUE TYPE | CLUES | WHAT TO DO
Types 1–8 |  |
ANAGRAM | New item in magazine | Change letters of ITEM
SANDWICH (OUTSIDE) | Match bringing in millions for magazine | Put MATCH = TIE outside MILLIONS = M
SANDWICH (INSIDE) | Millions put into match magazine | Put MILLIONS = M inside MATCH = TIE
HOMOPHONE | Herb mentioned in magazine | Find a word for a HERB sounding like TIME (THYME)
HIDDEN | Some sentimental magazine | Find a word within SENTIMENTAL
REVERSAL (ACROSS CLUE) | Magazine issue backed | Reverse ISSUE = EMIT
REVERSAL (DOWN CLUE) | Magazine issue taken up | Reverse ISSUE = EMIT
TAKEAWAY | Nameless chaps behind note in magazine | Remove NAME = N from MEN; add NOTE = TI
LETTER SWITCH | Magazine volume, one for nothing | Replace NOTHING = O in VOLUME = TOME with I
ALL-IN-ONE | Male, interned in Windsor is doing this? | Put MALE = M inside WINDSOR = TIE
Types 9-12 |  |
ADDITIVE | Note yours truly in magazine | Add NOTE = TI to YOURS TRULY = ME
DOUBLE DEFINITION | Bird magazine | Two ways of expressing time, BIRD is time in prison
CRYPTIC DEFINITION | Wilde did it in a sentence | Think of Oscar W in prison
NOVELTY | Spell centimetre: this is in middle – in middle! | Find TIME centrally inside CENTRE

WHY ARE SOME CLUES MORE DIFFICULT THAN OTHERS?

Levels of cryptic difficulty are shown by these sandwich clues, all using the same definition don’t worry and all giving the same answer but with differing wordplay:

 Ned catches vermin, don’t worry (5,4): The letters to be manipulated are in the clue ie Ned outside vermin

 Edward catches vermin, don’t worry (5,4): A small change from Edward to Ned is required

 Boy catches mice, don’t worry (5,4): Two changes are needed as mice has to become vermin

I hope you got never mind as the answer in each case. If you didn’t, never mind, as the point remains that while clue structures are the same, synonyms have to be found before the sandwich can be made and it is this that makes solving more difficult. Of course, unusual words as answers and obscure references are other causes of difficulty.

4: Tips for Solving Clues

“This isn’t biography. It’s the only thing the English are good at… crossword puzzles.”

Alan Bennett, Kafka’s Dick

Having considered clue types and various points associated with each, we will now consider some tips on how you might go about solving them.

Seasoned solvers have many ways of uncovering a clue’s solution. The ones following are in no particular recommended order of importance, except that the first two are often quoted as ways to get started.

1. Find the definition

As you know by now, the definition part of nearly all clues is either at the beginning or end of a clue. Identifying it quickly, and assessing the definition in conjunction with word-length shown, allows the possibility of a good initial guess which can then be checked against wordplay before entry.

2. Find an indicator and/or clue type

Not all clues have indicators, as we have seen, but where they do, try to use them to identify the clue type. For example, you may spot a familiar anagram indicator such as mixed or battered and thence compare the letters in the anagram fodder with the word-length of the solution given. If they correspond, there is a good chance that you have identified the wordplay element of the clue and can develop that into a possible solution.

3. Ignore the scenario

Setters do their best to produce clues which paint a smooth, realistic picture, referred to as the surface meaning or just surface. Try to ignore it however and look at the individual components in front of you. Take the clue overleaf, seemingly about a party:

ADDITIVE CLUE: Last ones in get no sherry trifle (3)

You can be pretty sure that recalling memories of children’s parties will not be productive. It’s just a clever deception by the use of ones for letters and a letter selection indicator, last (see Chapter 3, here), leading to trifle = toy.

TOP TIP – SURFACE MEANING

The ability to look beyond surface meaning is what newbies find the hardest part of cracking a cryptic clue. My advice can only be to keep trying.

4. Exploit word-lengths

Use friendly word-lengths such as 4,2,3,4 with the central two being perhaps something like in the or of the; and 4,4,1,4 nearly always embracing the letter A, from which something like once upon a time may be the guessable answer.

5. Study every word

Consider each word carefully, separately and together. Disregard phrases which go naturally together such as, say, silver wedding, and split them into their parts. It could be that the definition is silver on its own and wedding is part of the wordplay.

In doing this, think of all the meanings of a word rather than the one that comes first into your head.

For example, forget drink in its marine sense in the next clue and switch to alcohol. The indicator some makes it a hidden clue.

HIDDEN CLUE: Some termed ocean the drink (5)

Here is another misleading image in the second example below, which has nothing to do with music:

HOMOPHONE CLUE: Cor Anglais’s third piece heard (3)

Last, an instance, overleaf, of how separating the sentence into even its smallest parts is sometimes needed. This clue is a further demonstration of a letter selection indicator, empty for lane leaving the two letters le, and of a deceptive definition.

ADDITIVE CLUE: Perhaps a lorry needing empty lane (7)

6. Write bars in grid

Given word-lengths that indicate more than one complete word (e.g. 3-7, or 3,7), some solvers automatically write the word divisions as bar-lines into the grid and find that helps. The bars can be either vertical or horizontal depending on whether they are split words or hyphenated words. This little trick can be especially useful when the word to be found is in two parts and the first letter, say, of the second of the parts is given by an intersecting solution.

7. Ignore punctuation

In a nutshell, only exclamation marks and question marks at the end of a clue are meaningful; other punctuation should usually be ignored. For example, the anagram fodder can include letters or words with a comma or other punctuation in between, as in this tricky clue:

ALL-IN-ONE ANAGRAM CLUE: Sort of roll, A–E etc? (9)

Another example of this is seen in the clue that follows:

HIDDEN CLUE: Rabbit produced from magic hat? Terrific (7)

The question mark and capital T are both to be ignored. There is more on misleading punctuation in Chapter 9

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