Guide to Cryptic Crosswords

The cryptic is a special kind of crossword that is unfortunately lacking popularity in the US. Unlike it's American counterpart (e.g. the NYT daily), every clue in a cryptic utilizes some kind of misleading wordplay. The result is a crunchy (and hilarious) word puzzle that is a delight to solve.

To the uninitiated, the cryptic crossword is downright indecipherable. To the initiated, well, it's often just as confusing. But therein lies the fun of the cryptic: every clue is its own little mini-puzzle.

Here's an example cryptic clue, plucked from a recent Minute Cryptic:

Golf lesson's beginning in month six for Tiger Woods? (6)

The answer is JUNGLE. Confused? Good.

On the surface, a cryptic clue is a humorous phrase with little to no relation to its answer. Hiding within is a meta-textual puzzle composed of each word of the clue, a recipe that points the solver to the solution. This recipe often consists of the following ingredients:

• Definition, the straightforward meaning of the solution

• Fodder, the letters you will play around with to reach the solution

• Wordplay indicator(s), hinting at what to do with the Fodder to reach the Definition

• Length indicator, a parenthetical showing how many letters and words are in the solution

Not every cryptic clue will contain every one of these elements, but the majority of clues incorporate at least a few. Let's look at another example:

Tide turns to change (4)

Answer: EDIT

A surface reading of the clue suggests a shoreline changing tides. It should come as no surprise that water has nothing to do with the actual 4-lettered solution.

Breaking the clue into its components provides:

• Definition: change

• Fodder: tide

• Wordplay indicator: turns

• Length: a single, 4-letter word

Recognizing a clue's recipe takes time and practice. In fact, the vast majority of time spent solving a cryptic is trying to figure out the correct recipe! Often a tough clue will hint at several possible devices, of which only one is the proper answer.

The definition part of a clue often appears at the beginning or the end, as is the case with the above. This means "tide" or "change" are the most likely suspects.

From there, look through the remaining elements for some sign of wordplay. "To" isn't a good guess, there's not much room for anything interesting. "Turn", on the other hand, can be taken a few different ways. It can mean "change", as is consistent with the surface-reading of the clue (indicating changing tides). Or, taken literally, "turn" can mean "swap direction" or "reverse". Wordplay indicator located.

Next up: which word is reversed? With the two suspects "tide" and "change", only one word is exactly 4 letters. Therefore, reverse "tide" to find "edit", a word that means "change".

Turns is just one of hundreds of wordplay indicators that you’ll find out in the wild. It belongs to a category of "reversals", indicators that require reversing the Fodder to reach the solution. A few other indicators belonging to the same category are "reversed", "goes back", or "in retrospect".

Categories of wordplay

The different kinds of wordplay that you might see in a cryptic crossword can often be grouped into broader categories. You've already seen Reversals, wordplay that reverses the letters of a word. Here are some other examples of cryptic wordplay techniques.

Anagrams

Rearrange letters to form a new word.

Indicators: destroyed, messed up, rearranged.

Example:

Wine with no tip? Crazy (5)

Answer: PINOT. Parsed as NO TIP annagrammed (made crazy).

Deletions

Remove one or more letters from a word.

Indicators: removed, defaced, dropped off.

Example:

Trim tabs for six pack (3)

Answer: ABS. Parsed as TABS minus the first letter (trim).

Hidden words

Find a word hidden within one or several other words.

Indicators: hides, contains.

Example:

World's tallest mountain home hidden in fine palace (5)

Answer: NEPAL. Parsed as hidden in FINE PALACE.

Soundalikes

Swap one word for another that sounds similar (e.g. homophone).

Indicators: broadcasted, said, announced.

Example:

Disregard mumbled greeting (5)

Answer: WAIVE. Parsed as homophone (mumbled) of WAVE (greeting).

Charades

Substitute one word for another.

Indicators: none required (this one is tricky!)

Example:

Pass standard edition, no longer active (5)

Answer: LAPSE. Parsed as LAP (pass) SE (standard edition).

Containments

Place one word inside of another.

Indicators: accepts, infiltrates, sandwiches (example from Minute Cryptic).

Example:

Golf lesson's beginning in month six for Tiger Woods? (6)

Answer: JUNGLE. Parsed as first letters of GOLF LESSON (beginning) placed within (in) JUNE (month six).

Double definitions

Two definitions for the same word.

Indicators: none required.

Example:

Medicine sheds fluff (5)

Answer: PILLS. Parsed as sheds fluff as in a sweater.

All of the above

Nothing limits a cryptic crossword clue to a single wordplay device. Most clues will combine several wordplay techniques to make more interesting words and combinations.

Example:

Seasons every other shallot with top spice (5)

Answer: SALTS. Parsed as every other letter in SHALLOT + first letter (top) of SPICE.

And another:

Prepare ambush: half partners, half betrayal, full reversal (3,1,4)

Answer: LAY A TRAP. Parsed as PARTners (half) + betrAYAL (half) reversed.

&lit

Pronounced "and lit", a curious construction. &lit clues do not have a separate definition. Instead, the entire clue is considered the definition. It's best to demonstrate with an example (this one comes from Minute Cryptic):

Cop in male form! (9)

Answer: POLICEMAN.

The answer "POLICEMAN" fits the entire clue, a "cop in male form". It's also achieved via the anagram indicator "form" that suggests rearranging "cop in male". Sneaky!

Indicators: none needed, although many outlets like Minute Cryptic will end the clue with "?!" to help indicate that an &lit is in play.

Learning to learn

It can be difficult to recognize wordplay techniques when you're first getting started with cryptics. Here are a few tips and resources to help ease the path:

• Minute Cryptic is an accessible cryptic crossword outlet that releases a new clue every day. Start here!

• When solving, don't be afraid to reveal an answer to reverse-engineer the wordplay. That's a great way to learn your way around the different wordplay devices!

• The Guardian offers a free, introductory puzzle called the Quick Cryptic (not to be confused with the "Quiptic", which is harder). Be forewarned that there may be one or two British idioms in any given puzzle.

• Fifteensquared collects detailed answers (AKA parses) for popular British cryptic crosswords. If you're solving the Guardian (among others), this site is a great reference.

You can find the cryptic crosswords I've constructed over here.