Indicator words suggest you take a piece of the whole, so look for words such as some, part of, little bit and so on.
Hidden clues contain three parts: a definition, an indicator that this is a hidden clue, and the word or words that contain the hidden answer. The answer length always comes in particularly useful when looking for anagrams: if you see a word such as shaking, trembling, strange, confused or any other word in the clue that suggests reordering and you therefore suspect the clue contains an anagram, looking for a word or words that together match the answer length can help you find the anagram fodder.Īs the name suggests, the answers to hidden clues are, well, hidden in the clue, but they may be well hidden! So whilst it sounds like these should be really easy clues, they are only easy when you realise that it is a hidden clue you are dealing with. It’s an anagram of ‘dame has’ (broken down). Here ‘change’ is the definition, ‘later’ is the anagram fodder, and ‘amended’ is the anagrind. With any type of cryptic clue, the definition virtually always comes either at the start of the clue or at the end of it. Some people refer to the word or words to be anagrammised as the ‘anagram fodder’ and the anagram indicator as the ‘anagrind’. And it can also mean ‘grip’ as in ‘attract the attention of’.Īnagram clues typically have three parts: the definition, the word or words to be anagrammised, and an anagram indicator. Why? Because ‘arrest’ can mean ‘check’ as in ‘stop or check progress’. Can you work out the answer? It’s ARREST. As the name suggests, with this type of clue two definitions run together. We’ll start with the clue type that is perhaps easiest to understand, in terms of being close to the standard definitional style of a quick crossword, and that is the double definition clue. We’ll take a look at the most commonly seen types.
CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS CLUES HOW TO
It helps to understand what these are and how they are structured, as spotting which type of clue style is being deployed can help you work out how to tackle it and find the answer. There are various different types of cryptic crossword clue. Working out which part of a clue is the definition can be surprisingly tricky as writers often blend the two parts together seamlessly, and the definition itself may be looser than that you would expect to find in a quick crossword. It may sound from this description that they are actually easier than quick crosswords which only give you the definition, however average solving times for quick crosswords and cryptics will soon show you this is not true. The first crumb of comfort is that, with the vast majority of clues, there are two different ways of arriving at the answer: there is a definition and then there is also wordplay that leads to the answer as well. Hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide, capsicum sprayĪccident & emergency, emergency department, ear, nose & throatĪbbreviation, Jack Tar, able-bodied seamanĪbbreviation, rex, His Majesty, His Royal Highness, King George, King CharlesĪbbreviation, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire, Knight of the Garter, chessĪlphabet sounds like ‘F’, ‘L’, ‘M’, etc.How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords Cryptic CrosswordsĬryptic crosswords can look very daunting to the uninitiated, and indeed also to the initiated! However, knowing more about what cryptic crosswords are and how they work, together with solving experience, can make them a conquerable challenge. Physical therapy/training, physical education Penny, denarius, chemical symbol, police constable (slang)Īlternating current, direct current, unit, Anno DominiĪbbreviation, Celsius, Fahrenheit, Bachelor of Arts, Master of ArtsĪppearance, extended play, long play, compact discĪbbreviation, Bachelor of Medicine, Medicinae Baccalaureus, Medicinae Doctor, Medical Officer, general practitionerĬivil engineer, royal engineer, mechanical engineer New York, Los Angeles, City of London (Postcode) Old Testament, New Testament, manuscript, Genesis Royal Electrical and Mechanical EngineersĪbbreviation, chess, Right Reverend, Doctor of Divinity We will soon be adding a ‘how to’ section that will provide more detailed instructions to help solve cryptic crosswords. This reference guide can be quickly accessed to help work out what some of the more common clues might mean. Often these are not intuitive and require an explanation to clarify how and why the clue and answer are linked – e.g.
CRYPTIC CROSSWORDS CLUES SERIES
One particularly challenging aspect for newcomers is the use of a word to mean a specific letter or series of letters. Cryptic crosswords are great fun but they have quite a steep initial learning curve.
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