Each of these posts are intended to provide simple explanations / introduction to cryptic crosswords. Each post would have A – an answer to a general question on cryptics, B – an explanation of a clue type and C – A Sample clue.

A – What’s a Cryptic Clue? How is a cryptic crossword different from other crosswords?

A cryptic crossword, often called the “British” Style crossword is different in the following ways :

• Most clues have two components – the wordplay and a definition – thus two different ways to arrive at the answer. In contrast, in “American” style crosswords, the clues typically have only a definition or sometimes punny wordplay. For eg, in an American crossword you may encounter “Egg-hunting holiday (6)”, while in a cryptic crossword, the same might be clued as “A tree’s transplanted for a festival (6)”
• The definition is usually either at the starting or at the end of the clue. It is a synonym for the answer and gives you an idea of what you should look for – in this case, you are looking for a word that can mean “a festival”
• The wordplay is the part that needs to be deciphered to arrive at the answer. It usually follows one of several types of clues that are generally known or can be learnt by the solver. In this clue “A Tree’s transplanted – tells you that the letters A T R E E S need to be rearranged for the answer.
• Both clue types have an Enum, short for Enumeration, which is the number in brackets at the end of the clue. It indicates how many letters are there in the answer. SO, by now, you know the answer is a 6 letter word, which means “a festival”, and that you can get the answer by rearranging the letters “A T R E E S”.

B Clue type – Anagrams

Like in this clue above, anagrams form a big part of the wordplay toolkit used by many setters. In the simplest form, they usually involve jumbling of letters which appear next to each other in the clue. These letters are often referred to as “the fodder”. In the example above, “A TREE’S” was the fodder.

There is an anagram indicator – sometimes called the “anagrind” which lets the solver know that the clue contains an anagram. Typical anagrinds could be words like “shift”, “break”, “move” etc which indicate the action of jumbling or rearrangement. Here is a comprehensive list.

C Examples of Anagram clues

• Awfully scared when being holy (6) –
  • From the Enum you know you are looking at six letters for the answer and there is only one six letter word or string of words in the clue. Yes, the “fodder” is “Scared”
  • Have you identified the “anagrind”? If you said “Awfully”, you are on the money – that is the word that is right next to the fodder and tells you that the fodder is to be messed up
  • How about the definition? Since we know it can’t be awfully, it must be at the other end, which is “being holy”
  • The word “when’ really has no role in either the “wordplay’ or ‘definition’ and is called a connector

Can you solve these?

Now that you have learnt the ABCs - see if you can solve these anagram clues
1.  Paper said to come out and leave no trace (9)  (By Rufus)
2.  Abe put out but optimistic (6)   (By Sankalak)
3. Man reunites violent rebels (9) (By The Oracle) 
(EDIT: ANSWER: MUTINEERS - CORRECTED ENUM from 11 to 9 - also, this requires a bit more than the basic anagram, and so can be ignored for now) 
4.  Maternal/paternal arrangement (8) (By Hasslethymi)
5. Grapes crushed in old machines (6) (By Hypatia)

Leave your responses in the comments section below. The right answers will be revealed after seeing your comments.

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