Introduction to Cryptic Crossword Clues WeiHwa Huang January

Introduction to Cryptic Crossword Clues Wei-Hwa Huang January 2010 Link to this Presentation on my Blog: onigame. livejournal. com

What is a Cryptic Crossword? • Crossword puzzle with “cryptic” clues that use wordplay heavily • Found in most major UK newspapers and a few major Canadian and US publications • Uses a “sparse” grid where only half the letters in each word cross

Where to Find Easy Cryptics • Easiest: Lovatts Cryptic Crossword Magazine – http: //www. lovatts. com. au/ – Australian (has slightly different style than American or British cryptics) – Excellent tutorial on their website • Easy: “ 101 Cryptic Crosswords” edited by Fraser Simpson – Originally appeared in The New Yorker from 1997 -1999 – American

Types of Cryptic Clues (“Tricks”) • • • Cryptic Definition Clues Double Definition Clues Hidden Word Clues Reversal Hidden Word Clues Charade Clues Container Clues Homophone Clues Anagram Clues Deletion Clues Initialism Clues “& lit. ” (And Literally So) Clues

Cryptic Definition Clues

Cryptic Definition Clues • Earliest type of clue • Evolved from normal crosswords • Clue has a misleading “surface reading” but gives the correct answer when interpreted the right way • Rarely seen in American cryptic crosswords, but still common outside the US • Often is signified by ending with a question mark

• There may often be a more natural answer that won’t fit in the grid Soldiers often get them cut short (6) LEAVES • The (6) is called an “enumeration”; it tells you how many letters the answer has • SHORE LEAVES would get the enumeration (5, 6) • Harder crosswords may omit the enumeration

Double Definition Clues

Double Definition Clues • Clue can be split into two parts • Each part is a definition of the answer • Style: the two meanings of the word are unrelated or, better yet, have different etymologies

• “Surface reading” might not be a valid definition Evil structure in St. Louis (4) ARCH Evil = ARCH structure in St. Louis = ARCH

• Trick: Different parts of speech Having a ball (7) BEARING Having = BEARING (verb) a ball = BEARING (noun)

• Trick: Different pronunciations River blossom (6) FLOWER River = FLOWER (something that flows) blossom = FLOWER

• Connector words Holder for writing implement (3) PEN Holder = PEN for = (connector) writing implement = PEN

(Digression) Connector Words • Connector words (or link words) separate the two “halves” of the clue • Generally mean “is” • Examples – – – – (definition) is (definition) – it’s (definition) as (definition) for (definition) becomes (definition) or (definition)’s (definition)

Hidden Word Clues

Hidden Word Clues • Clue can be split into two parts • One part is a “straight definition” (may be cryptic) • Other part has the answer “hidden” inside it, with an indicator that there is hiding going on • Uncommon in British crosswords

• Tip: Easiest type of clue to find Callous engineer has bug (5) LOUSE Cal. LOUS Engineer = fodder has = hidden word indicator bug = LOUSE (definition)

• Two parts can come in either order Car in immense danger (5) SEDAN Car = SEDAN (definition) in = hidden word indicator immen. SE DANger = fodder

• Tip: Ignore capitalization, punctuation, spaces Salesman: “I sell hides, spice” (5) ANISE Salesm. AN I SEll = fodder hides = hidden word indicator spice = ANISE (definition)

• Style: Cryptic and surface readings have to make sense! Salesman: “I sell hides or spice” (5) Bad style: ANISE is not “or spice” Something hidden by “salesman I sell” or spice (5) Bad style: Surface reading makes no sense

Some Hidden Word Indicators • • • • (fodder) characters (fodder) content (fodder) extract (fodder) letters (fodder) in part (fodder) partly (fodder) selection (fodder) somewhat partial (fodder) some (fodder) (definition) in (fodder) (definition) from (fodder) (definition) within (fodder) (definition) inside (fodder) (definition) of (fodder) • • • • (fodder) has (definition) (fodder) hides (definition) (fodder) hiding (definition) (fodder) hid (definition) (fodder) conceal(s/ing/ed) (definition) (fodder) display(s/ing/ed) (definition) (fodder) exhibit(s/ing/ed) (definition) (fodder) display(s/ing/ed) (definition) (fodder) featur(es/ing/ed) (definition) (fodder) provid(es/ing/ed) (definition) (fodder) smuggl(es/ing/ed) (definition) (fodder) veil(s/ing/ed) (definition) (fodder) secreting (definition) (fodder) helping to make (definition) (fodder) has hidden (definition) (fodder) has internal (definition)

Reversal Clues

Reversal Clues • Clue can be split into two parts • One part is a “straight definition” (may be cryptic) • Other part has “fodder” and an indicator to “reverse” the fodder • Fodder may be direct (literal) or indirect (defined)

Brag about clothing (4) GARB Brag = fodder about = reversal indicator clothing = GARB (definition)

• Down clues may use “up” as indicators; Across clues might use “left” Bundle up components (5) PARTS Bundle = STRAP up = reversal indicator components = PARTS (definition)

• The fodder might be multiple words High-powered vehicle upended garbage truck (7) TRACTOR High-powered vehicle = TRACTOR (def. ) upended = reversal indicator garbage = ROT (noun) truck (verb) = CART

Some Reversal Indicators • about, around, brought about, coming around, going round • back, backed, backing, backward, back-to-front, coming back, going back, looking back, sent back • retreat, retreating, retrograde • counter, revolutionary, turns, turning, turned • flipped, flipping, in reverse, reversed • from the east, going west, westbound • from the right • over, overturned (Down clues only) • ascending, raised, raising, rising, lifted • up, upended, upset • brought up, coming up, looking up, sent up, shown up, written up • from the bottom • from the south, going north, northbound

Reversal Hidden Word Clues

Reversal Hidden Word Clues • Clue can be split into two parts • One part is a “straight definition” (may be cryptic) • Other part has the answer “hidden backwards” inside it, with an indicator that there is hiding and reversal going on

Priestess always holds back blessings (6) ASSETS Prieste. STESS Always = (fodder) holds = hidden word indicator back = reversal indicator blessings = ASSETS (definition)

(Digression) See a Pattern? • Clue can be split into two parts • One part is a “straight definition” (may be cryptic) • Other part is a “cryptic half”, with indicators that there is some sort of wordplay going on • Wordplay is often some sort of action (“indicator word”) being done to some text (“fodder”) • Fodder can be direct (“use these letters”) or indirect (“find your own letters”) – Good Style: Hidden words must be direct! • Surface reading should make sense!

Charade Clues

Charade Clues • • Most common type of Clue Named after the game of Charades Pieces of the answer are clued Unlike the game, it is the letters that are clued, not the sounds

• Good Style: The charade “parts” and the actual word should be unrelated Declare delay can be avoided (9) AVERTABLE Declare = AVER delay = TABLE (verb) can be avoided = (definition)

• Abbreviations are common, as well as grabbing parts of words Around start of lunchtime, love soft sound of horse’s hoof (4) CLOP Around = C (“circa”) start of “Lunchtime” = L love = O (tennis score) soft = P (music, “piano”) sound of horse’s hoof = (definition)

• Some fodder may be literal Morning in Oregon is key (1, 5) A MINOR Morning = A. M. in = IN Oregon = OR is = (connector) key = (definition)

Some Abbreviations • Chemistry: “sodium” = NA; “temperature” = T • Geography: “Idaho” = ID; “Switzerland” = CH (Confoederatio Helvetica); “Australia” = OZ • Money: “bob” = S (shilling); “coin” = D (denarius); “debt” = IOUS • Games: “knight” = N (chess); “duck” = O (cricket) • Jobs: “doctor” = MD ; “copper” = PC (police constable) • Roman numerals: “six” = VI; “grand” = M • Measurements: “pound” = LB; “inch” = IN • Slang: “car” = T (Model T); “sweat” = BO (Body odor) • Music: “key” = B; “note” = MI; “loudly” = F • Latin: “about” = C (circa); “this month” = INST (instante mense); “right eye” = OD (oculus dexter) • British abbreviations: “gunners” = RA (Royal Artillery); “jolly” = RM (Royal Marine); “king” = GR (King George, Rex); “medal” = OBE (Order of the British Empire); “posh” = U (Upperclass); “Ulster” = NI (Northern Ireland)

• Knowledge of foreign language may be helpful Plaster the French fortress (6) CASTLE Plaster = CAST (noun) “the” French = LE fortress = (definition)

• The charade need not be in order as long as the clue indicates it Happy boy follows gram (4) GLAD Happy = (definition) boy = LAD gram = G (unit of weight) LAD follows G = GLAD

Container Clues

Container Clues • Fodder is put inside other fodder • Indicator suggests some sort of containment • Good Style: both fodders should be unrelated to the answer

Russian money in tome is inconvenient (11) TROUBLESOME Russian money = ROUBLES tome = (fodder) ROUBLES in TOME = T(ROUBLES)OME is = (connector) inconvenient = (definition) • Could have used “book” instead of “tome” to make the clue even harder • ROUBLES is plural, but cryptic reading requires singular; fortunately, “money” is usefully ambiguous

• Fodder may often be single letters Head of pig found in excellent meal (6) SUPPER Head of “pig” = P excellent = SUPER P found in SUPER = SUP(P)ER excellent meal = (definition)

• Charades, containers, and reversals are often combined “Two From Virginia Holding Back Attack, ” editor confirmed (8) VERIFIED Two From VIrginia = VI Attack = FIRE Back FIRE = ERIF VI Holding ERIF = V(ERIF)I editor = ED confirmed = V(ERIF)I+ED (definition)

Some Container Indicators (“container” side) (“contents” side) • admit, allow, contain, take in, introduce • about, around, box, circle, encircle, frame, ring, round • besiege, capture, catch, flank, surround • clutch, embrace, enfold, envelop, grasp, hold, swallow, wrap • bridge, harbor, house, shelter • cover, external, outside, without • passive form of “contents” verbs (“entered by, ” “splitted by, ” etc. ) • aboard, boards, enters • penetrates, pierces • breaks, divides, interrupts, parts, separates, splits • content, contents, fills, lines, occupies, packs, stuffs • amidst, inside, internal, within • “ing” form of verbs (“stuffing, ” “piercing, ” etc. ) • passive form of “container” verbs (“admitted, ” “beseiged, ” etc. )

Homophone Clues

Homophone Clues • Fodder sounds like the answer word • Indicator suggest some sort of sounding out • (Strictly speaking, these should be called “heterographic homophone” clues, as the fodder and the answer should have different spellings)

Sounds like oil country (6) GREECE Sounds like = homophone indicator oil = GREASE country = (definition)

• Fodder might be multiple words My lizard is said to be small (6) MINUTE My lizard = MY NEWT is said = homophone indicator to be = (connector) small = (definition)

• Watch out for regional accents Vocally communicate moment of force to the audience (4) TALK Vocally communicate = (definition) moment of force = TORQUE to the audience = homophone indicator

Some Homophone Indicators • • • said, say announced, pronounced, reported(ly), sounded audible, aurally, vocal, voiced as we hear, overheard audience’s, auditor’s, hearer’s, listener’s, speaker’s for the audience/etc. , to the audience/etc. in audition, in conversation, in speaking, in recital on the radio according to hearsay, by the sound of it, so it’s said, so to speak, so we hear

Anagram Clues

Anagram Clues • Fodder has its letters rearranged • Indicator suggests some sort of rearrangement or mixing or chaos • Second-most common type of clue (most common in poor constructions) • Good Style: fodder should be literally in the clue. “Indirect” anagrams are considered very bad construction!

• Fodder often is multiple words Alas, I’m crazy for Italian sausage (6) SALAMI ALAS IM = (fodder) crazy = anagram indicator for = (connector) Italian sausage = (definition)

• May be mixed with containers, reversals, or charades After faculty holds out insane aunt, we go back for a soft drink (8, 3) MOUNTAIN DEW faculty = MIND out = O (baseball) insane AUNT = UNTA (anagram) MIND holds O+UNTA = M(OUNTA)IND WE go back = EW (reversal) After MOUNTAIND, EW = MOUNTAINDEW for = (connector) a soft drink = (definition)

Some Anagram Indicators • abnormal, about, absurd, adapted, addled, adjusted, adjustment, adrift, afresh, after a fashion, agitated, all over, alteration, altered, altering, amiss, anew, another way, anyhow, around, arranged, arrangement, arranging, askew, assembled, assembling, assembly, assorted, assortment, astray, at odds, at sea, at sixes and sevens, awfully, awkwardly, awry, badly, bananas, bastard, bats, battered, batty, beaten up, becomes, becoming, bend, bent, bizarre, blended, boiled, boiling, breaking, brewed, brewing, broadcast, broken, building, built, by arrangement, by mistake, can be, carelessly, cast, cavorting, changed, changes, changing, chaos, chaotic, characters, chopped, circulated, cocktail, complicated, components, composed, composing, composition, compound, comprise, concealed, concealing, conceals, confused, confusing, constituents, construct, conversion, converted, convertible, cooked, corrected, corrupted, corruption, could be, cracked, crackers, cracking, crazed, crazy, criminal, cuckoo, cunningly, curiously, damaged, dance, dancing, dealt, deformed, demolished, deployed, derived from, designed, developed, deviation, devious, dicky, differently, disarray, disfigured, disguised, dishevelled, dislocation, dismantled, disordered, disorderly, dispersed, disposed, disruption, disseminated, distressed, disturbance, disturbed, disturbing, diversified, dizzy, doctored, dodgy, dotty, dreadfully, dressed, drunk, dud, duff, eccentric, edited, engendering, engineered, ensemble, entangled, erratic, erupting, essentials, excited, exotic, exploded, exploding, extraordinary, fabricated, false, fanciful, fancy, fantastic, fashioned, fashioning, faulty, fermented, fiddled, find, fluid, flurried, foolishly, for a change, forced, forged, form, fractured, fragments, freely, freshly, frolicking, fudge, funny, garbled, generating, gets, gives, giving, grotesque, ground, haphazard, hash, havoc, haywire, hiding, higgledy-piggledy, ill-disposed, ill-formed, ill-treated, improperly, in a ferment, in a jumble, in a mess, in a whirl, incorrectly, in disarray, in disguise, in error, ingredients, in ruins, interfered with, involved, irregularity, jittery, juggled, jumbled, jumping, kind of, kinky, knotted, lawless, letters, liquid, loosely, lunatic, made, made up, madly, make-up, malformed, malfunction, maltreated, managed, mangled, manoeuvre, mash, massaged, maybe, may be, meandering, medley, messy, minced, mishandle, misplaced, misshapen, mistaken, misuse, mixed, mixture, mobile, modelled, modified, moving, muddled, mutilated, mutinous, naughty, newly, not in order, not properly, not right, not straight, novel, nuts, nutty, odd, off, ordered, orderly, organised, originally, otherwise, out of joint, out of sorts, peculiar, perhaps, perversely, perverted>, phoney, pie, pitching, plastic, playing, poorly, possible, possibly, potentially, prepared, problem, processing, produce, production, pseudo, put out, put right, put straight, queerly, questionable, quirky, ragged, rambling, randomly, recollected, rectified, reeling, reels, reformed, regulated, repaired, replaced, resort, revealed, reviewed, revolting, revolutionary, rigged, rioting, riotous, rocking, rocky, rotten, roughly, round, ruined, ruinous, rum, running, runs, ruptured, sadly, scattered, set off, set out, shaken, shaking, shaky, shambles, shifted, shifting, shot, silly, sloppy, smashed, smashing, snarled, somehow, spilled, spinning, spoilt, spread, spun, staggered, staggering, stew, strangely, stray, substituted, surprisingly, suspect, swimming, swirling, switched, tangled, tattered, tidied, tipsy, tortuous, trained, training, transformed, transformer, translated, treated, treatment, tricky, trim, troubled, tumbling, turned, turning, turns, twisted, twister, undone, unnatural, unrestrained, unruly, unsettled, unsteady, untidy, unusually, upheaval, upset, used, vaguely, variation, varied, variety, version, volatile, wandering, warped, wayward, weave, weaving, weird, wilder, wildly, worked, working, worried, wound, woven, wrecked, writhing, wrongly

Anagram Indicator Classes • • • Chaotic/Disarray Crazy/Foolish Bad/Evil Mistake/Problem Break/Bend Strange/Weird Mix/Blend Confuse/Tangle Hidden/Fake • • • New/Original Different/Change Fix/Modify Assort/Arrange Compose/Generate Move/Circulate Fluid/Free Could be/Perhaps Pieces/Ingredients

Deletion Clues

Deletion Clues • Fodder loses some letters • Indicator suggests some sort of deletion • The deleted letters are NOT clued (otherwise it would be a charade); only their position in the fodder is • Several varieties, the first two being common enough to get their own name: – – – Beheadment: First letter deleted Curtailment: Last letter deleted First and Last letter deleted Central letter (or letters) deleted Indicated letters deleted

• Good Style: words should be unrelated Actual kingdom is detailed (4) REAL Actual = (definition) kingdom = REALM is detailed = curtailment indicator

• Watch out for multiple words After commencement, waste time for stew (6) RAGOUT After commencement = beheadment indicator waste time = DRAG OUT for = connector stew = (definition)

Deletion Indicators Beheadment Curtailment • • • • after start, after commencement beheaded, decapitated, headless, leaderless first off, head off, start off losing opener, missing the first, not beginning, not starting, unstarted beginning to go, start to go needing no introduction scratch the head initially lacking uninitiated • • before the end curtailed, tailless, endless back off, end off, finish off missing the last, unending, unfinished, without end almost, incomplete, mostly, not completely, not quite, not fully lacking finish abridged, clipped, fall short for the most part fall short Interminable detailed

• Other letters can be missing as well Bemoans heartless commandments (4) RUES Bemoans = (definition) heartless = “without the middle letter” commandments = RULES

• “Every other letter” can be seen occasionally; the fodder should be literal Take in penalty every second (3) EAT Take in = (definition) p. En. Al. Ty = (fodder) every second = indicator

Initialism Clues

Artistic lithography involving Van Eyck starts to be active (5) ALIVE Artistic Lithography Involving Van Eyck = (fodder) starts = initialism indicator to be = (connector) active = (definition)

Punctuation

Punctuation • Almost all punctuation can (should) be ignored; they’re for the surface reading • A trailing “? ” is an exception; it indicates that the wordplay or definition is questionable or involves a bad joke • A trailing “!” is the other exception; it indicates an “& lit. ” clue • Not all constructors follow these rules, so be careful

• In an “& lit. ” (“and literally so”) clue, the clue is both the “wordplay” half and the “straight definition” half Traitor’s chief purpose! (7) TREASON Traitor’s chief = T purpose = REASON

Questions?