Every cryptic clue has two parts: a definition of the answer and an
indication of the answer's literal makeup through wordplay. Either half
may come first, but there will always be a point at which the clue can
be divided into these two parts. With two routes to the answer, you
might expect cryptic clues to be easier to solve than standard crossword
clues. But the devious creators cleverly join the two halves of the
clue in ways that make it hard to tell them apart. Also, both parts
may contain words that appear on the surface to mean something different
from what they actually indicate. For example, the word putter
in a clue may appear to refer to a golf club but actually mean dawdle
or even one who puts.
Cryptic clues are followed by a number or numbers in parenthese indicating
the length of the answer: (5) means it's a five-letter word, while (2,3,4)
indicates a three-word phrase like "in the know."
Here are the eight common methods by which hints are given via wordplay,
and hints for spotting them:
ANAGRAMS
In an anagram clue, the wordplay half actually gives all
the letters of the answer, albeit in mixed order. The rearranged letters
are always immediately preceded or followed by a word or phrase that
suggests the mixing, such as wild, drunk, repair, or in
a muddle. For example:
"Tarnation!"snarled the director of
Pulp Fiction (9)
The answer TARANTINO ("the director of Pulp Fiction")
comes from the snarled letters of "Tarnation." Here's
another:
Model in a studio tries out for part (9)
"Model" looks like a noun here, but it's actually
an imperative verb, telling you to model the letters of the
phrase "in a studio" to get AUDITIONS, defined as "tried
out for part."
Hints for spotting this type: Look for a word or phrase
suggesting mixing, and a word or group of consecutive words with the
same number of letters as the answer.
CHARADES
In the parlor game of charades, words are acted out in
pieces; similarly, some cryptic answer can be broken into smaller words
that are clued individually:
Sailor attains goals (7)
The answer TARGETS ("goals") can be broken into
TAR ("sailor") and GETS ("attains"). Charades may
also have more than two parts:
Interrupting Ms. Derek with the chime (9)
The answer BOTHERING ("interrupting") is made
of BO ("Ms. Derek"), THE, and RING ("chime"). Pieces
of a charade are usually clued by synonyms, but can be given explicitly
(as THE in the example above). The pieces may also be clued out of order,
with some instruction on how to put them together:
Friend follows child completely (7)
The clue tells you that ALLY ("friend") follows
TOT ("child") to make the answer TOTALLY ("completely").
Sometimes the answer can be divided into pieces and clued as a phrase.
For example, TANGENT can be broken into TAN GENT:
Touching beach bum? (7)
The questiuon mark suggests there's something punny going
on in the clue.
Hints for spotting this type: Certain common word beginnings
oftern appear, such as CON ("prisoner"), EX ("former"
or "former spouse"), and IMP ("mischievous one").
CONTAINERS
Some words can be looked at as one word inside another.
For example PATIENTS is the word TIE inside PANTS. A clue for PATIENTS
might read:
Hospital residents make knots in trousers (8)
The clue tells you to put TIE ("make knots")
inside ("in") PANTS ("trousers"). All container
clues include some word or phrase that indicates which part goes inside
the other. For example, in, interrupts, or filling
tells you that Part A goes inside Part B. Holds, swallows,
or surrounding tells you that Part A goes outside
Part B. Here's a tricky example of the latter type:
Russet bears are raised (6)
The answer REARED is made up of RED ("russet")
which contains, or "bears," the word ARE.
Hints for spotting this type: Look for container indicators
like those above, plus clutches, goes around, held by, wrapping,
etc. Be aware, though that many container indicators can also
be used to signal higgen answers. Read on!
HIDDEN ANSWERS
Sometimes the entire answer appears intact, albeit camouflaged,
in the wordplay half of the clue:
Myopic colonel clutches flute (7)
The phrase "myoPIC COLOnel" holds, or "clutches,"
PICCOLO ("flute"). Hidden word clues always have an indicator
to signal that the answer is hidden in the phrase. Here's another example:
Actress featured in Titanic and Iceberg
Encounter (7,6)
The answer CANDICE BERGEN ("actress") is "featured
in" the phrase "titaniC AND ICEBERG ENcounter." Sometimes
the answer is hidden in alternating letters:
Odd items of dirty gear in laundry machine (5)
The answer DRYER is found in the odd letters of "DiRtY
gEaR."
Sometimes all the initial letters or all the
final letters spell out the answer, as in:
Heads of state hang out with guide (4)
The answer SHOW ("guide") is hidden in the "heads
of" State, Hand, Out, With.
Hints for spotting this type: Keep and eye out for indicators
like incorporates, hide, is part of, and going through.
Remember, though, that many of these can also signal container clues.
HOMOPHONES
If the answer sounds exactly like another word or phrase,
the writer may use a homophone clue. Here's a possibility for CITES
(a homophone of SIGHTS):
Quotes views for the audience (5)
Homophone clues always contain a word or phrase that suggests
the phonetic quality of the wordplay half of the clue, such as for
the audience, we hear, reportedly, vocal, and by the sound.
The answer is CITES and not SIGHTS because the homophone indicator is
always adjacent to the answer's homophone; since the clue says
"views for the audience, " we know we want a homophone of
SIGHTS. The homophone doesn't have to be a single word:
Counted frozen chicken out loud (8)
The answer, NUMBERED ("counted"), sounds the
same as NUMB BIRD ("frozen chicken").
Hints for spotting this type: Look for any word or phrase
that suggests part of the clue is heard or pronounced.
REVERSALS
Some words spell other words when written backward, and
reversal clues make use of this. For example, the word EDAM is MADE
spelled backward. A cryptic clue for EDAM might read:
Cheese produced the wrong way (4)
Every reversal clue contains a word or phrase suggesting
the switched order, like the wrong way, returned, receding, in the
mirror, to the left, or even simply left. Indicators in
Down clues usually refer to an upward rather than a backward direction:
overturned, rising, or to the north. For example:
Close cooking vessels up (4)
The answer STOP ("close") is POTS ("cooking
vessels") written upward ("up"). You can tell the answer
is STOP and not POTS because the reversal indicator is adjacent to the
words "cooking vessels" in the clue, telling you to reverse
POTS. A reversal may use more than one word, much like a reversed version
of a charade clue:
Merchant's rose paintings put up (6)
The answer TRADER ("merchant") is RED ("rose")
and ART ("paintings") reversed, or "put up."
Hints for spotting this type: Look for indicators like swiveled,
backed, or around in Across clues, and flipped,
upside-down, from the bottom up, or lifted in Down clues.
DELETIONS
Many words become new words when they lose a letter, and
deletion clues play on this. Deletions come in three basic varieties:
beheadments, curtailments, and internal deletions. In each type, the
clue contains a word or phrase indicating the deletion. In beheadments,
a word loses its first letter. For example, PENCHANT becomes ENCHANT
when the first letter is dropped. This leads to:
Uncovered bent charm (7)
By "uncovering" or removing the first letter
of PENCHANT ("bent"), you get the answer ENCHANT ("charm").
Other indicators include don't start, topless, and after
the first. Curtailments involve the removal of the last letter:
Shakespeare's Kate is endlessly clever (5)
The answer SHREW ("Shakespeare's Kate") is SHREWD
("clever") without its last letter ("endlessly").
Indicators include nearly and unfinished. An interior
letter may also be deleted, though this is rarer:
Challenging sweetie heartlessly (6)
The answer DARING ("challenging") is DARLING
("sweetie") missing its middle letter, or "heartlessly."
An internal deletion clue may even tell you exactly which letter to
remove. For example, DOLT minus its third letter is DOT:
Dolt missing third period (3)
Hints for spotting this type: Words and phrases suggesting
the removal or lack of something, in particular a top, front, bottom,
or end, are likely deletion indicators. Many of these indicators are
"-less" words such as "headless," "endless,"
"bottomless," and the like.
DOUBLE DEFINITIONS
A double definition clue is a little different from the
other types in that it has no wordplay half; instead it has two
definition halves. For example, a cryptic clue for PENNED might read...
Wrote in confinement (6)
...because the word PENNED means both "wrote"
and "in confinement." The two meanings may even have different
pronunciations. MOPED could be clued:
Motorbike was blue (5)
Some words, while not actually having two meanings, might
mean something else if clued in a punny way. For example, DESPOT looked
at as DE-SPOT might lead to the clue:"
Remove stains from tyrant? (6)
...while SPANISH (SPAN-ISH) suggests:
Folks from Madrid like bridges? (7)
The question marks serve to warn you that there's something
punny going on.
Hints for spotting this type: Clues using two meanings are
usually fairly short. A two-word clue is almost always a double-definition
clue.
COMBINATION CLUES
It's quite common for two or more of the eight basic cryptic
methods to be combined in a clue:
Following wagon returned by monarch (8)
The answer TRACKING ("following") is clued as
a charade with one part reversed: CART ("wagon") reversed
("returned") and KING ("monarch").
THE "& LIT." CLUE
We said that every cryptic clue has two parts: the definition
and wordplay halves. In one special type of clue, the two parts overlap
completely, so the whole clue is a cryptic indication of the answer,
and at the same time the whole clue is a definition of the answer. A
clue of this type is called an "& lit." clue (since the
answer explanation traditionally ends with "& lit.," short
for "and literally so"). Here's an example:
Terribly angered! (7)
The answer ENRAGED is both an anagram (or "terrible"
arrangement) of "angered" and a word meaning "terribly
angered." The exclamation point at the end of the clue is the traditional
signal for an "& lit." clue. Here's another example:
I, for one, am reflected! (5)
The answer IMAGE is I plus E.G. ("for one") plus AM reversed
("reflected"). Due to their nature, & lit. clues are relatively
rare.
BITS AND PIECES
Some words don't lend themselves to simple combinations
of the basic methods, and oftern the cryptic creator will need to indicate
a single letter or small group of letters. As a result, you can expect
to see more common abbreviations (doctor for DR, Hawaii
for HI, and college for U), chemical symbols (iron for
FE), Roman numerals (five for V), and parts of words (end
of year for R, head of cabbage for C, heart of stone
for O, half-dollar for DOL or LAR) appearing in clues.
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