Puzzling

All too often it just seems impossible to find a way into a cryptic crossword. To help you make a start, and maybe even solve it all, here are my ...  Top Ten  Eleven Tips for Solvers Use a pencil and eraser, rather than pen. Read through all the clues before trying to solve any. You don't have to start with 1 Across! Mark in any multiple words or hyphenated words on the grid, with a dividing line drawn onto the grid (see the photo below). These are the clues where the letter number is something like (3-4) or (2,4,3). See if you can spot some anagram clues. Most cryptics will have at least a couple, and possibly many more. Read my blog post on anagrams to learn how to spot them. The longest words in the grid are often clued with anagrams, so check these clues carefully. Look for possible 'hidden word' clues, while some cryptics have none, there's usually 1 or 2 of these in an average grid. Here's my blog post on how to find and solve hidden word clu...

I'm so happy to announce that our latest app, CrypticGuide, has been approved by Apple today, and is now available on the App Store ! CrypticGuide has a cryptic dictionary with over 6,900 entries in it, with cryptic synonyms, indicator words, abbreviations, and homophones. So you can type in a word or short phrase from a cryptic clue, like 'see' - and the app will tell you that see  can lead to the words ELY (a UK diocese, or see , name), LO, or VIDE ( see in Latin); the abbreviations C (sounds like see ), V, or VID ( see in Latin again); it can indicate a container or hidden word wordplay device; and it's a homophone for sea ! So this will hopefully help you a lot with cracking cryptic clues. The app also has a wildcard search for filling in gaps in the grid you really can't get out, and an anagram solver, which brings up exact anagrams and subwords. Very helpful if you feel like getting a little cheaty in Scrabble ®, Words With Friends , Boggle , ...

So. Reversals. I bet you have already figured out how this cryptic wordplay works! Yes indeed, some letters or words are run backwards to help get to the answer. In English, some words are perfect reversals of each other - TIPS / SPIT, SERIF / FIRES, GUM / MUG, and KEEP / PEEK are just a few. These sorts of words are called anadromes . And you will know what palindromes are no doubt, those tricky words which read the same backwards and forwards! EVE, RADAR, TOT, and so on. In cryptic clues, either the whole answer word can be clued with a "perfect" reversal (eg WOLF reversing to give FLOW), or as is more common, (let's face it, not that many words form perfect anadromes), the reversal forms part of the wordplay, in combination with another device (especially charades ). They also have reversal indicator words, so you get some instruction on what to do. Here's an example of a "pure" reversal clue: Pam runs back to get a chart (3)  Pam  is th...

Double definitions are cute little cryptic clues. They break the usual Definition + Wordplay = Answer  cryptic equation. With these clues (as you may have already surmised) the equation is Definition + Definition = Answer. English is a language with masses of redundancy. There are multiple ways of saying most things, and many words have multiple meanings. So with this sort of cryptic clue, the clue simply presents two definitions of the same word, one after the other. Indicator words are not usually used (if they are, they are words like and, or, but, gives, provides, or though, or some punctuation such as a comma, dash, or apostrophe S). Here's an example: Baby cow's leg part (4) = CALF As you can no doubt see, CALF is the name of both a baby cow , and a leg part.  While they seem ridiculously simple in essence, these clues can be very difficult to spot 'in the wild' amongst a bunch of cryptic clues with a crossword. You are all keyed up to looking for indica...

My analysis of the clues in the Gemini Cryptic from  The Canberra Times Friday 6 July 2012 Definitions are underlined (apart from double definition and cryptic definition clues).  Across 1. Tales of feet? (7) = LEGENDS Cryptic definition, feet are leg ends, get it? 5. Demoted at the centre, get all worked up (5) = EMOTE Deletion, it's the centre part of d emote d 8. Demanding porridge with fish (9) = GRUELLING Charade. GRUEL ( porridge ) + LING ( fish ) 9. Return of Eastern opponent (3) = FOE Reversal and charade. Of returns = FO + E (Eastern) 10. A gem of a girl? (4) = RUBY Double definition, both a possible girl's name, and a gem stone 12. Jumper , pocket-size originally (8) = KANGAROO Cryptic definition, I guess? I don't see any clear cryptic device at play in this one. Kangaroos have pockets, and baby kangaroos are originally very little and kept in pockets ... 14. The rest of the layers depends on them (6) = ROOSTS Cryptic defini...

Hidden word clues are less common in cryptics — a typical cryptic may just have one or two — but they are so nice and easy (which is why they're often in short supply in cryptics!), I thought it would be good to cover them early in the piece. If you can find the hidden word clues in a cryptic, they are a good way to get something  entered into the grid, which in turn will help you get a handle on the other clues. So, why are these clues so easy? Well, the answer to the clue is actually staring you in the face, within the clue! OK, the setter has no doubt tried their best to hide the fact that the answer is right there in front of you, in plain view. So they can be tricky to spot sometimes, but they are basically a very easy clue device. For example, the word PLAN can be hidden inside BI PLAN E. And the word ROSE can be hidden inside the words ALLEG RO SE RENADE. The last example is more typical of these sorts of clues ... the word is often split across two or even three ...

Here's the full cover for Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies ! The book went to print yesterday, huzzah! If you click on the image above, you can see it at a better size ... This book is a companion volume to Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies , which is the in-depth how-to guide. This book has a little basic info on cryptics, but is mainly a collection of 56 new cryptic crosswords, for you to have a go at. There are 25 Easy cryptics, 18 Medium ones, and 13 Hard crosswords. I was all set to do my weekly analysis of The Canberra Times Gemini Cryptic last weekend, using the Saturday paper. But then I noticed that the paper runs a competition about the Saturday crossword (you can tell I'm not a regular reader!), and I'm sure they would not have been impressed if I'd done a 'full reveal' on all the clues, before the closing date for the competition, LOL! So I decided on discretion over valour, and let it slide. In some rather exciting news, I am going to ...

The next clue device we're going to cover is the charade clue. What on earth?!, you ask, and with good cause! Well, you know the parlour game of charades (not that we actually play them any more!)? People guess the name of a book, or a movie, or whatever, and you act out the name in pieces, possibly syllable by syllable, or word by word? Well, these cryptic clues are sort of the same, in that you string together the components of the clue, one after the other, in order. So, for example, the word WHEEL could be clued as W + HEEL. That's a charade, one bit after the other, in order. A few more examples: SLIGHT = S + LIGHT, MANDRAKE = MAN + DRAKE, and GOSLING = GO + SLING. This is a very common cryptic device, and you will come across charade clues in every cryptic crossword. s you can see, it's quite common to need to clue a single letter (such as the W in W+HEEL), so abbreviations are widely used in charade clues. Charades can also be used in conjunction with other devic...

So, seeing as I'm even more au fait with cryptic crosswords now, than I was before, LOL, I'll start a little series of tutorials on this blog, and will post clues and explanations as I go. I'm also planning on doing a weekly analysis of The Gemini Cryptic Crossword , which is published in The Canberra Times , and many other places. SO. What ARE cryptic crosswords (apart from utterly infuriating?!). A cryptic crossword is a British invention, and as such tends to be more wide-spread and popular in the UK and Commonwealth countries (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, India etc). There are a few American outlets for cryptics, but only a few. A cryptic is set in a normal crossword grid, which looks something like this: Note that this is a British style grid, not an American one (main difference is the pattern of and number of black squares, much higher in a British style grid, while in an American grid every single letter is crossed by both an across an...

I've just received the first batch of page proofs for the first book ( Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies ), it's starting to look like a real book! Very exciting  :) Now I "just" have to edit the first book, while still working 12–15 hours a day on the second ... aaaaaah! Clue writing in progress on my Mac screen (Crossword 36 from the second book) ... after this one is done, I've got 20 crosswords to go. Have written roughly 1,700 clues so far, about 600 to go! 14 days to deadline ...

It's official, folks! I've just landed the book deal to write TWO new Dummies titles with Wiley Australia ... both due at the same time  O.o  The books will be out in August 2012. Solving Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies will be the 'how to' book, which I've been wanting to write for years now ... I first submitted the proposal to Wiley USA three years ago! (Wrong market, cryptics are not widely done in the States). I updated my proposal, and sent it off to Wiley Oz a few months ago, and it's got the green light! Cryptic Crosswords For Dummies will be the companion volume, which will contain a goodly collection of cryptic crosswords to solve, with a brief intro and solving tips (cribbed from the main book). Both manuscripts due by early April 2012. SOON. Eeeeek. To ease the panic I'm now in, here's a cute puppy piccie, of Griff just after his bath — where did all the floof go?! He is a very wriggly energetic puppy, with an advanced case of h...

So — how do you define a cryptic crossword clue? Well, they have two parts, typically. Every cryptic clue contains : 1) The base clue / definition. This is like a regular crossword clue. Yup. It may not be obvious (in fact, it almost definitely won't be), but the straight definition of the answer is really in there, in plain view. The base clue is usually at the start or end of a clue (but not in the middle). 2) Word play of some sort. This is where the fun (or aggravating) bit comes in! The word play is basically coded instructions on how to create the answer word, maybe using anagrams, or adding and subtracting letters, or a whole host of other tricks. The thing I really like about cryptic clues is that they're sort of 'self-checking' — so when you think you've got the answer, the 'base clue' part of the clue should suddenly make sense, and you'll get that 'Ahh haaaaa!' moment. So the clue should 'confirm' itself. Here...