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How To Solve Cryptic Crosswords

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Everybody who's ever done cryptic crosswords can relate to these words but the OTE's ‘informal' version “As clear as mud” should really ring a bell.

And then there's the word “crossword” itself, which isn't represented in OTE though it's there in its two elements, “cross” and “word”, which might well be taken to represent what cryptic puzzlers come out with on those occasions when they're stumped by the expert setter.

Another Language?

Cryptic clues may be written using English words but their interpretation requires such a different approach from the sentences we normally use that you could be forgiven for seeing them as a different language. It's no coincidence that many of the people used to break the Enigma code during World War II were skilled cryptic puzzlers and thus experts at lateral thinking.

That's what cryptics are all about – LATERAL THINKING. In fact you could almost call it zany thinking. A common problem with cryptic tyros is that they think too rationally, approaching clues as they do in standard or ‘quick' crosswords. It can be a hard habit to break.

Typically newcomers on seeing the words “..capital of Morocco..” in a clue will feel good when they come up with RABAT, whereas all the setter is looking for is the letter M. The thing is, however, there are times when ‘Rabat' might be the go.

Similarly if you see “…the first two Romans..” you'd probably be inclined to come up with the educated answer ROMULUS & REMUS whereas all the setter is looking for are the first two letters of Romans ie RO, which will be used to build up an answer word. Tricky eh?

Building Words

Much of the cryptic setter's job is to build words or phrases using different interpretations of other words, and it helps to understand how they have to do this. I have improved my modest skills by taking regular words and trying to build them up cryptically. In fact it has almost become an obsession as I go around all the time thinking about them – much as I used to about girls when I was in my younger days. But enough of that!

Words often come in 3 parts – a prefix, a middle bit, and a suffix, and the setter uses common words for these various parts.

Examples of Words used for Prefixes:

In favour of = PRO.. ; Popular = IN.. ; About = RE.. or CA.. as in ‘circa';

Before = PRE.. ; Measure = EN.. or EM.., which are printer's measures ;

Like = AS.. ; International body = UN.. ; Six balls = OVER..;

Below or beneath = UNDER..; Princess = DI..; Tertiary Institution = UNI.. ;

Of French = DE.., which is French for ‘of'; Bury = INTER.. and so on.

Example of Words used for Suffixes:

In charge = ..IC ; Debts = ..IOUS ; Specialist = ..ENT ie ear, nose & throat ;

Consumed = ..ATE ; Fragrance = ..SCENT ; Coin or money = ..CENT ;

Fish = ..LING ; Church = ..CE as in Church of England ;

Conservative = ..TORY; First = ..IST; Worker = ..ANT

The Middle Bits

Middle bits aren't always used but when they are there are literally thousands and thousands of words that can be used cryptically, so all I can do here is to discuss a few of the more interesting of them.

(1) How many ways are there get the letter/s ‘o' or ‘oo'?

It's been a revelation to me to learn how many clever ways there are to get an ‘o' or a double ‘o' ie ‘oo'. It's easy enough to see how you can get it from ‘nil', ‘none', ‘nothing', ‘zero' but would you naturally expect to do so from these words?

‘circle' or ‘ring' – just think of the shape O

‘duck' – what you can get in cricket ie O

‘fighter' – a famous Japanese fighter in WWI was the Zero ie O

‘glasses' - gets you OO, which looks like a pair of glasses

‘hug' – when you put ‘oooxxx' at the end of a letter the O means a ‘hug'

‘love' – in tennis a score of say ‘15 love' means 15 – O. This usage is very common.

‘nude' or ‘naked' means there is ‘nothing on' hence OON

‘owe' – just sounds like an O

‘zip' or ‘nix' – two modern day words for nothing ie O

And that reminds me of how OOMPH can mean STATIONARY, or vice versa ie OO miles per hour!

It's important to remember that the words above are not always used to get O or OO, eg ‘fighter' could possibly require you to come up with say ‘boxer', ‘pug', ‘ali, or ‘mig', another fighter aircraft (Russian). In cryptics, the old saying that “there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with butter” has real relevance.

(2) …getting ‘mad'

You can get ‘mad' by using ‘crazy', ‘angry', ‘irate', ‘loony' etc

But don't forget these possibilities below which can also come from ‘mad' or be used to produce ‘mad':

‘bananas'; ‘bonkers'; ‘cuckoo', ‘loopy', ‘nuts', ‘wild'

(3) … words that sound like letters

These are so obvious that they're very easy to miss in your thinking. Here are just a few you need to be on the lookout for.

Bee = b; Eye = I; Seas or seize = cc; I see = ic; Why = y; You = u

An Example Of How To Build A Word

Lets finish off with an example from a recent SMH/Age cryptic where the setter has used clues to build towards the required answer:

“Rightfulness sees support by Muhammad extremely tricky (8)”

support'= LEG

Muhammad = ALI

‘extremely tricky' requires the extremes of the word ‘tricky' ie TY

Put them together and what have you got? LEGALITY which is ‘rightfulness'

Nothing to it, right?

Don't hold up on getting started. Try the cryptic in your favourite paper or magazine and check the answers in the next issue. No better way to get started

Well, as Peter Cundall might say “That's your cryptic lot for now” so until next time “Tucker satisfactorily (8)”

How To Solve Cryptic Crosswords

Cryptic crossword setters have more tricks up their sleeve than a cartload of monkeys and we who have to work them out have to try to get into their minds – to think as laterally and as zanily as they do. Problem is of course that not every setter thinks the same way, and just as you think you're on top of one setter's style you'll encounter another's style that almost sends you back to scratch.

Solving the first clue is very important

Many a cryptic puzzler has been in the situation when, after looking through all the clues, nothing has immediately come to mind. Nothing! But after persistence they've solved one or two clues, built on them, and then gone on to solve the whole puzzle. The morals are – solve that first clue or two & never give in.

Even if you solve only a few clues, look in tomorrow's paper for the answers and work out how they've been derived. That's far and away the best way to lift you skills so keep at it and you'll get there.

It's especially true for cryptics not to dwell too long on trying to solve a clue. If you're not getting anywhere with one clue move on quickly to the next before you get frustrated and want to give up entirely. Here are a couple of hints that may help you in your early days

HINT 1 - Have a go at the 4 or 5 letter answer words first because they're often (but not always mind you!) more easy than the others.

HINT 2 – Look for clues that are framed in a fairly standard manner (Well, as standard as things get in cryptics!) such as clues with only 2 words like “Just blonde” where the answer has to suit both clue words – in this case FAIR.

Here's another example for you to work out:

CLUE: Depressed fight (4) ANSWER: ???? (See below)

Another ‘standard' clue is the anagram, and almost every cryptic crossword you'll ever do will have at least one anagram, so solving anagram clues is another good way to get started. So let's now look in detail at how anagrams are used.

Analysing The Anagram

“Anagram” is defined in the Macquarie Dictionary as “a transposition of the letters of a word or sentence to form a new word or sentence”

STRAW for example is an anagram of WARTS

DORMITORY is an anagram of DIRTY ROOM

Anagram clues can be identified by what we might call anagram pointer words, words in the clue that indicate that the letters of a word or phrase should be rearranged

Here are some common anagram pointer words that you should be on the lookout for:

ALTER/ED; ARRANGE/D; BROKE/N; COULD BE; CHANGE/D; CRUSH/ED; DOCTOR/ED; MAKE; MADE; OFF; OUT; REVISE/D; SHATTERED; SMASH/ED etc. But there are many more up the sleeves of our ‘not so friendly' setters.

Here's one example of how an anagram clue might be posed:

CLUE: “This bird will MAKE us legal (7)” ANSWER: Seagull

There are two anagram indicators in this clue:

- the word MAKE

- the fact that the words ‘us legal' contain the required number of letter to help us find our bird

It's important to note that there are two features common to EVERY anagram

1. the pointer word/s

2. the appropriate letter count

Anagram sidelines: Always looking to be tricky, setters sometimes use other anagrammatic ploys such as the two illustrated below.

(1) by having the anagram pointer, and the letters to be changed in the one word. In the example below the letters to be changed are underlined.

CLUE: Breakfast oils (4) ANSWER; Fats

(2) by having the anagram as just PART of the answer eg

CLUE: Police raids broke up the ball game (9)

ANSWER: Billiards (Police = BILL; ‘raids broke' becomes IARDS)

So there's the anagram for you in its various forms. It's the cryptic setter's standby and often your friend - a great way to find your first answer allowing you to go on to bigger and better things.

Just What Is The Setter Looking For?

It's one thing not to know an answer to a question, but in cryptic crosswords you first have to know what the question is before you can go on to the answer. This is far and away the biggest issue for cryptic puzzlers and the setter's raison d'etre is to make it more difficult for you.

Your success as a puzzler is going to depend largely on your ability to see what the setter is looking for.

Much of the time you'll find clues where it appears that no question is being asked. For example:

CLUE 1: Swung hammer wide and led (7)

CLUE 2: Hear the new bit is baked clay (7)

I mean. Who do they think we are? The wording just doesn't make sense, but that's all part of the cryptic game. “And where are the ‘questions' in these two clues?” you might well ask.

Fortunately in most clues there are some indicators (we'll call them ‘answer' words or ‘answer' pointers) that can lead you in the right direction so let's start thinking about them.

A Start To Finding The ‘Answer' Words

The simplest example is when the clue is like a simple mathematical equation where verbs like ‘is', ‘are', ‘for', ‘produce', ‘create', to be' etc are used like an equal (=) sign. They're constructed like this:

(Word or phrase) is/are/for (ie =) (Another word or phrase)

CLUE: Finnway queen IS (=) a pedlar(7)

Here's how the answer is built up to mean a ‘pedlar'

Finn = HUCK;Way = ST ie a street; Queen = ER

ANSWER: HUCKSTER

The second sure-fire answer pointer words are words such as ‘This', ‘These', ‘They', ‘He', She', ‘It', where the answer comes from the word/s that come immediately after them.

Here's a clue where both of the ‘answer' indicators are evident

CLUE: These dogs ARE (=) born raptors ( 7)

‘These' indicates that the answer has to be some sort of dogs.

‘Born raptors' is how you build to that answer, ie

‘born' = B ( a common shorthand for ‘born')

‘raptors' = EAGLES

Put them together and what do you get? BEAGLES, the very sort of dogs you're looking for

These two hints will get you started on finding ‘answer' words.

Happy crypticking!

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