Giti's Cryptic Crossword Tips

So, you're not familiar with cryptic crosswords, as GAMES Magazine calls them (I'd provide a link, but I don't think the magazine has a webpage), or English-style crosswords, as I've heard them called elsewhere? (I call them "cryptic crosswords" myself, like GAMES Magazine does, mainly because I think that's a catchier name.) Well, yes, they are different from regular crosswords, and they take some getting used to, but once you get the hang of it, I think they're a lot of fun.

In a cryptic crossword, each clue defines the answer twice - once straightforwardly, and once through wordplay. Which part is which, of course, is up to you to determine. For convenience, the number of letters in the answer is given in parentheses after the clue; if the answer has two or more words, the number of letters in each word will be indicated; if the word is hyphenated, this is handled similarly. For example, if the answer to some clue is "on time", the number of letters will be given as "(2, 4)", and the number of letters in "lean-to" would be given as "(4-2)".

The types of wordplay involved can include anagrams, acronyms, and all sorts of other things; below are the most common types:

JUNCTURES

The simplest type of cryptic crossword clue, a juncture is essentially just two or more words stuck together to form a longer word. "Design movie alien's world (6)", for example, might clue the word "PLANET" - "plan" ("design") plus "E.T." ("movie alien"). ("World" is, of course, the straightforward definition part.)

Usually in a juncture the words are given in the order they appear, but sometimes they might be in a different order if the change in order is clued with words like "before" or "follows". For instance, "Commercial production attempt east of Asian river (8)" might clue "INDUSTRY" - "try" ("attempt") to the right ("east") of "Indus"("Asian river"). (Usually cryptic crossword writers are consistent as far as directions between across and down clues - which is to say that if that had appeared in a down clue, as opposed to an across clue, it probably would have used "south" instead of "east".)

Of course, one can't always get every letter of a word in junctures, so cryptic crosswords use a lot of abbreviations to cover those pesky single letters. For example, "Rows of pillars form two dots, symbol for Norse fruit drink (10)" might be a clue for "COLONNADES" - "colon" ("two dots") plus "N" ("symbol for Norse" - here's where the abbreviation comes in) plus "ades" ("fruit drink"). Usually, though, the clue won't be so helpful as to tell you explicitly that it's using a symbol or abbreviation. Along those lines, "Sit up by consumed place (7)" might clue "SITUATE" - "sit" plus "U" (an abbreviation for "up") plus "ate" ("consumed").

Occasionally even abbreviations aren't quite enough, and single letters are clued by using the first letter ("first", "head", "top", "beginning") or last letter ("last", "tail", etc.) - or, very rarely, the middle letter - of another word. For example, "Screech owl comes after end of day (4)" might clue "YOWL" - "owl" after "y", which is the last letter ("end") of "day".

CONTAINERS

In this common type of cryptic crossword clue, one word is placed inside another. This is often clued by saying that the outer word "contains", "envelops", "surrounds", or "fences in" the inner word, or with similar terms. Conversely, the contained word can be said to be "in" the container, or to "penetrate" it, and so on. For example, "Stated in symbols, not in act (7)" might clue "DENOTED": "not" contained in "deed" ("act"), deNOTed. (Unlike this example, the contained word will not necessarily fall right in the middle of the outer word; it's up to you to figure out exactly where to put it.)

As with junctures, sometimes containers use abbreviations (or first and last letters) for single letters. For instance, the clue "Aspect from East included in truth (5)" might refer to "FACET": "E", an abbreviation for "east", "included in" "fact" ("truth").

ANAGRAMS

Anagrams - words with the letters reordered - are another very common type of cryptic crossword element. Words like "crazy", "broken", "new", "changed", "redone", "confused", and so on often denote anagrams. For instance, "Seal demon anew in refreshing drinks (9)" might be a clue to "LEMONADES" - which are not only "refreshing drinks", but which word also happens to be an anagram of "seal demon".

REVERSALS

A special case of an anagram (or at least that's one way to look at it), a reversal simply involves spelling a word backward. It's often clued by words like "returned", "back", and so on, or by words like "left" or "west" for across clues and "up" or "north" for down clues. "Pillager returns to work differently (6)", for example, could clue "RETOOL" - which means "to work differently", but which is also "looter" ("pillager") spelled backwards.

HOMOPHONES

Another fairly common type of cryptic crossword clue, a homophone clue uses the fact that two words sound alike. It's usually clued by something related to hearing: "sounds like", "to the ear", "according to the audience", et cetera. Here's an example: "Litigious man is heard in tunnels below city (5)" could clue "SEWER" - which sounds like "suer", a litigious man.

HOMOGRAPHS

Similar to homophones, homograph, or "two meanings", clues use two words that are spelled alike but have different meanings. "SEWER", for example, could just as easily have been clued with a homograph instead of a homophone, as by "Tailor in tunnels below city (5)" - since a "sewer" can be taken as both "tunnels below city" or as one who sews - like a "tailor".

It's quite possible, of course, for a clue to be both a homophone and a homograph, but in this case the homography takes precedence, in the sense that there's usually no "sounds like" element in the clue. For instance, "Source of ore is my property (4)" could be a clue for "MINE", which - with the same spelling and pronunciation - could mean both "source of ore" and "my property".

BEHEADINGS

A "beheading" occurs when the first letter of a word is removed. Beheading clues may include words and phrases like "headless", "topless" (especially for down clues), "without the first", and so forth. An example might be "Promenade leaderless to famous structure in St. Louis (4)", which could clue "ARCH" - "march" ("promenade") without the first letter ("leaderless").

It's also possible, of course, to cut off the last letter of a word - which we might call a "detailing". (Heh... double meaning.) This can be clued by words like "unfinished", "bottomless", and so on. For example, "Sheer fabric is endlessly satisfying (5)" could clue "SATIN" - "sating" ("satisfying") without the last letter ("endlessly").

INCLUSIONS

In an inclusion, a relatively rare kind of cryptic crossword clue, the answer is spelled out within the words of the rest of the clue. For example, "Other side always includes paragon (5)" could clue "IDEAL" - which is included in the phrase "Other sIDE ALways". Inclusion are clued with words like "contains", "inside", "in", et cetera. Of course, these are many of the same words that often clue containers, so you'll have to judge whether a given clue is a container or an inclusion. (And, of course, the word "in" can also clue, well, the word "in". Figuring out what's really cluing what is usually the trickiest part of the puzzle; once you've got that, figuring out the answer is usually fairly easy (though not always, particularly in long anagrams).)

INITIAL LETTERS

One of the rarest types of cryptic crossword clues, but still one you see every once in a while, is one to an answer you'll get by taking the first letters of successive words in a phrase. (It might also happen that the last letters are used, but this is extremely rare.) These may be clued by words like "beginnings" or (of course) "initials", or some such. For instance, "Locate leaders of flight in ninety days (4)" might clue "FIND" - the initial letters ("leaders") of "Flight In Ninety Days".

ALTERNATE LETTERS

Even rarer than the initial letter clues are the alternate letters - in which you find the answer by leaving out every other letter of a word or phrase. Such answers are usually clued using the word "odd" or "even" (though of course "odd" also frequently refers to anagrams), though other words or phrases like"every other " might be used. For example, "Containers of alternating currents (4)" might be a clue to "URNS" ("container") - which you get by taking every other letter of cUrReNtS.

MISCELLANEOUS

The above list more or less exhausts all the types of clues you'll find regularly in cryptic crosswords, but every once in a while you'll run into something not covered here. A cryptic crossword in a college paper once included a word clued "Fudd said our trade is overbalanced (10)". The answer was "outweighed" - which sounds kind of like "our trade" with the r sounds changed to w's, as Elmer Fudd would say it. Cute, but not a gimmick you're likely to see again any time soon.

COMBINATIONS

Of course, very often instead of just using a single type of wordplay as described above, a clue will incorporate several - a reversed word contained inside another word, for example, or an anagram in a juncture with a beheading. Each part, however, is clued normally. (Homophones, homographs, inclusions, alternate letters, and initial letters are very seldom, if ever, combined with other clue types, but junctures, anagrams, containers, beheadings, and reversals are all fair game.) For example, "Seethe about returning after party (6)" could clue "FESTER": "re" ("about") backwards ("returning") after "fest" ("party") - that's a reversal combined with a juncture. Or "Catch reverses groove in horn, for example (7)" could clue "CAPTURE" - "rut" ("groove") spelled backwards and contained in "cape" ("Horn, for example"). That's a combination of a reversal and a container.

Things can get more complicated, of course, and combinations of more than two clue types are possible, particularly (though by no means exclusively) in longer words. For instance, "Revolution in onset of rejuvenation in certain strange tonic (12)" could clue "INSURRECTION" - "in", plus "r" (first letter ("onset") of "rejuvenation") contained in "sure" to get "surre", plus "tonic" anagrammed ("strange") into "ction".

One last note: sometimes a clue manages to define the answer both straightforwardly and through wordplay at the same time, but this is very rare. When it does happen, though, the clue ends in an exclamation mark to indicate it. An example (though not a very good one) could be "100 square meters, plus one, maybe! (4)" , which could clue "AREA" - which is both described by the entire clue itself, and by "are" (100 square meters) plus "a" ("one").

Well, I guess that's about it. If you're still confused, don't worry; cryptic crosswords do take some getting used to. But go ahead and give it a try, and eventually you should get the hang of it. Have fun!

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