Everything You Need to Know to Solve a Simple Cryptic Crossword
Plus, a nice and easy Sunday puzzle that anyone can solve.
N.B. This is part of my ongoing series explaining the different types of cryptic clue. For the first in the series, go here. Skip to the end (or go here) for a quick cryptic puzzle!
I’m working on a collection of wonderfully useless and unlikely words for next week, but in the meantime I want to return (briefly) to the subject of cryptic puzzles. I spent two days in the south of England last month in a cryptic-setting masterclass with one of my favorite setters from The Guardian, and the experience has made me want to recommit to sharing the joys of the cryptic with other wordy people, so I hope you’ll indulge me this week.
I’m convinced that anyone who enjoys a regular crossword can unlock the magic of a cryptic if they’re able to push past the first barriers to entry, including the most forbidding one, which is that cryptic puzzles look like absolute bloody nonsense. In addition to making a nice, simple mini-puzzle for you this week, I’ve assembled a few really great resources that make sweet, glorious sense out of that nonsense below!
These “Cracking the Cryptic” Videos Are Absolutely Mesmerizing
It’s sheer, unadulterated comfort food to watch these expert British gents doing their magic with various cryptic puzzles. They have tons of great videos that are worth checking out, but the one I’ve linked here is particularly useful for beginners.
A Bit of Inspiration From a Top Cryptic Setter
John Halpern is a compiler who sets brilliantly playful puzzles for The Guardian as “Paul.” (One of the cool things about setting cryptics is that you get to come up with a nifty pseudonym for yourself. I think it’s cool anyway.) This short video is a fun intro for a lay audience to the joys of cryptic wordplay.
How to Solve Cryptic Crossword Puzzles | The New Yorker
The New Yorker is one of a few major American outlets that regularly publish cryptics. They are, in my view, very gentle, easy puzzles compared with some of their British counterparts like The Guardian, and as such they’re a fantastic place to start. This video is a really nice explainer on the topic.
Crossword Unclued Demystifies the Cryptic
If videos aren’t your thing, there are plenty of clear, useful, in-depth guides to the different parts of the cryptic at CrosswordUnclued. I’d recommend their 7-Step Guide for Beginners, this set of tips, and this series of explainers on different clue types, but the whole site is a wealth of useful information.
“This One Weird Trick Will Help You Solve Any Cryptic”
Finally, it’s probably worth reiterating that I have my own short series of step-by-step guides on how to do cryptics, but there’s no substitute for just diving in and trying to solve for yourself, so I’ll leave you with the number one most helpful piece of information for a solver, which is this:
Pretty much every clue you’ll encounter begins or ends with a word or phrase that is a synonym for the answer (the “definition”).
If you can’t make sense of the wordplay, you can still solve the clue by determining what the definition is and solving it like you would a regular crossword and then muddling out the wordplay afterwards.
A Nice and Easy Sunday Puzzle That Anyone Can Solve!
I’ve made you a nice, simple mini-puzzle with an obvious theme. I’ve tried really hard not to put any spin on the ball with this one (a lot of harder cryptics will use misdirection — making you think one clue type is actually another clue type — or other chicanery like obscure definitions that send you on a wild goose chase before you get to the answer). This puzzle keeps the wordplay as crisp and obvious as possible while retaining, hopefully, some playfulness and fun for the solver. The solutions to each clue in the puzzle are annotated and explained here, so even if you don’t complete it, you can see how every clue works for future reference.
And finally, I’d love any feedback on your experience! Let me know if you finish the puzzle, if you found it easy or hard, or if there’s anything that would be useful for me to explain next time I return to this subject.
The puzzle image is below if you want to print it out like our forebears used to, but you can also fill it in with a click!
