#Hard to crack crossword plus#
Half the clue gives a definition of the answer the other half is a jumble of the letters in the answer, plus a hint (“dodgy”, “disorganised” etc) that they should be jumbled.įrom Brendan: “Collection of documents found to be dodgy ie dross (7)”Ī definition, and some more words in which the answer is concealed, indicated by something like “among”, “amid”, or even “in”.įrom Orlando: “In Scandinavia grandpa discovered potent drug (6)”Ī definition, and a description of a word which, when spelled backwards, gives the answer.įrom Paul: “Statement by filmed divorcee, retracted (6)”Ī definition, and a hint to take the first letters of some other words for the answer.įrom Bunthorne: “Does he lead prayer for openers? Is Mohammed a Muslim? (4)”Īlong with the definition, and a hint that you should see what another word sounds like, maybe by “saying” it aloud.įrom Araucaria: “Bond’s said to be Asian (4)”īefore you check your answers below, here are three clues written by Guardian setters that are all-time favourites of their solvers and peers:Īlan Connor is the question editor on the quiz show Only Connect. The answer is described in a misleading way.įrom Rufus: “They lead the way in the present transport system (8)” These clues give two – often very different – meanings of the answer.įrom Shed: “Alarming disclosure of beauty (9)” Think of it like a toolkit, where part of the fun is working out which tool to use next. Here are the devices most commonly used by setters to guide you – however evasively – towards the answer. “You think it’s too idiotically simple and that everyone will guess it straight off, and you’re frightfully surprised when they simply can’t get it in the least.” Cracking the clues “It’s like making crossword puzzles,” she wrote. The setter’s job is to put up a fight, but let the solver win, with a completed grid and a happy expression.Īgatha Christie once reflected on clues in a whodunnit. Remember: a decent puzzle has some easy clues, strategically placed, to get things going – and the harder clues must all yield eventually. A baffling puzzle is easier to set and much less satisfying to solve. You’ll have no difficulty finding technical tools online, but you might find you make it too hard.
Once you’ve acquired the habit, you might be tempted to create a puzzle yourself. It’s also worth solving with a friend – like any language, it comes more easily through conversation. The cryptic-curious are often aware that puzzles will demand anagrams and acrostics, and despair of ever knowing what to look out for.īut the conventions are few and easily picked up the Guardian site has a Cryptic crosswords for beginners series. It’s in its wordplay that the cryptic becomes an art form: “Natty, elegant and trim, primarily (4)” asks you to look at the words’ first letters very NEAT. The moment of enlightenment is a mental hit – a compulsive one. In a cryptic, a “Number of people in a theatre (12)” can be an ANAESTHETIST: a different kind of “theatre”, and “number” as one who numbs. The cryptic crossword, however, takes this to brain-bending new places. These ambiguities become part of the fun of crosswords, where “Press (4)” leads to URGE as neatly as it does to IRON. In the wake of countless immigrations and invasions, and later, as the empire borrowed and stole from around the globe, the English language became a unique jumble, where any given thing might have different names, and any word might mean many things. for Drs.The British quick is a different beast: it’s a linguistic workout – and one that only works in English. Spanish artist Francisco crossword clue.Puzzle Page Daily Wordy #5027 FebruAnswers.
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