How do you interpret cryptic crossword clues?
How do you interpret cryptic crossword clues?
Beginner’s guide to solving cryptic crosswords
- Read the clue. Then read it backwards.
- Think about the rest of the clue.
- Harden your heart against the setter’s siren charms.
- Repeat step three.
- Look at the number of letters.
- Solve the damn thing . . .
What does Spooner mean in cryptic crosswords?
If you have ever tackled a cryptic crossword you will have come across the name Spooner or the term spoonerism for a clue where initial letters are swapped e.g. ‘fight the liar’ for ‘light the fire’.
What does they say mean in cryptic crosswords?
for example
A word of caution. Putting “…say” at the end of a clue is a deft way of indicating a soundalike without drawing much attention to it, but it can of course also mean, say, “for example”.
What does for example mean in cryptic crosswords?
Taking this one stage further, the clue word can hint at the word or words to be abbreviated rather than giving the word itself. For example: “About” for C or CA (for “circa”), or RE. “Say” for EG, used to mean “for example”.
Are cryptic crosswords good for your brain?
And there’s no question that solving cryptic crosswords gives your brain a good work-out. In our paper on crossword expertise, we suggested that cryptic crossword solving exercises a wide range of cognitive faculties, such as: The general capacity to analyze, reason, problem-solve and think ‘on one’s feet’
What does ultimately mean in cryptic crosswords?
The meaning of the answer is ‘animal’ and the pointer is ‘ultimately’. Alternate Letter Clues. Like hidden words, the answer is in the clue itself, but found in every second letter.
What does French mean in cryptic crosswords?
Cryptic clues sometimes make use of foreign language words in the wordplay, of which French is most common. “the French” implies that the French word for “the” (LES) has to be put into the answer. What if you don’t know French? Not to worry – in crosswords, you can get by with just rudimentary knowledge.
What is a Nina in crosswords?
A Nina is a special feature of the crossword grid: a word, words or phrase hidden within a pattern of cells in the completed grid. An example from an Indy crossword: the words STALACTITE and STALAGMITE are concealed vertically, in symmetrical positions.
What does Fig mean in crosswords?
Some common crossword abbreviations include: Fr. – French. Fig. – Figure.
Why does P mean quiet in cryptic crossword?
Even if you’ve missed out on sheet music, as a solver, you associate the word “piano” with P. This is “piano” as in “play this bit quietly”, rather than the instrument – but setters concoct their clues so that they seem at first to be about the instrument.
What does rejected mean in cryptic crossword?
‘most ending in failure rejected’ is the wordplay. ‘most’ becomes ‘max’ (maximum). ‘ending in’ says to take the final letters. ‘rejected’ is a reversal indicator. The last letter of ‘failure’ is ‘e’.
Why are cryptic crosswords so hard?
We decided to test that theory in the highly challenging arena of cryptic crossword solving. The problem lies in recognising and cracking the code, and the task of the crossword setter, like that of a magician, is to conceal the mechanism so subtly that the way to the answer is hard to find.
What are the crossword puzzles?
crossword puzzle. noun. a puzzle in which words corresponding to numbered clues or definitions are supplied and fitted into correspondingly numbered sets of squares, one letter per square, the words being arranged horizontally or vertically so that most letters form part of two words.
What is a crossword puzzle Dictionary?
A crossword or crossword puzzle is a word game in which you work out the answers and write them in the white squares of a pattern of small black and white squares. COBUILD Advanced English Dictionary.
What does crossword puzzle mean?
Definition of crossword puzzle. : a puzzle in which words that are the answers to clues are written into a pattern of numbered squares that go across and down My father does the crossword puzzle every morning.
