Introduction

Many of us know someone who solves cryptic puzzles with some degree of success. If we look at the cryptic puzzle in our daily newspaper, however, the clues seem like snippets of overheard conversations in some strange form of English. If we look at the solution published the next day, we may be able to understand a few of the answers. We can make a connection between some of the other answers and parts of their clues, but can't understand what the rest of the clue is about. At this point we may give up, convinced that we are too stupid to solve the puzzles, or that solving them is a black art.

This site is intended to help you to understand what cryptic crosswords are, how the clues work, and what you can do to start enjoying the puzzles in newspapers like the Times, Guardian, Independent or Daily Telegraph.

What Makes a crossword Cryptic?

There is nothing special about the grids used for cryptic crosswords. All of the grids used for cryptic puzzles could be used for "straight" puzzles, and vice versa. The use of different grids for cryptic and other puzzles is just a tradition. What makes a crossword cryptic is the use of cryptic clues. So, ...

What is a cryptic clue?

The usual explanation says something like this:

All cryptic clues consist of a definition of the answer, and a separate subsidiary indication which provides a set of instructions for constructing the answer.

Some kinds of cryptic clue don't have this division into two parts, and this structural description fails to mention a feature which most good cryptic clues have, so this definition is a bit like saying that a cathedral is "a large building, lacking bedrooms, usually having large coloured windows and at least one dome, spire or tower". Here's an alternative:

A cryptic clue is a sentence or phrase, appearing to make some kind of sense and putting ideas into the solver's head. These often have little or nothing to do with the answer, which can be derived by interpreting all or part of the clue in ways which are less obvious.

In other words, some element of bluffing or deception is the whole point of a good cryptic clue. By the way, the apparent significance of the clue is often referred to as its "surface meaning", or just "surface" for short.

An instant history

Although those with the time to spare in Victorian England enjoyed acrostics and similar puzzles, the puzzle generally recognised as the world's first crossword appeared in the 1913 Christmas edition of an American newspaper's Sunday magazine section. This puzzle had quite a lot in common with those still published in American newspapers. In 1924 books of puzzles were the first books published by Simon and Schuster (under a different name), and started a serious crossword craze, which soon spread to Britain. By the early 1930s, most British newspapers had a crossword puzzle.

Although cryptic puzzles are published in the USA, cryptic crosswords largely belong to the British-influenced part of the English-speaking world. The cryptic element in clues was invented by 'Torquemada' in 1925 or 26, but spread gradually in newspaper puzzles. For instance, although the first (London) Times puzzle, published in 1930, contains some clues which would pass muster in a cryptic puzzle today, it also uses ones which would now be considered unfair, and some which would be more at home in a straight puzzle. If you don't count quotation clues as cryptic, you could argue that the Times puzzle wasn't fully cryptic until Brian Greer banned them when he started his term as crossword editor in 1995.

In its 70-odd years of history, the cryptic puzzle in Britain has changed quite a lot. Older puzzles placed a lot of emphasis on literary knowledge. Since about 1950, there has been a loose alliance of setters who are concerned about ensuring that their clues are fair to the solver. Although there is no universally agreed set of rules about fairness, this concern seems to have improved cryptic puzzles in general.

(Note: this is a vast generalisation coming from someone born too late to make such sweeping statements. Views from solvers with 50-odd years experience would be very welcome!)

A hard fact to chew on

When I say 'solving', maybe I should say 'attempting to solve'. You can't learn to solve cryptic puzzles just by reading web sites or books. Real progress requires regular practice. This practice will inevitably include making mistakes, and not getting very far with some puzzles. It may take you several years to reach the point where you can be confident of finishing most broadsheet newspaper puzzles, but persistence and determination will pay off in the end.

'Regular' means daily if possible. If you attempt less than one puzzle a week, progress will be slow.

Crossword terminology

You're not intended to read this glossary in full right now. Have a quick look, especially if you're new to this game, and refer to it if the cryptic crossword jargon baffles you later on.

My intention in this glossary is to define the crossword terminology using words you can find in a fairly small dictionary. Where I've used a term also defined in this glossary, I've tried to link the term to its own definition. There are also links to the page defining the various Clue types.

Term	Definition
acronym	= initial letters - q.v. in Clue Types
advanced cryptics	A term sometimes used to describe puzzles like the barred grid ones in the Observer, Sunday Times, Sunday Independent, Sunday Telegraph, Spectator, New Statesman & Society (once a month), Independent Magazine (Saturdays) and the Listener puzzle in the Saturday edition of the Times. The vocabulary used in these puzzles is much larger than in standard cryptics (anything in Chambers Dictionary is usually regarded as fair game), and the puzzles are often specials.
anagram	See Clue Types
barred grid	A grid with the divisions between words indicated by thicker lines than those between letters in the same word (instead of solid black squares). Barred grids are traditionally associated with advanced cryptics, because they normally have more checking than blocked grids. This is supposed to reduce the extra difficulty caused by the use of unusual words and gimmicks.
blocked grid	The kind of grid used in most daily newspaper puzzles. Squares which don't contain a letter are black or shaded.
build-up	= charade - q.v. in Clue Types
charade	See Clue Types
checking	See unch
compiler	See setter
concise	what the Independent calls its definition puzzle. The Times used this name for a while too.
constructor	See setter
container	See Clue Types
cryptic definition	See Clue Types
definition puzzle	The opposite of a cryptic puzzle - one where most of the clues are definitions of the answers.
double definition	see Clue Types
enumeration	The most popular term for the word length(s) shown at end of a clue in parentheses, such as (4-8,5) for SEMI-DETACHED HOUSE. The methods used for multi-word answers vary. Some setters would put (17, 2 words, one hyphenated), and apostrophes are sometimes disregarded so that ELISIR D'AMORE is counted as (6,6).
fodder	A slang term, often used in the rec.puzzles.crosswords newsgroup, for the words or letters on which some operation like anagramming is performed. It's most common in the phrase 'anagram fodder' - if a clue used a notorious anagram to clue ORCHESTRA, then 'CART HORSE' would be the anagram fodder. If that explanation sounded rather mathematical, that's no coincidence - it's often quite useful to think of clues as 'word-equations' when solving, complete with sets of brackets to show which operations are done first.
gimmick	The extra element involved in a special puzzle. This might be one or more of: encoding or amending some answers before writing them in the grid working out all or part of the structure of the grid identifying a theme or quotation which enables you to complete missing or apparently impossible parts of the grid. Sometimes you're told what the gimmick is, sometimes discovering it is a crucial part of solving the puzzle.
hidden word	See Clue Types
homophone	See Clue Types
jumbo	The title used by the Times for standard cryptics using a 27x27 grid. These used to be published on public holidays and other special occasions, but now appear weekly (currently on the same sheet of paper as the Listener puzzle). 'Standard' is approximate here - like many other puzzles printed on a Saturday, they can be rather harder than those printed on weekdays. Similar puzzles also appear in other papers from time to time, especially on Bank Holiday weekends.
light	One of the most confusing terms used in cryptic puzzles. It seems to mean 'a word entered in the grid', but is sometimes used to describe clues too. The rubrics for old-fashioned specials will often speak of things like 'unclued lights'. Modern ones will usually talk explicitly about 'clues' and 'grid entries' instead.
quick crossword	The title used by the Guardian and Daily Telegraph for their definition puzzles
reversal	See Clue Types
rubric	The instructions which often accompany specials. Sometimes you need to read them as carefully as any cryptic clue.
setter	What many British authors of cryptic puzzles like to be called. The more common term in the UK is 'compiler', but this implies that the clues have been acquired or edited rather than written afresh. In the US, the standard term (regardless of the type of puzzle) is 'constructor'.
special	This term is used to describe puzzles where you need to do more than solve cryptic clues and write the answers in the numbered position in the grid. You might be required to construct the grid or identify some theme linking otherwise unclued lights. Most specials are a subset of advanced cryptics, but the Guardian puzzle sometimes uses some of their gimmicks in a standard cryptic environment.
standard cryptic	This is the term I use in these pages to mean a cryptic puzzle of the type normally printed in British daily newspapers. The clues are cryptic, the diagram is blocked, and vocabulary is not supposed to require much use of a dictionary.
straight	a name for definition puzzles used in some UK puzzle magazines, with the implication that cryptic puzzles are somehow warped, crooked or bent.
subtraction	See Clue Types
surface meaning	The apparent meaning of a cryptic clue. Often intentionally different from the real meaning. Frequently shortened to 'surface'.
unch	An unchecked letter in an answer in the grid. Checked letters are those which appear in both an Across and a Down answer. The other letters are unchecked, or unches for short. Some setters and crossword editors have standards about unches. Common ones for standard cryptics are: 'unches should not exceed half the letters in the answer', and 'triple unches are not allowed'.
Ximenean	Adjective for setters who follow the standards set out by 'Ximenes' in his book 'Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword'. Ximenes was the predecessor of Azed as the setter of the Observer's barred grid puzzle. He was also the successor of 'Torquemada', the strongest contender for the title 'inventor of cryptic crosswords'. Most of Torquemada's puzzles would nowadays be considered unfair, as well as extremely difficult. After a few years of setting puzzles in the same style, Ximenes decided he needed to make things fairer. The book sets out the principles he came up with. Some apply specifically to barred grid puzzles, but many apply to cryptic clues in general. You're unlikely to find a copy of the book - it was published in 1966 and has been out of print for years. The only copy I've ever laid hands on was in the public library that my mother sometimes had to phone to get me home in time for supper. I stopped going there in 1976. Some of the material in Don Manley's "Chambers Crossword Manual" discusses the principles that Ximenean setters try to stick to.
& lit.	See Clue Types

	Clue Types
	YAGCC Contents Page
	Other material about cryptic puzzles on this site

Editor: Peter Biddlecombe
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