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Discussion Thread 🛸 Friday 16 May 2025
(aussie.zone)
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this post was submitted on 15 May 2025
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Aw yeeeee The Guardian app now has the cryptic crosswords - used to be a seperate app until they pulled it. Love me cryptics! Takes a while to learn each setters esoteric use of cryptic clues, but once one does one feels very "s.m.r.t"
You have a special talent if you can work out cryptic clues. I do not possess such talent.
A lot of it is less to do with general knowledge/definitions, and more wordplay.
Eg: in a clue, sometimes the phrase "caught in" or "buried in", even "inside", is used - it means the answer is in the clue itself. It could be an anagram of a word used in the clue, or the answer itself contained in another word. An example from the NYT:
Clue: Lover of birds imprisoned in Alcatraz
Answer
Cat. "Cat" is the answer 'imprisoned' in Alcatraz, with "lover of birds" acting as a descriptor of the answer.There's so many more techniques like that - approaching the cryptics like a wordplay game instead of a trivia game will help with completing them! The Guardian has beginner cryptics too, so it's easier to get into this genre of crossword!
Best clue in a cryptic I ever came across was 'Triumph for Mrs Mop" 8/7. I had _ _ e _ _ _ n _ / _ _ c _ _ r _ in the grid already.
answer
Sweeping victory
That is a great clue! I'd be so proud of I made that haha it helps to know a lot of the answers are gonna be puns or punny in some way haha
Yeah, back when I was starting doing these, I was told that a cryptic clue ALWAYS had two parts - one indicating the meaning and the other the method. Part of the puzzle was working out which was which. And to be alert for puns: a flower does not necessarily have roots in the ground - it could be water running downhill and so on.
That's very helpful. Thanks.
I found a book on a chuck out table that explained cryptics really well. Didn't help me with half the puzzles in the book because wtf do I know about American tv presenters of the 90s, but the 'this word means it's an anagram' stuff was great
My cryptic skills max out at The Age. I can't do Guardian cryptics - though, once upon a time I insisted I couldn't do cryptics at all and then got addicted to the easier ones so I guess there's something to be said about giving it a go!