If you’ve never tackled a cryptic crossword, they can look bewildering. The clues read like gibberish, and they don’t seem to have anything at all to do with the answers! Fear not: there is a system, and - like a conjuror’s trick - once you’ve seen how it works, it’s hard to un-see it. Small grids are a great place to learn. There are just a handful of short answers, so you can get through a whole 5×5 mini in five minutes or so, once you’ve got the hang of it, and nothing is too much of a slog when you haven’t.
Every example on this page comes from a puzzle on this site. The explanations are hidden, so hover over or tap the blacked-out bits when you want to see them.
Two clues in one
Almost every cryptic clue has two parts:
- a definition, which is an ordinary, if sometimes sneaky, crossword clue for the answer. It is usually at the very start or the very end of the clue.
- some wordplay, which builds the same answer another way: by sticking smaller words together, scrambling letters, hiding the answer in plain sight, and so on.
The number in brackets is the enumeration: the number of letters in the answer, with (3, 4) meaning two words of three and four letters.
The trick is that the clue reads as a sensible phrase — the surface reading — which has nothing to do with the eventual answer or how it actually works. Take this one, from 5×5 #25:
Freight vehicle at exit (5)
On the surface, it’s about a lorry leaving a depot. But split it up: “freight” is the definition, and the wordplay is “vehicle” = CAR, followed by “exit” = GO. Put them together and you get CARGO, which is indeed freight. That’s the whole game: find the join between definition and wordplay, then you can ignore the surface meaning entirely.
The main clue types
Clues use a fairly small set of tricks. Words in the clue that tell you which trick is in play are called indicators, and learning to spot them is most of the battle. Here are some of the most common ones that you should expect to come across:
Charades
Little pieces, put together in order, like CAR-GO up above.
Feathers cause fruit to ripen (7) — from 7×7 #7
“fruit” = PLUM + “to ripen” = AGE makes PLUMAGE, defined by “feathers."
There is no indicator here: words in the clue are simply replaced with short synonyms.
Anagrams
The letters of some words are rearranged. There are hundreds of possible indicators, but look for anything suggesting disorder, error, damage, cooking, dancing, drunkenness or the like: “off”, “wild”, “cooked”, “badly”, “swinging”…
Unusually cruel punishment for the stressed? (5) — from 11×11 #4
“Unusually” tells us we’re looking for an anagram of CRUEL. That gives us ULCER.
Hidden words
The answer is sitting right there in the clue, running across the gaps between words. Indicators include “some”, “in”, “part of”, “holding” or “eating”.
Euclideans were grasping solution (6)
Hidden (“grasping”) in “euclideANSWERe” — ANSWER
Double definitions
Two definitions of the same word, side by side, with no wordplay at all.
Allow entry to make confession (5) — from 5×5 #22
“Allow entry” = ADMIT, and “to make confession” = ADMIT.
Sometimes these clues can be as short as two words:
Low average (4) - from 9×9 #7
“Low” = MEAN, as in, base; nasty; despicable. “Average” = MEAN, as in the mathematical average obtained by summing n numbers and dividing by n.
Rarely, you might see variants of this idea with triple definitions, quadruples, or even higher numbers.
Containers
One piece goes inside another. Look for “inside”, “taking in”, “holding”, “about”, “outside”, “grabs”, “swallowing” and similar words.
‘Moderate’ King taking in Hollywood location (5) — 5×5 #51
“Hollywood location” = LA, inside “King” = REX — RELAX, “moderate”.
Reversals
A word written backwards: “back”, “returning”, “recalled”, “on the way back”, or, in a Down clue, “up” or “rising”.
Tuber recalled days of spring (3) — 5×5 #46
“Tuber” = YAM, reversed (“recalled”) — MAY.
Homophone (Sounds like)
The answer sounds like something else, albeit often in a far-fetched way. Look out for indicators to do with hearing, such as “we hear”, “on the radio”, “overheard”, “reportedly”.
Overheard elevated murmuring sound of poetry (5) — 5×5 #49
Sounds like (“overheard”) “elevated” = HIGH + “murmuring sound” = COO — HAIKU, a form of poetry.
Deletions
Take a letter, or a bit, away from a word: “endless”, “doesn’t end”, “headless”, “without…”, “losing…”, etc. Often, the centre of a word is removed to leave its first and last letters: “empty bottle” = BottlE; “schoolboy on vacation” = SchoolboY
Contest doesn’t end level (4) — 11×11 #5
“Contest” = EVENT, without its end — EVEN, “level”.
Letter selection
Use particular letters from the clue: first letters (“initially”, “heads”, “leaders”), last letters (“finally”, “tails”), outside letters (“case”, “edges”, “empty”), or every other letter (“odd”, “even”, “regularly”).
Some of Rodney’s toys initially put in order (4) — 5×5 #24
The initial letters of “Some Of Rodney’s Toys” — SORT, “put in order”.
Cryptic definitions
No wordplay: just a single definition with a misleading twist. A question mark at the end is often a hint that something like this is going on, but don’t count on it.
London’s premier residential location (7, 6) — 13×13 #3
The London residence of the premier, i.e. the Prime Minister — DOWNING STREET.
All-in-one clues
The rarest, and (some say) most satisfying: the whole clue is the definition and the whole clue does double-duty as word play as well. Setters and solvers call these &lit, which stands for “and literally true.” Any of the above wordplay types could be employed in an &lit clue.
They’re foremost in altitude, lofty peaks and snow (4) — 5×5 #45
The first letters (“foremost”) of “Altitude, Lofty Peaks” and “Snow” spell ALPS; and the whole clue describes them too.||
Rarities and others
This list is by no means exhaustive - there are plenty of other tricks hiding up the setter’s sleeve. Spoonerisms, cockneyisms (usually dropped H’s or rhyming slang), palindromes, letter-cycling, rebuses and more. But of course, part of the joy of crosswords is in learning as you go.
Common abbreviations
Charades lean heavily on short bits of crosswordese. A few that turn up a lot in these puzzles:
- One: I (or A)
- Small, Medium, Large: S, M, L
- Right, left: R, L
- Conservative, Liberal: C, L
- Doctor: DR (or MO, MB)
- Church: CH
- Gold: OR (from heraldry) AU (from the periodic table)
- Artist: RA (Royal Academician)
- Commercial: AD
- Former partner: EX
- That is: IE
- Energy, drug: E
- New, Knight: N
- Time: T
- King: K, R, or REX
- Setter, me: ME, I; setter’s is MY
The NATO phonetic alphabet crops up too - Echo for E, Hotel for H, Oscar for O, Tango for T, and so on.
You’ll pick up the rest as you go, and on this site, the setter’s notes below each puzzle spell them out.
Getting started
- Seek the definition. It’s usually at one end of the clue, so try the first word or two, then the last.
- Look for indicators. “Cooked”, “inside”, “back” and “we hear” are big signposts.
- Count the letters. If the bit next to an anagram indicator has exactly as many letters as the answer, you’re probably onto something.
- Use the crossers. Every letter you get makes the clues it crosses easier; a 5×5 grid fills up fast.
- Don’t be too proud to check. The puzzles let you check or reveal letters, and every puzzle here has setter’s notes explaining every clue.
5×5 #22 and 5×5 #34 are a couple of gentler ones to start with. Or just pick any puzzle and have a go.