After recently discovering the joy of solving cryptic crosswords I decided to jot down the cryptic code and often used alternative words for future reference.  I then had the bright idea of publishing them on a blog to provide some crossword help to all of you.  I’ll update this blog every time I complete a crossword and discover something new – so bookmark this page and keep checking back!

How to use this site

Below you will find a number of postings – one for each type of cryptic clue. The format will be similar for each post – First I will explain the technique for each type of clue then show a cryptic clue and answer as an example then finally I will list the words that you should look for that indicate that a certain type of clue is being used.

Technorati Tags: Cryptic Crossword

Former Pupil finds setting lewd (7)

At first glance the above clue looks quite difficult. However, Former Pupil in this case refers to ‘old boy’ or the abbreviation OB …. add this to a ’setting’ or SCENE and you’ll come to the answer OBSCENE which of course means ‘lewd’

Of course its a bit of a stretch if you didn’t know that ‘Former Pupil’ means OB but after a while you will get to know these ‘code words’ as they are used quite often.

Tip : When you see a phrase that indicates an abbreviation it is quite easy to separate the Cryptic part of the clue from the straight part.  Once the straight part of a cryptic clue has been identified it makes the solving of the cryptic so much easier.

Here is a list of the Abbreviations I have discovered:

Former Pupil = OB (old boy) 

Point = N,E,S,W (points of a compass)                                                     

Church = C or CE (Church of England)

Left = L

One = I

First = IST

Frenchman = M (Monsieur)

2000 = MM (Roman Numerals)

Energy = E

Technorati Tags: Abbreviations, crossword help

Consider this example:

Asks a grim, strangely affectionate message (9)

Immediately my eye is drawn to ‘asks a grim’ as an odd group of words.  Then I count the letters and find there are 9.  Finally – the word ’strangely’ indicates that an anagram is being used (see below for more anagram indicators!).

So from the above we can conclude that the straight part of the clue is Affectionate Message.  Now - in normal crosswords you will only get this information – that is what makes cryptic crosswords easier to solve – you get more information (BUT you need to know the Rules!!)

The answer to the clue is Kiss a Gram 

TIP:  If you jot all the letters down on a piece of paper in a random order then the answer is often easier to pick out.

Here are some words often used to indicate an anagram (i’ll update them as I discover more):-

Strangely               Predicament            Terribly            Breaking

Unexpectedly       Turned Out                Swap                Composed

Please Note – If you see the above words in a clue but there are no obvious ‘anagram words’ that fit the number of letters required you are probably dealing with a more complex clue that I call a Partial Anagram – I will explain these in another article.