Basics
A cryptic clue is always followed by its solution's length, in parentheses:
Buzzing bicycle was blue (5) = MOPED Pale Peter trembling in part of orchard (5,4) = APPLE TREE
Whereas clues in plain (American) crosswords are simple definitions or synonyms of their solutions --
Mark = ANNOTATE Showed green thumb = GARDENED-- cryptic clues are divided in half. Half of the clue is a "straight" definition; the other half is a recipe for constructing the answer through wordplay.
Mark and Ann ring London gallery (8) = ANNOTATE [definition] | [wordplay] Deranged lunatic showed green thumb (8) = GARDENED [wordplay] | [definition](We will see presently how to decipher wordplay.) Since a cryptic clue offers two complete routes to its solution, it might appear a priori easier than its plain cousin. So it would be, were it not for the fact that
It is rarely obvious where the cryptic clue cleaves, or which half serves which function;
The "straight definitions" of cyptic clues are often vaguer and more tenuous than plain-crossword definitions. "Bush", for example, would be an execrably obscure clue for TOPIARY in a plain crossword, but the additional information encoded into I pray to burning bush (7) makes that a fair cryptic clue for the same word.
Types of wordplay
Anagrams
The wordplay half of I pray to burning bush (7),
"I pray to burning", is typical of anagrams, or rearrangements of
letters. It gives both the letters to be used, I PRAY TO, and an anagram
flag ("burning"), a signal to rearrange them. While there is no fixed
canon of possible anagram flags, they always suggest motion, change, violence,
decay, unsteadiness, or some related concept. "Burning" suggests that the
letters of "I pray to" are to be agitated to form a (near-)synonym of "bush",
TOPIARY.
We've seen another instance of anagrams in Deranged lunatic showed green thumb (8). At first glance, both "Deranged" and "lunatic" seem plausible as anagram flags. A useful procedure for testing a possible anagram flag is this:
A likely anagram flag will be adjacent to word(s) with the same number of letters as the solution.
However creatively you derange the letters in "lunatic", you will never come up with an eight-letter word. But by making the letters of "deranged" lunatic, you can arrive at GARDENED, the solution. Here are some additional examples:
Sphere scattered venereal disease (6) = HERPES SPHERE [rearranged] | [definition] Broken shelf holds meat (5) = FLESH [rearranged] SHELF | [def.] Witty Mr. Danto mugged (7) = MORDANT [def.] | MR. DANTO [rearranged]
Charades
Popular as anagrams are in cryptic crosswords, charades are even more common.
Here a word is deconstructed into two or more elements:
Mark and Ann ring London gallery (8) = ANNOTATE [def.] | ANN O TATENote the various methods of encoding elements: "ANN" is provided explicitly, "ring" evokes the circular letter "O", and "London gallery" defines "TATE". Further more-or-less typical examples of charades:
Artist's "Burning Hog" hit her (12) = LITHOGRAPHER [def.] | LIT HOG RAP HER Male and female thespians to recreate bad guys (11) = MALEFACTORS MALE F ACTORS | [definition] Art supplies some of bassoon reeds (7) = BRUSHES [definition] | B RUSHES
- "Head of ...", "piece of ...", "bit of ..." etc.:
- Take first letter, as in "some of bassoon" = B.
- "Back of ...", etc.:
- Take last letter, as in "back of bus" = S.
- "North", "South", "East", "West", "Left", "Right":
- N, S, E, W, L, R respectively.
- "Small", "Medium", "Large", "Tall":
- S, M, L, T respectively.
Common Charade Tricks
The wordplay in these examples may seem quite ... well, cryptic; but a
little practice will reveal recurring schemes for encoding letters. For
example:
Containers
Containers are much like charades, but they indicate that some element
is supposed to be inserted into another. "Inside of", "outside of", "in",
"about", "around", "through", and "dividing" are just some possible flags
of a container clue.
Boring article in "Country Home" (7) = VANILLA [def.] | AN [inside] VILLA Put off about vulgar rape (8) = DEFLOWER DEFER [around] LOW | [def.]
Reversals
Reversals are flagged by such phrases as "spun around", "returned", and
"looking back":
Crow overturned clothing (4) = BRAG [def.] | [reversed] GARB(Note that this could just as easily define GARB; intersecting clues on the puzzle grid would have to determine the right answer.) Since so few English words admit viable mirror images, reversals are often combined with containers or charades, as in:
Nerd keeps Elvis's head in inverted barrel (4) = GEEK [def.] | E [in reversed] KEGAcross-clues will sometimes use "left" or "towards west" as reversal flags, and Down-clues "up", "lifting", "growing", etc.
Hidden words Hidden word clues use many of the same flags as containers -- "inside", "containing", and so on -- but indicate that the solution is contained in consecutive letters of the clue, staring the solver in the face.
Government ruthlessly suppresses the real story (5) = TRUTH T RUTH [hides] | [definition]
Homophones
A homophone encodes the solution in a word that sounds the same;
homophone flags involve sound and speech. "Vocally", "apparently", "reportedly",
and "we hear" are perennial favorites.
Drunk cut hair, apparently (7) = QUAFFED [def.]| COIFFED [homophonically] Noisily snoops for trophy (5) = PRIZE [homophonically] PRIES | [def.]
Truncations/Deletions
These clues use flags such as "beheaded", "unbegun", and "after initial"
to signal the removal of a word's first letter, and flags such as "endless"
and "almost" to signal removal of a word's last letter.
Girl from Andean nation decapitated (6) = OLIVIA [def.] | BOLIVIA [minus 1st letter] My wand almost magic (6) = MYSTIC MY STICK [truncated] | [def.]
Double Definitions
This category is self-explanatory.
Ousts bank employees (8) = CASHIERS [def.] | [def.]
"&-Lit"
The conventional name for this category, "and-lits", comes from the traditional
abbreviated explanation of these clues in newspapers' answer columns. It
is short for "and literally so." Often of surpassing elegance, these clues
are the trophies of cryptic crossword design.
An &-lit clue, unlike clues of all other kinds, does not split
into halves; instead, the entire clue is to be read
both
as a straight definition and as wordplay, under the conventions sketched
above. To indicate this (as well as the author's satisfaction) an exclamation
point usually terminates these clues.
Modern unit of weight! (6) = NEWTON NEW + TON I set men on fire verbally! (7) = STEINEM I SET MEN [anagram flag]
Complications
The above information will suffice for most cryptic clues. The most effective
method for improving one's ability is (as with all things) practice. However,
crossword authors must go beyond these basic techniques if their work is
to be cryptic, rather than formulaic, so there are a few more things that
might usefully be noted:
Question marks. A question mark often signals a pun, or a definition that is a (particularly big) stretch:
East bloc relations deteriorated? (9) = ORIENTALS ["definition"] | RELATIONS [anagram flag]
Combinations. Basic clue types, like anagram and container in the following example, can be combined:
Bus driven through scattered rain to Utopia (7) = NIRVANA VAN [inside] [anagram of] RAIN | [def.]
Other placement flags. As "driven through" in the above example indicates a container-clue, "after", "before", and so on can suggest juxtapositions:
After six, the French get dirty (4) = VILE [after] VI LE | [def.]
Miscellaneous. Clues to keep one on one's toes:
Literary pioneer's "Ann, Otto, and Ira" -- odd characters (7) = ANTONIA [definition] | AnN oTtO aNd IrA [every other letter]
Simplifications
Some tips for effective solving:
The first thing to do when solving a clue is to locate its dividing point, and the second thing is to figure out which side is the straight definition. Think up some possible synonyms; see if any has the required number of letters.
Next, consider the sort of wordplay that's going on. Write down some possible building-blocks if it's a charade clue; Write the likely letters in an amorphous blob if it's an anagram, etc. This will "prime" your brain with appropriate letters so that, if it is necessary to go back to looking for possible synonyms, it will be unconsciously focused on the most promising sections of its internal dictionary.
Solving a cryptic clue is often pleasantly like writing rhymes: There are both semantic and syntactic requirements to be filled; one tries furiously to think in both modes at once; one becomes frustrated; when suddenly the "mot juste" appears, like an electrical arc bridging the two highly charged poles of one's brain.