Comment on Discussion Thread 🛸 Friday 16 May 2025

• StudChud@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  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!

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  • Thornburywitch@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    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

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    • StudChud@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      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

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      • Thornburywitch@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        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.

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  • CEOofmyhouse56@aussie.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    That’s very helpful. Thanks.

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