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	Cryptic crossword - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
		Cryptic crosswords are a particular type of crossword which have become widely popular in the UK, and several other Commonwealth nations such as Australia, New Zealand, Canada and India.
		Cryptic crosswords are uncommon in U.S. publications, though they can be found occasionally in the New York Times, in the British-based Financial Times and in magazines such as The Nation and Harper's.
		American cryptics are thought of as holding to a more rigid set of construction rules than British ones, which may be either praised or vilified depending on which side of the Atlantic a solver is from.
	en.wikipedia.org /wiki/Cryptic_crossword (2237 words)

	YAGCC - Introduction
		All cryptic clues consist of a definition of the answer, and a separate subsidiary indication which provides a set of instructions for constructing the answer.
		Most specials are a subset of advanced cryptics, but the Guardian puzzle sometimes uses some of their gimmicks in a standard cryptic environment.
		The clues are cryptic, the diagram is blocked, and vocabulary is not supposed to require much use of a dictionary.
	www.biddlecombe.demon.co.uk /yagcc/YAGCC1.html (1761 words)

	The Online Guide to the Enigma -- Solving Cryptic Crosswords
		Cryptic clues may also use punctuation in whatever manner seems most likely to deceive; solvers are warned to ignore punctuation (except in two special cases mentioned below).
		Probably the most common cryptic clueing technique is to form the answer by rearranging the letters in a word or group of words as they appear in the clue-making, for instance, paternal from prenatal, honestly from on the sly, or Episcopal from Pepsi-Cola.
		Cryptic crosswords often use a British-style diagram, in which words are separated by heavy fl bars instead of fl squares.
	www.puzzlers.org /guide/index.php?expand=cryptics1 (1272 words)

	Cryptic Crosswords - A Primer
		When doing cryptics, you will notice that each clue has a number in parentheses after it, such as "Parent's sister cracked a nut (4)." If you are any good at pattern recognition, you will notice that this is the number of letters in the answer.
		They violate one of the dicta of cryptics, which is that stuff to be anagrammed can't be clued implicity.
		You'll note that most cryptics have this spaced grid where all clues are either contained in an odd row or an odd column, and this one doesn't.
	www.bantha.org /~develin/cryptics.html (976 words)

	Cryptics Monthly
		Whether you are completely new to cryptic crosswords, are already working to master them, or consider yourself an accomplished solver, the key to your understanding and enjoyment of cryptics is learning, and learning to rely upon, the rules of cryptic construction.
		In a properly-constructed cryptic clue, every word in the clue plays one of three parts in the cryptic reading: it is either part of the straight definition, part of the wordplay, or part of a connector between the two.
		Ambiguity is permissible, even desirable, when it serves to mask the cryptic reading in a contradictory surface sense, as in the use of “monkeys” as a noun in the surface sense (“Troop of monkeys”) but as a verb in the cryptic reading (“monkeys around”).
	www.crypticsmonthly.com /guidetocryptics.asp (1652 words)

	Bryson Limited - Crossword Glossary (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		A Cryptic Clue which is simultaneously a Definition of the Answer and Wordplay leading to the answer (normally these would be two separate parts of the clue).
		Cryptic Clues in which the Answer is formed from one word (or a word reversed) inside another.
		Cryptic Clue, the Definition refers to the answer as usual, but the Wordplay refers to the mutilated form entered into the Grid.
	www.bryson.ltd.uk /glossary.html (1887 words)

	Cryptic crossword tips
		The cryptic crossword grid looks relatively similar to that of an ordinary crossword, but the clues tell little stories that seem to have little to do with the answers that eventually go into the diagram.
		Cryptic clues are, by tradition, followed by the enumeration of the answer.
		A second definition clue is a little different from the other types of clues in that it has no wordplay half; instead it has two definition halves.
	www.geocities.com /Athens/7762/cryptic.html (2195 words)

	[No title]
		Ideally, the two definitions are physically separate — one at one end of the clue and one at the other.
		You should be able to draw a line between them so that the straight definition falls on one side and the cryptic definition on the other.
		The straight definition might be at the beginning or the end of the clue, but it should never be in the middle.
	www.carolinescryptics.com /intro.htm (653 words)

	Clue types
		The 'normal' cryptic clue usually consists of a definition and a subsidiary clue to the word, either element coming first.
		In each DLM clue there is a definition (one word or more) and a mixture of the letters of the required answer.
		Definitions in clues refer to the full unmutilated answers; subsidiary indications to the mutilated forms which constitute the lights.
	home.freeuk.net /dharrison/apex/cluetype.htm (795 words)

	YAGCC - Clue Types
		Usually, all of them are definitions or synonyms that you can confirm using a dictionary or thesaurus, but sometimes some or all of them are cryptic definitions.
		Cryptic definitions are definitions written in some deceitful way.
		This is the bread-and-butter cryptic clue type - almost any word can be clued with a charade, and you may find that half the clues in a standard cryptic are pure or partial charades.
	www.biddlecombe.demon.co.uk /yagcc/YAGCC2.html (1856 words)

	Puzzlecrypt: Puzzles with Cryptic Clues. Cyptic Clue Guide
		The definition is the same as in any standard crossword puzzle and consists of either a synonym or a brief descriptive phrase.
		The two parts of a clue, definition and wordplay, are combined in no special order and with deliberate intent to confuse, but once you see through the confusion and find the answer, you'll know for sure that it's the right one.
		Cryptic clues have none of the ambiguity of standard crossword puzzle clues, because wordplay and definition independently confirm the answer.
	www.puzzlecrypt.com /clue_guide.htm (1049 words)

	Introduction to cryptic crosswords - crossword tools .com - Online tools for crosswords and more
		For example, the editors of American cryptics tend to be far stricter about what is and isn’t acceptable and the puzzles don’t often include straight cryptic definitions (see later).
		All cryptic clues have a definition and this definition is almost always at one end or another of the clue.
		The definition part of the clue is ‘celestial body’, the anagram indicator (as it is called) is ‘unusually’ and the anagram letters are from the word ‘remote’.
	www.crosswordtools.com /cryptic-crosswords.php (1762 words)

	Writing and Solving Cryptic Clues (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		My intended audience, therefore, is split into two groups; those who have tried to solve cryptic crosswords and, perhaps after solving a handful of easier, find themselves struggling to understand the occasionally arcane language and methods; and those who understand how cryptic clues work but don’t know how to approach constructing their own.
		With a definition puzzle, all the setter has to do is concisely and factually describe the answer to be entered in the grid.
		A cryptic clue is designed to mislead, and the setter has every right to allow his definition of the answer to put the solver on a misleading path.
	www.ddmayer.co.uk /NewStuff/CrypticGuide.htm (4767 words)

	How To Cryptic Puzzles
		Each clue in a Cryptic Crossword is a puzzle by itself.
		The keys to solving Cryptic Crosswords are recognizing where the two parts separate and which is standard definition and which is wordplay.
		Types of wordplay common in Cryptic Crosswords are anagrams, reversal, charades, concealment, container, homograph, homophone, deletion, lettering, and literal.
	www.pennypress.com /solvers/cryptic.shtml (485 words)

	Puzzle that makes you weep softly and twitch: Cryptic crosswords \| MetaFilter (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		Cryptic crosswords are mostly unappreciated on US shores, but those who have learned to seek them out have struck upon perhaps the best wordplay puzzles ever.
		Instead of rewarding a solver's grasp of trivia, cryptics are truly a battle of wits in which each clue is a riddle that plays by a few simple rules.
		Cryptic crosswords have always been on my lifetime to-do list, along with jazz and classical music, but my grandparents were tremendous fans of cryptic crosswords, and my understanding is that the Sunday Times crossword is the bitch of the bunch.
	www.metafilter.com /mefi/23114 (2826 words)

	Cryptics Quizzes and Trivia -- World's Largest Trivia Site!
		A mixture of cryptic clues, to which all answers are a colour, so a definition of the answer is not always given.
		These cryptic clues will lead you to ten words that might be found in a mystery novel, or heard in a police drama on TV.
		Another cryptic quiz by me. Since these are so hard out of context of their grids, this one's a theme.
	www.funtrivia.com /ql.cfm?cat=5389 (1141 words)

	Puzzler Instructions
		One part is a normal definition of the answer, and the other is an additional hint about the answer's literal makeup.
		The definition may appear before or after the additional hint, frequently without any punctuation to mark the point of division.
		The challenge and fun of a cryptic puzzle is to see through the clue-maker's deceptions, to tease out the definition by rethinking -- and often repunctuating -- the clue's phrases.
	www.theatlantic.com /issues/puzzclue.htm (781 words)

	Theresa's Cryptic Crosswords: Solving Guide
		Cryptics were invented in Britain, and continue to be extremely popular there.
		The charm of a cryptic clue is that it's deceptive at first, yet ultimately unambiguous.
		The basic premise of cryptic clue writers is summed up in Afrit's Injunction: "You need not mean what you say, but you must say what you mean".
	www.crypticross.com /cryptics/solvingguide/solvingguide.html (389 words)

	The New Yorker's Guide to Solving Cryptic Crosswords
		A cryptic is a special type of crossword puzzle in which each clue is a little puzzle in itself.
		Cryptics were invented in Britain, where they appear in every sort of publication, from the snootiest literary weeklies to the brassiest popular tabloids.
		Simplicity and deception are the cryptic's twin charms: simplicity, because nearly every clue follows one simple rule: deception, because no word in a cryptic clue means what it appears to mean.
	www.primate.wisc.edu /people/hamel/newyorker.html (1784 words)

	Cryptic Thoughts
		Since the majority of cryptics published in the US appear in Games and Dell publications, their editors' views are well-known among constructors, and any alternative perspective must be defined in terms of theirs.
		The advanced solver never doubts that he or she will be able to finish the puzzle, and we have a mechanical solving process, not unlike that of the mass-produced daily paper puzzles: you just go back and forth between clues and grid until it's over.
		Cryptics are great places to discover the latter, since if they are clued fairly and checked adequately, there are ways to get to them other than through an unfamiliar definition.
	www.picciotto.org /hot/cryptic-thoughts.html (4144 words)

	Never A Cross Word - an introduction to Cryptic Crosswords
		Sometimes the definition is vaguer though and it needs a few letters from other answers to be filled in before the exact identity of the word can be identified by elimination.
		The second part of the clue is another kind of definition of a sort - a lexical or spelling clue to identity of the word.
		Although definition plus spelling hint is a common type of cryptic clue, it’s not the only kind possible.
	homepage.ntlworld.com /adarob/xword/x_word.html (1047 words)

	Guardian Unlimited \| Crossword \| How to solve cryptic crosswords
		To help you, every fair clue will contain a 'definition' of the answer (usually at the beginning or the end), or the whole clue will be the definition.
		The definition should still be at the beginning or the end of the clue, but a disguised anagram indicator will tell you that the answer is to be found by rearranging the letters of other words contained in it.
		The occasional clue (usually aimed at producing a chuckle) where the definition and the whole clue are the same thing.
	www.guardian.co.uk /crossword/howto/rules/0,4406,210643,00.html (581 words)

	[No title]
		I've been docked in >the past for using "'s" as a possessive in the surface and as a >contraction for "is" in the cryptic construction.
		Despite the clue's length, the cryptic wordplay is not overly >convoluted.
		It is a double definition, the second definition being slightly punny.
	www.users.zetnet.co.uk /prose/prevacc.txt (3246 words)

	Help on solving British style cryptic crosswords
		Cryptic crosswords are great fun to try, but people are often put off because they just don't know where to start, and because the clues just don't seem to make sense.
		I found out most of what I know about solving cryptic crosswords by trying a crossword, and then looking at the solutions, and trying to understand how the answer was arrived at, and this is probably the best way of understanding how it works, but have a read through this and see if it helps.
		Note that the indicators can mostly be combined together in the cryptic part of the clue, so for example a single letter indicator could give you a letter which will be part of the anagram, or there could be a reversal indicator and a container indicator so that one word goes backwards inside another one.
	www.gptucker.net /crosswords/solvinghelp.htm (1039 words)

	How to Solve Cryptic Connections
		Cryptic Connections will be a regular feature of this journal.
		Each clue contains two parts: an actual definition of the answer and some form of wordplay designed to lead you to (or away from) the answer.
		Solving tip: Words and terms like at first, initially, heads (first letters), at the outset, finally, etc. sometimes indicate the answer is made up of first or last letters of words in the clue.
	journals.aol.com /wordsinc/TheSideDoor/entries/2004/08/04/.../520 (455 words)

	DP W1997A: Diplomatic Cryptic
		Here's a British-style cryptic crossword whose answers are all relevant to Diplomacy (in some cases, to the PBEM version).
		A Cryptic Crossword looks like a regular crossword puzzle, but the clues are not the same as a regular crossword.
		The most common types of cryptic clues are anagrams, hidden words, charades, double definitions, reversals, and sound-alikes.
	www.diplom.org /DP-cgi/cryptic (246 words)

	What Makes a Good Clue?
		It has a definition and an element of wordplay (or cryptic definition/multiple definition or an & lit construction).
		Definition and word play should not overlap (except in the case of an & lit).
		However, I'm sure the majority of cryptics solvers prefer to be stretched mentally by devious clues to words with which they are, on the whole, familiar.
	www.btinternet.com /~ed.xword/GoodClue.html (1298 words)

	CDC (Site not responding. Last check: 2007-10-23)
		CDC (Cryptic Definition Competition) was started by Dave McKeegan in October 1998 in response to a desire for clues not supported by canonical American cryptic crosswords.
		The CD cannot be divided into separate definition and wordplay elements.
		Instead of a specific word, a topic is given, leaving quite a bit of free rein to the choice of the clue.
	www.rsabey.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk /rpc/cdc (211 words)

	zz is for zz-cryptic
		In a British-style crossword puzzle, also known as a "cryptic crossword," you're given a clue for each word; each clue consists of two parts, a definition and a cryptic clue that indirectly indicates the word, with no clear indication of where the dividing line is between the two parts.
		The cryptic clue is a second definition of (a different meaning of) the clued word.
		The cryptic clue includes an anagram of the clued word (or a definition of an anagram of the clued word).
	www.kith.org /logos/words/lower2/zz-cryptic.html (730 words)

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