Monday, March 28, 2005
Solving Cryptic Crosswords
Last autumn I declared that solving an entire cryptic crossword, was one of my new life goals. I'd read Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose, a crossword memoir, in which the author Sandy Balfour admits that it took him 7 years of struggling to complete an entire crossword. It took me three months to polish off my first one unaided. I managed two Guardian crosswords in consecutive days last week, so feeling confident, I thought I'd share my tips for becoming a solver.
1. Reconnaissance There are several guides to the 8 types of cryptic clue, and it helps to understand what you're up against. The important thing to know though, is that the answer is always a synonym of the first or last word (or phrase) in the clue. The rest of the clue aims to superficially distract you from the true meaning, and yet simultaneously also "clues" the answer.
2. Be Prolific To get good, you need to solve lots of clues. There's an enormous hidden vocabulary to clue solving (e.g. Sailor=Tar, Worker=Ant, Flower=River), and you can only pick these all up by solving. There are two ways of going about this. Firstly pick an easy crossword to begin, such as Everyman in The Observer, or even The Sun crossword which has non-cryptic clues to accompany it. Secondly, initially you shouldn't be ashamed to cheat. I'd recommend this crossword solver, for when you can't make headway for a puzzle, or when you don't have patience to struggle with a long anagram.
3. A Dictionary Is Not Cheating In particular the Saturday prize crosswords are designed to be solved with a dictionary in hand. Every crossword has an associated recommended dictionary, and sometimes you might need to pour through it for inspiration with a tough clue, or a very obscure answer. The Wikipedia probably does count as cheating, but it's brilliantly helpful when you are struggling to find the name of a baroque composer, or can't remember all the novels of Edith Wharton.
4. Consistency Counts Each broadsheet has it's own style, and it gets easier as you learn the style. Just as it's hard to be good at tennis and squash, it's tough to change between The Times and The Guardian. Equally when a crossword tells you who it's by, as The Guardian does, you quickly learn what sort of oddities and pecadillos to expect from each setter.
I don't think this website has ever acheived anything of note, except pointing people in the direction of a foolish pair of sneakers or a facile flash game. If you felt inspired by this to tackle a crossword or two, I'd be really proud, so do tell me via the comments.
Last autumn I declared that solving an entire cryptic crossword, was one of my new life goals. I'd read Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose, a crossword memoir, in which the author Sandy Balfour admits that it took him 7 years of struggling to complete an entire crossword. It took me three months to polish off my first one unaided. I managed two Guardian crosswords in consecutive days last week, so feeling confident, I thought I'd share my tips for becoming a solver.
1. Reconnaissance There are several guides to the 8 types of cryptic clue, and it helps to understand what you're up against. The important thing to know though, is that the answer is always a synonym of the first or last word (or phrase) in the clue. The rest of the clue aims to superficially distract you from the true meaning, and yet simultaneously also "clues" the answer.
2. Be Prolific To get good, you need to solve lots of clues. There's an enormous hidden vocabulary to clue solving (e.g. Sailor=Tar, Worker=Ant, Flower=River), and you can only pick these all up by solving. There are two ways of going about this. Firstly pick an easy crossword to begin, such as Everyman in The Observer, or even The Sun crossword which has non-cryptic clues to accompany it. Secondly, initially you shouldn't be ashamed to cheat. I'd recommend this crossword solver, for when you can't make headway for a puzzle, or when you don't have patience to struggle with a long anagram.
3. A Dictionary Is Not Cheating In particular the Saturday prize crosswords are designed to be solved with a dictionary in hand. Every crossword has an associated recommended dictionary, and sometimes you might need to pour through it for inspiration with a tough clue, or a very obscure answer. The Wikipedia probably does count as cheating, but it's brilliantly helpful when you are struggling to find the name of a baroque composer, or can't remember all the novels of Edith Wharton.
4. Consistency Counts Each broadsheet has it's own style, and it gets easier as you learn the style. Just as it's hard to be good at tennis and squash, it's tough to change between The Times and The Guardian. Equally when a crossword tells you who it's by, as The Guardian does, you quickly learn what sort of oddities and pecadillos to expect from each setter.
I don't think this website has ever acheived anything of note, except pointing people in the direction of a foolish pair of sneakers or a facile flash game. If you felt inspired by this to tackle a crossword or two, I'd be really proud, so do tell me via the comments.
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