For Blaugust this year I decided to publish a series of cryptic crossword posts.
I'very aimed for one a day, and with today's short post I have completed the quest.
I'm enjoying it so much that I will continue for just a few more days with a couple of remaining thoughts that I haven't managed to fit in already.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
Sometimes you can't help but laugh. That's what keeps me coming back to the table and suffering the frustration.
Often the trickier clues come with a question mark. If you see the question mark be prepared for something a bit unusual that might make you laugh.
Like
Drop off iron? (8) -Advertiser Feb 4th 2016
Drop off =decrease
Iron =de-crease (get it???-remove the creases!!)
You would never say de-crease instead of iron, but the answer clearly makes sense.
And it makes you laugh at the wonder contained in the English language.
Wednesday, 31 August 2016
Tuesday, 30 August 2016
30 Cryptic Crosswords - Upside down Miss Jane
For Blaugust this year I decided to publish a series of cryptic crossword posts.
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
Sometimes you have to turn a word upside down to get what you need.
"Is up" in the middle of a clue might mean that you need to add "si" into the word.
Indicators might include
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
Sometimes you have to turn a word upside down to get what you need.
"Is up" in the middle of a clue might mean that you need to add "si" into the word.
Indicators might include
- Upside down
- Up
- Backwards
- Turned
We've seen this used with some quite long words. Be on the lookout.
If you keep your eyes peeled maybe you will see Mr Squiggle!
If you keep your eyes peeled maybe you will see Mr Squiggle!
Monday, 29 August 2016
29 Cryptic Crosswords - Know your teams
For Blaugust this year I decided to publish a series of cryptic crossword posts.
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
Learn your teams
Famous football teams come into crossword setting as well.
Team running last in oval (5,5) -Advertiser 8/2/2016
Last on oval is an anagram of Aston Villa
Running is the indicator for the anagram
Team is the straight clue
Race courses also come into the mix
I had one the other day that required me to know that Epsom is a racecourse!
It's lucky that I have been afan of Dick Francis books for many years, so I had somehow retained this information.
Here is another racecourse one:
Caledonian with a first course (5)
There is the course as an indicator.
Every good admirer of bagpipes (like me) knows that a Caledonian is a Scot.
Put A with Scott and you have another racecourse... Ascot!
The possibilities and scary, and endless. So good luck with that.
Sunday, 28 August 2016
28 Cryptic Crosswords - Unusual words
For Blaugust this year I decided to publish a series of cryptic crossword posts.
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
Another way to become good at cryptic crosswords is to remember unusual words like those from Medical terms, Languages (how do you say " the " in french or italian?) Or old terminology.
So I hope that you are someone who soaks up those unusual words and can pull them out of your brain again when you need to (Like my son Thom).
Did you know that a junior chef is a commis?
It's helpful to know when you get a clue like:
Apprentice chef is up, working for royalty (10)
Break it up to solve it
Apprentice chef = commis
Is up =si (up backwards)
Working =on (as in a machine)
Royalty is the straight clue =commission
It is tricky to solve a clue when you don't know the word you are looking for. Sometimes we end up with an idea about what the word must be, and we end up looking in the dictionary to see if such a word exists. It feels great when you guess that a word exists and it does.
Today we guessed that interregnum might mean the gap between kings when we had a clue Run Regiment ragged in the gap between kings (11)
See the info on August the 3rd if you need an extra clue as to the logic here.
Or this one was interesting
Prorogue is to put off.
Put off professional scoundrel (8) was the clue.
Pro is professional
Scoundrel is rogue
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
Another way to become good at cryptic crosswords is to remember unusual words like those from Medical terms, Languages (how do you say " the " in french or italian?) Or old terminology.
So I hope that you are someone who soaks up those unusual words and can pull them out of your brain again when you need to (Like my son Thom).
Did you know that a junior chef is a commis?
It's helpful to know when you get a clue like:
Apprentice chef is up, working for royalty (10)
Break it up to solve it
Apprentice chef = commis
Is up =si (up backwards)
Working =on (as in a machine)
Royalty is the straight clue =commission
It is tricky to solve a clue when you don't know the word you are looking for. Sometimes we end up with an idea about what the word must be, and we end up looking in the dictionary to see if such a word exists. It feels great when you guess that a word exists and it does.
Today we guessed that interregnum might mean the gap between kings when we had a clue Run Regiment ragged in the gap between kings (11)
See the info on August the 3rd if you need an extra clue as to the logic here.
Or this one was interesting
Prorogue is to put off.
Put off professional scoundrel (8) was the clue.
Pro is professional
Scoundrel is rogue
Saturday, 27 August 2016
27 Cryptic Crosswords - Just plain good fun
For Blaugust this year I decided to publish a series of cryptic crossword posts.
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
So here is today's offering...
Sometimes I come across a crossword clue that I just really enjoy.
It's not special for any particular reason that I can see, but who can explain why your senose of humour is tickled by a particular clue?
Some special ones lately have been
Small animal rescue vessel is key in the channel. (4) Advertiser 4/3/16
For a start this is such a short word it should be very easy and have a short clue-but it isn't and doesn't.
We started out looking for a small animal as the straight clue but couldn't think of one that fitted.
Eventually we came at it another way.
S = small (as in the size on clothing)
But this next bit is the bit I particularly loved...
Animal rescue vessel=Ark ( as in Noah's)
It turns out that Sark is an island in the Channel Islands (key =island)
Thus giving us a key in the channel.
We had to look up Sark to find out that it was an island.
Not a long shot to fail in trophy competition (5,2) The Advertiser March 2016
Straight clue is "not a long shot"
Fail =lose
And you need to put this inside the trophy competition (=cup)
Answer is close up
I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did.
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
So here is today's offering...
Sometimes I come across a crossword clue that I just really enjoy.
It's not special for any particular reason that I can see, but who can explain why your senose of humour is tickled by a particular clue?
Some special ones lately have been
Small animal rescue vessel is key in the channel. (4) Advertiser 4/3/16
For a start this is such a short word it should be very easy and have a short clue-but it isn't and doesn't.
We started out looking for a small animal as the straight clue but couldn't think of one that fitted.
Eventually we came at it another way.
S = small (as in the size on clothing)
But this next bit is the bit I particularly loved...
Animal rescue vessel=Ark ( as in Noah's)
It turns out that Sark is an island in the Channel Islands (key =island)
Thus giving us a key in the channel.
We had to look up Sark to find out that it was an island.
Not a long shot to fail in trophy competition (5,2) The Advertiser March 2016
Straight clue is "not a long shot"
Fail =lose
And you need to put this inside the trophy competition (=cup)
Answer is close up
I hope you enjoyed these as much as I did.
Friday, 26 August 2016
26 Cryptic crosswords- A letter from a word
For Blaugust this year I decided to publish a series of cryptic crossword posts.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
Sometimes a word or two of the clue will give you just a single letter of the answer.
Be on the lookout for indicators such as
- First
- Last
- Final
- Initial
- Beginning
- End
These will often show you that you should take that letter from the word following and use it.
Finally take photograph after a long story (4) -The Advertiser Feb 4th 2016
"Finally take" shows that you should take the last letter from take (the e)
Photograph after = pic ...after the e
The straight clue (on the end, instead of the beginning in this clue) is "a long story"
A long story is an epic.
Thursday, 25 August 2016
25 cryptic crosswords - Symbols
For Blaugust this year I decided to publish a series of cryptic crossword posts.
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
So here is today's offering...
Some symbols can be interpreted into letters
Dollar =s
Pound=£=L
Glasses=00
Ounces=oz
Pound =lb or p
Euros=e
Page=p
Musical terms can also be used
F =loud
P =soft
One example of this is from Thursday July 7 (The Advertiser)
Dollars secured some ice cream and cakes
The dollars are an s at either end of the word (securing the rest of it)
Ice cream is cone
The cakes are scones. (Cone plus the s either end)
I'm aiming for one a day.
Many of our friends over the years have said that cryptic crosswords don't make sense. They certainly do play with your mind, and that is why I take delight in them. I love the surprising discovery inside a puzzle and the challenge of twisting the usual thought patterns and making them do something different.
So here is today's offering...
Some symbols can be interpreted into letters
Dollar =s
Pound=£=L
Glasses=00
Ounces=oz
Pound =lb or p
Euros=e
Page=p
Musical terms can also be used
F =loud
P =soft
One example of this is from Thursday July 7 (The Advertiser)
Dollars secured some ice cream and cakes
The dollars are an s at either end of the word (securing the rest of it)
Ice cream is cone
The cakes are scones. (Cone plus the s either end)
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