The Daily Telegraph How to Crack the Cryptic Crossword

128 Pages·2004·0.8 MB·English

by  Val Gilbert

HOWTO
CRACK
TT

HOW TO CRACK THE
CRYPTIC CROSSWORD
Val Gilbert
The Daily Telegraph Crossword Editor
Pan Books
The Daily Telegraph
in association with
First published 1993 by Pan Books
an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Ltd
25 Eccleslon Place, London SWIW 9NF
Basingstoke and Oxford
Associated companies throughout the world
www.macmillan.co.uk
In association with The Daily Telegraph
ISBN 0 330 33655 X'
Copyright © The Dail}/ Telegraph and Val Gilbert 1993
Tile right of The Daily Telegraph and Val Gilbert to be identified as the
authors of tliis work has been asserted by them in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patente Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written
permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized
act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal
prosecution and civil claims for damages.
n 13 15 1719 18 1614 1210
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from
the British Library.
Designed and typeset by Micliael Mepham, Frome, Somerset
Printed and bound in Great Britain by
Mackays of Chatham plc, Chatham, Kent.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not,
by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, liired out,
or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent
in any form of binding or cover other than that in which
it is published and without a similar condition including tins
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Contents
Introduction 1
Simple Hidden Solutions 2
Reverse Hidden Solutions 6
Quotations 10
Literary Allusions 14
Anagrams 18
Complex Anagrams 22
Homophones 26
Puns 30
Synonyms 34
Headless, Tailless etc 38
In, Out and Roimd 42
Words in Words 46
Cryptics 50
MoreCryptics . . . 54
Abbreviations 58
Combinations 62
The Language of Crosswords 66
Looking at the Grid 70
Reference Books 74
Dissecting the Clue 78
Six more 2-typeface Crosswords 82
and one more Daily Telegraph cryptic 88
Glossary:
Abbreviations 89
Books from the Bible 99
Crosswordese 100
Elements, Greek Letters and Roman
Numerals 101
Detailed solutions: Crosswords i-20 102
Solutions: Crosswords 21-27 123
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Introduction____________________
Recently The Daily Telegraph ran a special crossword
competition each day for twenty days. The puzzles were
unusual, for each clue was in two typefaces - a dark one
telling solvers what the solution word meant, and an italic
section cryptically alluding to the answer. Beside each
crossword was an article explaining a different type of
cryptic crossword clue, and that particular type of clue was
highlighted in the puzzle for that day. The How to Crack
the Cryptic Crossword series was extremely successful
with about 20,000 entries each day. 1 also received
hundreds of letters from people delighted that at long last
they could understand cryptic crossword. Most
correspondents asked for the series to be turned into a
book.
Well this is it!
Anyone who can tackle a simple crossword can solve a
cryptic one, all they need is a little help in learning how to
decipher the clues. You don't have to be clever (I have
never been to university and I do not have an A-level to my
name) but you have to enjoy the English language. You
have to enjoy twanging it around like a piece of elastic.
This book, I hope, will show you how to crack the code of
cryptic crosswords, imtwist and decipher the clues, so that
you can have fun pitting yourself against the compiler's
skill with words. You won't solve all the clues in all the
crosswords you come across, but I hope, with the help of
this book, you will believe that you should be able to solve
them and find many pleasurable hours in the future giving
your brain a course in aerobatics by tackling cryptic cross­
words.
So sharpen your wits and your pencil and prepare to do
battle!
Val Gilbert
Crossword Editor
The Daily and Svmday Telegraph
November, 1993
SIMPLE HIDDEN SOLUTIONS
I want to start by looking at the simplest type of cryptic
clue, what I call the 'hidden' solution where the letters of
the solution are concealed - in the correct order - inside the
crossword clue.
For example:
‘Thought some nosey-parkers diD EAvesdrop (4)
Solution:
The solution word has a straightforward definition in
the clue...'Thought...' The fact that the word 'thought' is
used as a verb in the clue and a noun in the solution adds
to the cryptic flavour.
You can often identify a clue as a 'hidden' solution clue
by the inclusion of the word '...some..' in its wording. In
the above example clue the word 'some' indicates that a
word meaning 'thought' is included in 'some' of the letter­
ing of die words that follow.
It is Worthwhile when starting a cryptic crossword to
quickly trawl through all the clues looking for the word
'some'; if you find it do not read the clue for sense but
search it for a 'hidden' solution, ie a sensible word con­
cealed in the letters of the clue.
There are other indicators of this type of clue but they
are not so frequently used. But if you see 'in', 'from',
'inside', 'contain,' 'held in' or 'written in' etc. it would be
worth investigating the string of letters in the rest of the
clue to see if you can find any sensible word hidden within
them.
So when attempting cryptic crosswords keep a sharp
eye open for any word within a clue that implies that you
should look carefully at the sequence of letters in the clue.
For example:
‘Consumes a portion of meat stew’ (4)
Solution:
'Consumes...' Straightforward definition of solution
'...a portion of...' indicates this is a 'hidden' solution clue
'...meat stew' contains the answer EATS.
Now turn over the page and see if you can solve
Crossword No 1 where all the 'fingered' clues
contain hidden solutions.
All the clues are in two different type faces.
The words in the dark type are simple, straightfor­
ward clues, for example:
Gift (7) Solution: PRESENT.
The words in italics are the cryptic section of the
clue—if you can unscramble the cryptic message it
should confirm that you have the correct answer.
SIMPLE HIDDEN SOLUTIONS
ACROSS DOWN
ta- 1 Sign of the Zodiac has 2 Wireiess gives a little
some vagaries in store advert in South American
for us (S) city(5)
4 Proprietor puts new 3 Gracefui, neat leg
distribution in alternative crossed (7)
place (S)
5 Wrench from the others,
10 Disrobe from a French
we hear (5)
frock {7)
6 Take out essence (7)
11 Additionai non-speaking
ro/e(5) 7 Rustic river Ural {S)
«3-12 Fragrance from a 8 Awry when at the
Roman perfumery (5) Botanical Gardens (5)
13 iniet makes a rut—yes (7) tat 9 Woodland deity in
15 Eft went away (4) adversity is a tyrant (5)
17 Ailotment is initially quite 14 Move about in prison (4)
under our total
B3-16 Merit some expensive
administration (5)
gear nevertheless (4)
is-19 Angry with some pirate
18 Parvenu is just the
chief{5)
opposite of down at the
22 Unusual but bloody {4) end (7)
ra-25 Far away in some land 20 Altar screen has
is tantalising treasure embroidered ro^e (7)
(7)
21 Perfect when I hand out
27 Lace trimming for the
the cards (5)
Royal Ulster Constabulary
man {5) ^23 Map book can be
29 Once more made a profit found in that last
(5) cupboard (5)
30 Speech written on an 24 Thick—send out East (5)
envelope? (7) 26 Cancel year-book—it has
31 Yet motionless (5) a letter missing (S)
32 Take over and use Earp «■28 Encourage Eric he errs
from the sound of it (5) in writing(S)