Can you do cryptic crosswords?

watna · 07-12-2011 9:30am #1

I'm watching a BBC programme about cryptic crosswords and what kind of clues etc you get. It just seems beyond me. The programme is saying there is no such thing as the kind of brain that can do cryptic crosswords, that everyone can train themselves to do it but I'm a bit dubious. It's showing people solving clues and how they got the asnwer and I just can't see how they do it! Apparently a good way to start is with the crosswords that have both simple and cryptic clues so I may give it a go. I'm just wondering how many people can do them.

Can you do cryptic crosswords? Did you train yourself to be able to do them or is it just natural? I'm a fan of simple crosswords and puzzles in general and I'd love to be able to do cryptic crosswords.

Snakeblood · 07-12-2011 9:34am

watna wrote: »

I'm watching a BBC programme about cryptic crosswords and what kind of clues etc you get. It just seems beyond me. The programme is saying there is no such thing as the kind of brain that can do cryptic crosswords, that everyone can train themselves to do it but I'm a bit dubious. It's showing people solving clues and how they got the asnwer and I just can't see how they do it! Apparently a good way to start is with the crosswords that have both simple and cryptic clues so I may give it a go. I'm just wondering how many people can do them.

Can you do cryptic crosswords? Did you train yourself to be able to do them or is it just natural? I'm a fan of simple crosswords and puzzles in general and I'd love to be able to do cryptic crosswords.

It's mostly learning the foibles of the person who sets the clues. If you get the next days crossword answers, you can work it out backwards how they got there. Except for the Financial Times one. That's witchcraft.

sReq | uTeK · 07-12-2011 9:35am

My mum is very good at them, sadly i've never had the time or patiance.

Welruc · 07-12-2011 9:36am

No cant do them, but if you do the ones with the two sets of clues usually i can look back at the answer and see where the cryptic clue was going. But there is no way id get the answer without the easier clues but im thick when it comes to crosswords!

Duggy747 · 07-12-2011 9:37am

I can barely play suduko without going into a flying rage, throwing tables & chairs, and gobbling the paper it was printed on out of sheer insanity.

CardBordWindow · 07-12-2011 9:44am

Where there is cryptic and simple clues, i sometimes can work out the answer. I might not get the simple one, but use the simple clue to get it from the cryptic. Granted, this is mainly on the crossword in the Star.

watna · 07-12-2011 9:45am

Duggy747 wrote: »

I can barely play suduko without going into a flying rage, throwing tables & chairs, and gobbling the paper it was printed on out of sheer insanity.

I'm not a fan of Sudoku either, I always think I'm doing really well start feeling good about myself and then I'm invariably wrong. I also feel the urge to fobble the paper!

foxyboxer · 07-12-2011 9:47am

I have a mental block whereby I can complete all but 2 of the simplex crossword in the irish times. Have never completed one fully. :mad:

OldGoat · 07-12-2011 10:00am

Can you do cryptic crosswords?

Ecstasy found in Brittanys lost city.

watna · 07-12-2011 10:02am

ok, I learned from the programme that Ecstasy is E and therefore the answer is Brittany's lost city with an E in the middle.

I'm presuming you're trying to say yes, but where are the y and s coming from?

This is good stuff

AnonoBoy · 07-12-2011 10:03am

Sometimes when I'm on a train I take out the cryptic crossword, set a timer going on my watch and then proceed to fly through all the clues, filling in the letters at super speed, pausing every so often for dramatic effect and then carrying on with my speed answering until I stop my watch with a flourish and mutter, "New personal best!"

Of course all my answers are nonsense but the person sitting opposite me doesn't know that.

This mega-brain act is thoroughly undermined when I have trouble counting out my change for coffee later in the journey however.

Jimoslimos · 07-12-2011 10:04am

Yes! I love them.

The best way to start is usually with a tabloid newspaper (yeah, yeah, I know!) that has both straight and cryptic clues with the same answers. Someone mentioned the Star. It's a good stepping stone before attempting the standalone xwords in the broadsheets. The Guardian cryptics are my current favourite. I don't usually finish them but when I do, the sense of achievement is quite something. Indeed there are times when I'm stuck staring at a blank grid for half an hour without solving any.

And yes, you do get to know the style of certain setters - the more difficult are usually reserved for Fridays:mad:

OldGoat · 07-12-2011 10:07am

watna wrote: »

ok, I learned from the programme that Ecstasy is E and therefore the answer is Brittany's lost city with an E in the middle.

I'm presuming you're trying to say yes, but where are the y and s coming from?

This is good stuff

Mythical city of 'Ys' in the French region of Brittany said to be lost in the sea.

watna · 07-12-2011 10:10am

OldGoat wrote: »

Mythical city of 'Ys' in the French region of Brittany said to be lost in the sea.

If I had sat staring at the screen from now until the world ended I would never have got that!!

You are my new hero

I think I will find a newspaper that has the simplex/cryptic one together and give it a go. I'm not in Ireland so no Star for me! I think the local paper, the Dominion Post might do it and even better, I can steal it from work, which is good because it's sh*te and I wouldn't pay for it!

07-12-2011 10:12am

i dont do them and they're pretty tough but i'd far prefer one to sudoku, i hate that boring game

yeppydeppy · 07-12-2011 10:19am

I love them - but Crosaire isn't the same since they ran out of the ones set by Mr. Crozier.
I learned to do them by trying it day one and then working out the answers the next day - keep that up for a week or two and you be in the swing of it in no time.
Simplex crosswords are harder in a way, you either know the answer or you don't. With cryptic clues you can work out the answer even if you don't know the word.
And anyone who says using a dictionary is cheating is a moron, if you don't use a dictionary your not learning new words. A dictionary is a tool for working on crosswords.

OldGoat · 07-12-2011 10:24am

watna wrote: »

You are my new hero

/Smug :cool:

I think I will find a newspaper that has the simplex/cryptic one together and give it a go. I'm not in Ireland so no Star for me! I think the local paper, the Dominion Post might do it and even better, I can steal it from work, which is good because it's sh*te and I wouldn't pay for it!

It takes a while to get into the mindset of the person setting the clues. Get a hold of yesterdays and todays papers. Fill out the answers to yesterdays clues and see how they were put together. After a week or two of filling out the answers you'll find you are starting to recognise patterns.
Great sense of achievment when you get your first clue right. Even better when you actually complete a crossword.
Sadly thats still a rare thing for me to do.
However I am now someones hero and so my work here is done. :P

+1 to everything yeppydeppy just said.

orourkeda · 07-12-2011 10:33am

I am too impatient for them. I find cryptic crosswords hugely frustrating

Jimoslimos · 07-12-2011 10:35am

yeppydeppy wrote: »

Simplex crosswords are harder in a way, you either know the answer or you don't. With cryptic clues you can work out the answer even if you don't know the word.
And anyone who says using a dictionary is cheating is a moron, if you don't use a dictionary your not learning new words. A dictionary is a tool for working on crosswords.

Very true! One example of the top of my head for a simplex clue

Fish (5):

Now how many fish can you think of with 5 letters. Makes it next near to impossible to fill in without getting some letters first. Lets have a look at how it might be phrased on a cryptic clue;

Fish sitting on a branch (5):

So you see, the cryptic clue actually gives you more to work with.

I was afraid to ask about dictionaries:( but yes if there is one to hand and I'm stuck, I have no qualms!

OldGoat · 07-12-2011 10:41am

Jimoslimos wrote: »

Very true! One example of the top of my head for a simplex clue

Fish sitting on a branch (5):

Perch Stick(leback)

Jimoslimos · 07-12-2011 10:43am

OldGoat wrote: »

Perch Stick(leback)

Very good! I didn't see that.

yeppydeppy · 07-12-2011 11:51am

gegs (9,4)?

missvirgo · 07-12-2011 12:04pm

I love them, my father taught me a few tricks for the cryptic ones...

Haven't done them for ages, but now i cant wait to get back in the zone of doing them again

I'd almost forgotten about them, so thanks

handsome ken · 07-12-2011 12:05pm

personally i'm rubbish at cryptic ones - i can sometimes finish the simplex one in the Times but a friend of mine is the opposite - he always finishes the cryptic one but has difficulty doing the simplex. Also he sometimes tries the cryptic one in the Sunday Indo but that one is a b***h even for him!!

The Princess Bride · 07-12-2011 12:30pm

orourkeda wrote: »

I am too impatient for them. I find cryptic crosswords hugely frustrating

I find it frustrating when I do them for years and never win.The Sunday Business Post one is do-able,good one to start with .
Eg- a southern bird may be cross
s - tern
Answer•stern
Hardly rocket science

pickarooney · 07-12-2011 12:36pm

I find them easy enough but usually do three or four and then give up because I know I'll finish it but don't want to waste any more time on it.

Cork Lass · 07-12-2011 12:47pm

yeppydeppy wrote: »

gegs (9,4)?

Scrambled eggs I'd say:D

yeppydeppy · 07-12-2011 1:40pm

Cork Lass wins!

Captain Graphite · 07-12-2011 1:51pm

I'm not very good at them but I can usually get a few answers out. Fairly often the answer is just an anagram of one of the words or phrases in the clue.

I'm more of a Sudoku fan myself.

Funkfield · 07-12-2011 1:51pm

I love doing cryptic crosswords. I'd finish the Crosaire regularly enough but then other ones would stump me on a regular basis.

A friend and I were talking about the english times crossword and the standard of clues in it a while back. One of them was, if I remember,....

"Tired arms say, around 18.75" (8 letters)

Answer is : WEAPONRY
"Tired" is "WEARY".
"18.75" is three quarters of 25.
25 quid in Cockney slang is a "PONY"
So, it's "Weary" "around" three quarters of "PONY" (PON)
WEA PON RY
Clear as crystal