Crosaire crosswords in the Irish Times

simu

Does anyone here do these?

I was looking at one last night and the answers to it from the day after and they really are very cryptic. However, they are also quite intriguing and I'd like to start doing them.

A few questions, though:

How did you start doing them?

Do you develop algorithms after a while that make it easier?

Any other tips?

Thanks!

Ann Elk

My father is a genius at the Crosaire - he has explained to me numerous times the principle behind the clues but i can't get it. I think it's to do with the way your mind works - you'll either pick it up or not. Good luck!

amazingemmet

You get better the more you do them as its to do with thinking like the guy who makes them, says my gran who can do one faster then i can do the coffee time one in the sun

Earthhorse

I occasionally have a go at the Crosaire though mostly I can only get one or two clues out. Once I got six or seven, though that was partly because my sister had already filled some in.

According to her the best way to learn is to do exactly as you have simu. Keep yesterday's crossword and compare it to today's solution.

After a while you do begin to spot things quicker (apparently).

I suggest you learn your roman numerals at the very least. When numbers, such as fifty, appear in clues it often means the equivalent roman numeral is a letter in the solution.

whiskeyman

amazingemmet wrote:

You get better the more you do them as its to do with thinking like the guy who makes them

Very true.
You almost know exactly what goes in without having to decipher the clue.
Try the Xword in the Sunday Business Post - its not as cryptic as can be a good springboard for the Crosaire.
If you've just come from the Simplex, you could be staring at the clues going "wtf?!!?" for quite some time

The Sweeper

First of all, since you're an Irish speaker, you've probably copped onto this, but for those who haven't... it's "Cruss arra", the irish word for crossword, not sodding "Cross-air", some French crossword company...

Anyway! Cryptic crosswords have repeated styles that crop up again and again. There will be anagrams, repeated roundabout references, hints and tips that reappear in crosswords that are composed by the same person every day. Here are some examples from Crosaire:

"It should make the late covering less of a bind when I have swallowed it". 8 letters.

Right - a late covering. What's late? Dark? Night? What are you when you're late? Dead? A dead covering. Hmm. A pall? A deathly pall? okay, when I have swallowed it... I swallowed it, I ate it. I ate. Pall I ate. Palliate. To palliate is to make something less serious or intense (like a crime), or to mitigate something. So the main clue is "to make less of a bind", the bits either side are hints.

Here's another:

"Races that are one up." (8 lettesr) So races... is that like run races? Or thinking outside the box, races of people? 8 letters. Notice that "are one up" adds up to eight letters. Is there a race of people that's an anagram of "are one up"? ...European.

Thinking laterally is important in doing cryptic crosswords. Sometimes they're like those visual puzzles - you can stare for hours, but you just won't see it...

modular

Words like 'back' 'around' and 'scattered' in clues usually mean messing around with words, like putting them backwards, inside other words, anagrammed, etc.

Tar.Aldarion

Minesajackdaniels wrote:

First of all, since you're an Irish speaker, you've probably copped onto this, but for those who haven't... it's "Cruss arra", the irish word for crossword, not sodding "Cross-air", some French crossword company...

Anyway! Cryptic crosswords have repeated styles that crop up again and again. There will be anagrams, repeated roundabout references, hints and tips that reappear in crosswords that are composed by the same person every day. Here are some examples from Crosaire:

"It should make the late covering less of a bind when I have swallowed it". 8 letters.

Right - a late covering. What's late? Dark? Night? What are you when you're late? Dead? A dead covering. Hmm. A pall? A deathly pall? okay, when I have swallowed it... I swallowed it, I ate it. I ate. Pall I ate. Palliate. To palliate is to make something less serious or intense (like a crime), or to mitigate something. So the main clue is "to make less of a bind", the bits either side are hints.

Here's another:

"Races that are one up." (8 lettesr) So races... is that like run races? Or thinking outside the box, races of people? 8 letters. Notice that "are one up" adds up to eight letters. Is there a race of people that's an anagram of "are one up"? ...European.

Thinking laterally is important in doing cryptic crosswords. Sometimes they're like those visual puzzles - you can stare for hours, but you just won't see it...

ah yes we went througha lot of answers last night like that trying to see how they came up with them from the clues.It seemsquite hard atm to us simple crossword doers but ithink that is the best way for us to learn.
The only trouble is unlike the simpler crosswords,in this one, you really don't knowif you are right or not in some of them.

Sleepy

For anyone interested in the author, the Crosaire crossword has been done by the same guy, Derek Crozier since it started. He's submitted the daily crossword from Zimbabwe since the middle of World War 2!

Derek Crozier was born in Dublin in 1917 and began his working life with the Guinness Brewery. He and his wife Marjorie emigrated to Zimbabwe in the late 1940s and have lived there ever since. He farmed tobacco until 1963 and then taught English (he is a graduate of Trinity College Dublin) at St George's College until his retirement in 1989.

His involvement with the CROSAIRE Crossword began in 1943 when the then editor of the Irish Times accepted his proposal for a weekly crossword in the paper. The first crossword was published on 13 March 1943. Because of its growing popularity, the Crosaire gradually began to appear more frequently, reaching its daily status in 1982, a position that it still holds today.

Over the fifty years of its publication CROSAIRE has become an Irish institution, attracting a huge and loyal following for whom no day would be complete without its mental stimulation, and often frustration. Derek Crozier remarks that ‘It's splendid to think that there are people who from time to time would love to wring my neck.’

Link: http://www.obrien.ie/author.cfm?authorID=20

rubadub

When ever I see people with the times doing the crossword there is always some snide bastard ready to say, "oh its only the simple one you are doing, bet you cant do the hard one", usually these ignorant bastards couldnt get any clues on either, AFAIK the "simplex" means simply that it is not cryptic, though sometimes they have plays on words.

I had a teacher who would fly through the crossaire every day but would admit he would be lucky to get 1/4 way through the simplex.

Pighead

I can still remember as a kid the joy and the rush of euphoria i felt as i got the last remaining cryptic clue in the herald that had stumped my dad mam and uncle for hours
There i was a little adorable 9 year old just home from a game of rotten egg with the lads.I came home to find the 3 of them cursing at the paper,my dad shouting "Grateful?,5 letters,3rd letter h,what the fcuk is it"Cute Wee Pighead struts over has a quick look and casually announces"Maybe its ashes".There was no maybe about ity,ashes it was and amazement was the word that described the look on the oldies faces.
I could see from my mams face that she thought that i was destined for greatness,Dad couldnt have looked more shocked if he tried.
Unfortunately for Pighead,this one flash of inspiration proved to be just that.It was enver repeated and the greatness that my mother seen ahead for me never materialized.I'm at a loss to explain it.I can't even finish a Daily Star crossword now.Oh what could have been for poor Pighead.
*Grateful?=Ashes-Grate full?(the grate could be full of ashes.

Aviator55

Donlt do it! It becomes hopelessly addictive!

Saturdays are good to start on, as the four long clues at top and bottom and the two sides have a common thread.

Save a few days worth and look at the clues, and eventually the penny will drop. Finally you will each my level of expertise when on some days you polish it off in an hour, on others you fill in one clue after half a day and jump up and down on the paper.

"The late Herod may have been this-6 letters" is my favourite ever..answer "overdue" as in "late" and "over Jew"

Enjoy.

Pighead

I'm afraid your favourite answer is wrong,overdue has 7 letters buddy.Don't worry i've just put on my thinking cap so please God we'll crack the answer before hometime.Respect

Capt'n Midnight

They used to give hints in the Christmas edition.

adonis

yeah my dad can do them..he started doing them in UCD in the 70's, but he says you need to keep at them everyday, or you lose touch with the old gimmer's way of thinking (crozier)...so your best bet is to plug away..and to compare the solutions to the actual clues!.. bon courage simu!

patzer117

The way I started was by keeping yesterday's paper and writing in all the accross clues and then trying to get all the down ones, and little by little (with the help of some letters obviously) pennys began to drop. If you want to start then be sure you have plenty of free time in the morning

boneless

Keep chipping away at them. I'm addicted to them. I used to work night shifts and started doing them on my break with a mate. It took a while but they are a great way of keeping the mind active.

Colin Dexter, the guy who wrote the 'Morse' books has, I am told, a column in the Guardian on crosswords and how to approach them. Might be worth checking it out.

A few pints also helps the process!!!

CrypticE

If you want the solutions or want to learn how the clues work, try my blog on:
<snip>
I'll try to get all the solutions up reasonably early every day...

E.

parasite

here's a guide to crosaire from the irish times http://www.rte.ie/radio1/thetubridyshow/crosaire.pdf

Dudess

In the name of god, did you really think you'd get away with dragging up a thread that's nearly two and a half years old to pimp your blog...?