Dick Clark’s
CRYPTIC CROSSWORD CONTEST

Tips/Instructions

Every clue in a cryptic crossword (the standard type of puzzle found in the British Isles) has two parts:
1.) A straight definition and
2.) Some type of wordplay that produces the same answer.

Probably the most common wordplay device is the anagram in which certain letters are scrambled to produce another word or phrase. Here is an example:

Curtis Strange in rough (6)

In effect, you are being asked to find a “strange” or anagrammed version of “Curtis” that means “rough.” A little reflection yields the answer: RUSTIC. In this example, the word strange functions as an anagram indicator. Since anagrams involve change, words or phrases that mean crazy, in motion, unusual, fixed up, in bad shape or the like may appear as anagram indicators. Thus, bananas, swimming, unorthodox, organized, and terrible are just five instances of the hundreds, if not thousands, of these indicators.

Also, in the example above, the word “in” is called a connector. It is simply used to effect a smooth transition between the two parts of the clue. Some other connectors are and, with, for, from, of, and going to. Many clues do not have connectors. They appear (or not) at the discretion of the clue-writer and, in any case, may be ignored when solving. The following clue does not have a connector:

Arranging to retape musical show (8)

It should be clear that “arranging” is the anagram indicator for “to retape” and that the “musical show” in question is (an) OPERETTA.

Cryptic crosswords use several other types of wordplay besides anagrams. Words or word fragments may be written side by side (charades), backwards (reversals), inside one another (containers) and so on. In addition, most puzzles have some clues that involve combinations of these devices. In the puzzle that follows, however, every cryptic clue uses anagrams exclusively and only the “acrosses” are cryptic (the “downs” involve only standard crossword definitions).

One final piece of solving information: you`ve probably noticed that the number following each clue tells you how many letters are in the answer. However, there may be a series of numbers. The sequence (1,1,4) that appears after 11-Across in the puzzle indicates that two one-letter words (or initials, or abbreviations) are followed by a four-letter word. The same idea is at work in 1-, 9-, and 17-Across, but here the component words are actually written in different parts of the grid, as indicated.