The Strange Language Of Cryptic Crosswords

Funny word ‘cryptic’! The Oxford Thesaurus of English (OTE) gives these synonyms for it amongst others: ‘Enigmatic’; ‘mysterious’; ‘mystifying’; ‘obscure’; ‘ambiguous’; ‘arcane’ and ‘Delphic’.

Everybody who’s ever done cryptic crosswords can relate to these words but the OTE’s ‘informal’ version “As clear as mud” should really ring a bell.

And then there’s the word “crossword” itself, which isn’t represented in OTE though it’s there in its two elements, “cross” and “word”, which might well be taken to represent what cryptic puzzlers come out with on those occasions when they’re stumped by the expert setter.

Another Language?

Cryptic clues may be written using English words but their interpretation requires such a different approach from the sentences we normally use that you could be forgiven for seeing them as a different language. It’s no coincidence that many of the people used to break the Enigma code during World War II were skilled cryptic puzzlers and thus experts at lateral thinking.

That’s what cryptics are all about – LATERAL THINKING. In fact you could almost call it zany thinking. A common problem with cryptic tyros is that they think too rationally, approaching clues as they do in standard or ‘quick’ crosswords. It can be a hard habit to break.

Typically newcomers on seeing the words “..capital of Morocco..” in a clue will feel good when they come up with RABAT, whereas all the setter is looking for is the letter M. The thing is, however, there are times when ‘Rabat’ might be the go.

Similarly if you see “…the first two Romans..” you’d probably be inclined to come up with the educated answer ROMULUS & REMUS whereas all the setter is looking for are the first two letters of Romans ie RO, which will be used to build up an answer word. Tricky eh?

Building Words

Much of the cryptic setter’s job is to build words or phrases using different interpretations of other words, and it helps to understand how they have to do this. I have improved my modest skills by taking regular words and trying to build them up cryptically. In fact it has almost become an obsession as I go around all the time thinking about them – much as I used to about girls when I was in my younger days. But enough of that!

Words often come in 3 parts – a prefix, a middle bit, and a suffix, and the setter uses common words for these various parts.

Examples of Words used for Prefixes:
In favour of = PRO.. ; Popular = IN.. ; About = RE.. or CA.. as in ‘circa’;
Before = PRE.. ; Measure = EN.. or EM.., which are printer’s measures ;
Like = AS.. ; International body = UN.. ; Six balls = OVER..;
Below or beneath = UNDER..; Princess = DI..; Tertiary Institution = UNI.. ;
Of French = DE.., which is French for ‘of’; Bury = INTER.. and so on.

Example of Words used for Suffixes:
In charge = ..IC ; Debts = ..IOUS ; Specialist = ..ENT ie ear, nose & throat ;
Consumed = ..ATE ; Fragrance = ..SCENT ; Coin or money = ..CENT ;
Fish = ..LING ; Church = ..CE as in Church of England ;
Conservative = ..TORY; First = ..IST; Worker = ..ANT

The Middle Bits

Middle bits aren’t always used but when they are there are literally thousands and thousands of words that can be used cryptically, so all I can do here is to discuss a few of the more interesting of them.

(1) How many ways are there get the letter/s ‘o’ or ‘oo’?

It’s been a revelation to me to learn how many clever ways there are to get an ‘o’ or a double ‘o’ ie ‘oo’. It’s easy enough to see how you can get it from ‘nil’, ‘none’, ‘nothing’, ‘zero’ but would you naturally expect to do so from these words?

‘circle’ or ‘ring’ – just think of the shape O
‘duck’ – what you can get in cricket ie O
‘fighter’ – a famous Japanese fighter in WWI was the Zero ie O
‘glasses’ - gets you OO, which looks like a pair of glasses
‘hug’ – when you put ‘oooxxx’ at the end of a letter the O means a ‘hug’
‘love’ – in tennis a score of say ‘15 love’ means 15 – O. This usage is very common.
‘nude’ or ‘naked’ means there is ‘nothing on’ hence OON
‘owe’ – just sounds like an O
‘zip’ or ‘nix’ – two modern day words for nothing ie O

And that reminds me of how OOMPH can mean STATIONARY, or vice versa ie OO miles per hour!

It’s important to remember that the words above are not always used to get O or OO, eg ‘fighter’ could possibly require you to come up with say ‘boxer’, ‘pug’, ‘ali, or ‘mig’, another fighter aircraft (Russian). In cryptics, the old saying that “there are more ways of killing a cat than choking it with butter” has real relevance.

(2) …getting ‘mad’

You can get ‘mad’ by using ‘crazy’, ‘angry’, ‘irate’, ‘loony’ etc
But don’t forget these possibilities below which can also come from ‘mad’ or be used to produce ‘mad’:

‘bananas’; ‘bonkers’; ‘cuckoo’, ‘loopy’, ‘nuts’, ‘wild’

(3) … words that sound like letters

These are so obvious that they’re very easy to miss in your thinking. Here are just a few you need to be on the lookout for.

Bee = b; Eye = I; Seas or seize = cc; I see = ic; Why = y; You = u

An Example Of How To Build A Word

Lets finish off with an example from a recent SMH/Age cryptic where the setter has used clues to build towards the required answer:

“Rightfulness sees support by Muhammad extremely tricky (8)”
support’= LEG
Muhammad = ALI
‘extremely tricky’ requires the extremes of the word ‘tricky’ ie TY

Put them together and what have you got? LEGALITY which is ‘rightfulness’

Nothing to it, right?

Don’t hold up on getting started. Try the cryptic in your favourite paper or magazine and check the answers in the next issue. No better way to get started

Well, as Peter Cundall might say “That’s your cryptic lot for now” so until next time “Tucker satisfactorily (8)”