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How to play Cryptic Crossword

In a cryptic, every clue is a small riddle. It looks tough at first, but there are only a few tricks and they keep coming back. Learn the four used here and you'll be cracking clues — sometimes faster than in a regular crossword.

What's different from the classic

The grid, controls and helps are the same as in the Crossword: tap a square to pick a word, tap again to switch between across and down, type, and the level ends by itself once the whole grid is right. What changes is the clue. Instead of a plain definition, it contains a letter game that leads to the exact answer, nearly always paired with an ordinary definition of the same word. The number in brackets at the end is the answer's length.

How to read a clue

Almost every clue follows this shape:

The indicator tells you which operation to perform; the capitalised fodder is what you work on; the definition confirms the result. A few simpler clues come with the letter game alone and no definition — then the letter game by itself gives the answer.

The four letter games

1. Anagram

By far the most common type. Shuffle the capital letters until they make a word that matches the definition. The fodder is rarely a real word — it is just a jumble.

Tip: look for letter pairs that travel together. TEFHC has a single vowel and a C and an H — and CH so often ends English words that F-E-T-CH almost writes itself.

2. Hidden word

The answer sits inside the capitalised word, letter by letter and in order. The indicator is "hidden in".

How to find it: slide a "window" the length of the answer across the word, one letter at a time. In DESIRE, with three letters, there are only four windows: DES, ESI, SIR and IRE.

3. Read backwards

Read the fodder in reverse. The indicator is "read backwards".

4. Odd letters

Take the 1st, 3rd, 5th letter and so on; the letters in even positions are padding.

This is the most mechanical type: just count. The fodder is always twice the answer's length minus one letter.

If you know British cryptics, you may miss charades and double definitions: the game's clues use these four letter games.

Cheat sheet

A worked example

Clue: "Night flier or club: anagram of ABT (3)". The indicator "anagram of" says shuffle A, B and T. The definition is "night flier or club". Three letters, both meanings: BAT. Now check the crossings: if the down word through the first square already has a B, you're done.

Notice the order that works best: letter game first, since it usually gives the exact answer; definition second, as confirmation.

Strategy and tips

• Find the indicator first. It is nearly always right next to the capitals and tells you which of the four types you're facing.
• Write the fodder down. Anagrams of six letters or more come out much faster on paper than in your head.
• Start with hidden words and odd letters. They're almost automatic and fill the grid with letters for the hard anagrams.
• Trust the length. The bracketed number is exactly the number of squares — no spaces or hyphens.

Common mistakes

• Solving from the definition alone. "Barking pet" has several answers; the letter game has only one.
• Grabbing one letter too many or too few for a hidden word. Count the squares first.
• Dropping a repeated letter in an anagram: TOTLA has two Ts, and so does TOTAL.

Difficulty and helps

Cryptics use the same four difficulties as the classic, with grids and words growing at each level; each difficulty starts at a slightly gentler point than its classic equivalent, because the clue is already a challenge. Check marks wrong letters in the grid and Reveal shows the letter in the selected square — signed in, you get free uses per level and can buy extras with coins. Cryptics are also the Tuesday daily challenge and work in team play and Versus.

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