There's a difference between finishing a puzzle and doing as much as you can. The Independent on Sunday is usually not too difficult, though a little harder than the other two. The easiest is the Everyman in the Observer, I'd think, but the Sunday Telegraph is very accessible too. And Quixote translates in Guardian terms to the setter Pasquale - the same man. It's maybe a little different in the Indy where the easiest setters are Quixote (generally Monday once a fortnight), Dac (Wednesday apart from last one of the month) and Phi on Friday - often referred to as "Phiday" - so that might be a place to look for an easier puzzle, and one which will be meticulously and fairly clued. Generally speaking, I think some papers do this, especially going for an easier puzzle on a Monday. Do puzzles increase in difficulty throughout the week? That is, where should a beginner currently go on a Friday? Puzzles do not have to be hard to be good. Looking at your spreadsheet of solving times, it might be useful to newcomers to note that Rufus provides less gruelling challenges.Ībsolutely - and they are excellent puzzles.
CROSSWORDS FOR BEGINNERS FULL
When I started out, it was quite a while before I solved a full puzzle correctly. There can be a reasonably long learning curve. Whatever the paper, though, my advice is that 90% or so of cryptic clues consist of (a) a definition of the answer and (b) another way of getting the answer by manipulating its letters - lying side by side, with either coming first.Ĭomparing the answer next day with the clue should help and nowadays blogs explain everything about every clue. The Telegraph is the ideal starting puzzle and it is the one I started on. What's your advice to a beginner who's thinking of picking up a daily paper and getting into its crossword? The latest was recorded last week by Isata Kanneh-Mason.Other than the Guardian's quiptic, the short answer seems to be: the Telegraph and to a lesser extent the FT, both of which NMS tended to finish in under half an hour.
CROSSWORDS FOR BEGINNERS SERIES
The examples of double definitions in our for beginners series might be a good place to go next seasoned solvers, do you have any favourites to share?įinally, these explainers are supposed to be timeless, but for those who have come here in 2021, we are sharing tips in a playlist called Healing Music Recorded in 2020-21 to Accompany a Solve or Even Listen to. That said, American puzzles, which don’t use wordplay at all and which oblige every letter to be part of an across and a down clue, keep things interesting with a much higher proportion of cryptic definitions: there are a ton of examples in the series of US-style puzzles we’re developing here. What next? Beginners, any questions? The impression is sometimes given that all cryptic clues are cryptic definitions, but they’re more of an occasional treat. This one’s from Paul:Ģ4ac American behind bars, enclosure with little room (4,4)
Equally, a setter might offer a cryptic definition accompanied by the usual synonyms and abbreviations that make up most cryptic clues. Rufus again:Ģ0ac Be careful! The time is not right (5,3) We’ve looked at double-definition clues sometimes, the setter will bundle up one normal and one cryptic definition. Worry not! The crossing letters are a big help – also, sometimes you do get something else to confirm the answer. In a genuine puzzle environment, might I not get stuck? I won’t have an anagram or anything to confirm the answer. But, the solver may reasonably worry: I know these are cryptic definitions because you’ve just told me that’s what we’re talking about. “Tears” rhymes with “bears”, not “fears”, and it’s ORIGAMI. … that’s THREE-LEGGED RACE, TEMPER and REINDEER, and today from setters like Vulcan. In the Guardian, I expect to find one or two on a Monday, for many years from Rufus …ġ6acSporting event one’s bound to compete in (5-6,4)ģd Even when frayed, it should be kept (6)ġ0acThey lead the way in the present transport system (8)
Unlike some types of clue from the early days (such as “fill in the missing word from the Horatian ode”), the cryptic definition is going strong. “Die” and “jammed” are not doing what they appear, as the answers are SWISS ROLL and ICE CUBE. Here are a couple, which have been attributed to Adrian Bell, the first Times setter. The cryptic definition is pretty much a joke, and many of the most-quoted clues work in this way. Since the earliest days, setters have also deployed another trick: describing the answer in a way that is very easy to misread.
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