The Times How to Crack Cryptic Crosswords

The Advertiser, Adelaide

What’s the aim of this book?

I hope to show that, for any daily or weekly crossword puzzle, it is possible substantially to improve your solving skills by the study and application of a few straightforward rules and techniques.

So, is this book only for beginners?

Not at all, it is also for anyone wanting to master crossword puzzles so he or she isn’t regularly left with unfinished clues before the next day’s newspaper arrives. It may also appeal to others happy to enjoy many first-rate clues and practice puzzles from the sources that abound in the book.

Is there a typical person who might benefit?

Whilst I wouldn’t wish to deter others, the person who enjoys a daily struggle with a Quick (non-cryptic) crossword appearing in nearly every newspaper, is an ideal recruit to the world of cryptics. He or she will soon find that they are being given only one way of cracking a clue ie by definition only; cryptics more often than not have two ways, sometimes more, and take full advantage of the delights and richness of the English language.

What are my qualifications?

I offer four:

1. A (not very fast) solver of crosswords for over 50 years, starting with the London Evening News, followed by the Radio Times and the News Chronicle.

2. A crossword setter whose first quick crossword was published in the Evening News in 1956, and now for the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, The Week and MoneyWeek magazines, and other national media for over 25 years.

3. A tutor of ‘demystification’ fun workshops, mainly for adults but also increasingly for children in schools, held in the UK for over 15 years.

4. Author of How to Master The Times Crossword (HarperCollins 2008) which explained cryptic clues in innovatory charts that have been well-received and are used in this book.

Is this then an update of How to Master The Times Crossword?

Much feedback on this first book showed that it proved useful for solving crosswords other than The Times’. This encouraged me to write a generic book applicable to just about any crossword. Whilst the teaching parts in Chapters 1 (#ua58a1b27-b998-52bf-9959-d3e0308415ac) and 2 (#uae4c733a-476e-5fec-af7a-3d9b8b0b4746) are pretty much unchanged, all the practice clues and puzzles in Part 3 (#litres_trial_promo) are new and from a wide variety of sources. These may even offer a reason for previous readers to enjoy this second book.

Are there rules and principles for all cryptic crosswords?

It surprises people to hear that there are, as set down by Ximenes (see box) and they are followed to a large extent by the clue-writers and crossword setters whose work appears here.

So which crosswords are not covered?

Barred crosswords such Mephisto (Sunday Times), Azed (Observer) and the Listener Crossword (in The Times on Saturday) are not used as examples. That’s not to say they do not follow Ximenean rules as they indeed do, but solvers of these puzzles at the top of the difficulty scale are unlikely to be in need of instruction.

Also one or two setters in national papers are encouraged to think outside the Ximenean box, arguably good for the development of crosswords but impossible for any tutor to teach.

More of this later.

What about Jumbo crosswords?

No examples of these puzzles are included on the grounds of space but the clueing and solving principles and practice described are just as relevant to their solvers.

What’s the book’s focus?

It’s firmly on the solver. The teaching sections have been written after consulting a large number of solver friends, colleagues, acquaintances and workshop students, much of whose experience and techniques are incorporated. To this end, a setter’s blog in the previous book is replaced by practice puzzles.

Are there rules for solving?

No, and I certainly would not wish to be seen as laying rules down. Everyone finds their own way of doing crosswords and my hope is that I help you to find yours. Also I invite you to adopt or reject the tips according to whether they suit you.

One thing I will point out, albeit hesitantly, is that on my workshops, female students tend to be ‘instinctive’ solvers (initial guess and work out why afterwards) whereas male students tend to be more ‘analytical’ in their initial solving. But that’s naturally not always the case: the key point is that it doesn’t matter which type you are.

XIMENES AND AZED

Having taken his name from a Grand Inquisitor in the Spanish Inquisition, Ximenes (Derrick Macnutt), a Marlborough College student and Classics master at Christ’s Hospital, was long-term setter of a crossword puzzle in the Observer. He is remembered today, not just for his puzzles, but also because he set out fair and consistent principles for cryptic crosswords, design and clues in a ground-breaking 1966 book Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword, reissued in 2001. His successor Azed and the majority of setters today in national media follow virtually all of what are known as ‘Ximenean’ principles.

How to reinforce the teaching?

I follow the well-established teaching principle that adults learn best by doing, rather than reading or being talked at. So I have included lots of practice clues and puzzles, with detailed notes. Slightly slimmed down, these notes are, I hope even clearer to follow than before, setting out the solutions to every practice clue and puzzle. They should leave you in no doubt about why the solutions are what they are, a common frustration for solvers. Finally, a full index is designed to encourage the book’s continual use as a manual, rather than a book that you read once and then donate to Oxfam.

The practice clues in Chapter 3 (#uad6b2df8-933b-5385-9c6c-eb49490558be) come from varied sources too and many are to savour, as they originally appeared after having been selected as the ‘The Clue of The Week’, a feature of The Week magazine almost since its inception 15 years ago.

Why do people shy away from cryptics?

There are many fears and misapprehensions about the cryptic crossword, usually displayed at the start of my workshops. It is commonly thought that:

• you require a good knowledge of rare words, literature and the classics

• answers are ambiguous

• the cryptic is always harder than the Quick, non-cryptic puzzle

• there are no rules

• you need to have ‘that sort of mind’

I hope by the end of this book to have dispelled, partly or wholly, all of these myths.

What sort of knowledge is needed?

I believe that any moderately well-educated person with a love of language and problem-solving, and average general knowledge can complete a cryptic crossword. On these points, Richard Browne, the recently retired Times crossword editor, has explained:

‘Twenty years ago setters could confidently expect that most solvers would have a reasonable acquaintance with the principal plays of Shakespeare, the main characters and events in the Bible, probably a bit of Milton, a few lyric verses, Dickens perhaps, certainly Sherlock Holmes and some staples of the Victorian nursery such as Lear and Lewis Carroll, and you could confidently clue a word just with a reference. That doesn’t work any more, partly because the world has widened up so much.

We have lots of people in this country now from different backgrounds – India, Africa, America, whatever – who have a different system of education, and of course we have people logging on worldwide to Times Online, doing the crossword. So it’s a larger and more varied audience – you’re no longer talking exclusively to the public-school, Oxbridge types who were the core of your readership 50 or 60 years ago.’

Importantly, these comments apply to most cryptics published today.

Finally, why do crosswords?

‘I always do the crossword first thing in the morning, to see if I’ve enough marbles left to make it worth my while getting up.’

Letter to The Times from an elderly reader

There is indeed scientific evidence that tackling a crossword can be good for you. Medical research continues to support the notion that mental exercise from activities such as crosswords is beneficial, especially in later life, and stimulates the brain. A New York neurologist, Doctor Joe Verghese, conducted research in this area for over 21 years and found that those who kept their minds nimble were 75 per cent less likely to develop dementia or Alzheimer’s disease.