Loadstar 128 #18/q18.d81/t.cryptics

Text File | 1990-01-01 | 9.6 KB | 214 lines

         C R Y P T I C    P U Z Z L E S : PUZZLES WHOSE TIME HAS COME

                               by Fender Tucker


     Readers of LOADSTAR for the C-64 know about my love for cryptic
puzzles; I've been foisting this type of puzzle on them for about a year.
Now it's your turn.

     We are all familiar with crossword puzzles.  A definition (or synonym)
of a word is given and the solver is to come up with the word.  The way to
get good at crossword puzzles is to work thousands of them, remembering all
the obscure words you come across.  The expert crossword solvers probably
spend their free hours thumbing through crossword dictionaries.

     That is all well and good, but wouldn't it be nice if there were a type
of puzzle that rewarded a solver for his cleverness rather than for his
memory of arcane words?  Well, there already is, and the British (wouldn't
you know it) have been using it for almost a century.  It's called a
cryptic, or British, crossword puzzle.

     In this type of puzzle a clue is given for a word and the solver is to
come up with the word, but the definition is not exactly a synonym.  It's a
form of word play -- or to be more exact, it's one of seven types of word
play.  There's always a part of the clue that is a more or less exact
definition of the word, but the rest is one or more of the seven types of
word play.

     The seven types of cryptic clues are these: anagrams, charades,
reversals, containers, homophones, double definitions, and hidden words.
Before we get into them individually, let's lay down the ground rules that
are used for all cryptic clues.

  (1) The clue will have an exact (more or less) definition at one end of
the clue -- either beginning or end.  Never in the middle.

  (2) All words in the clue have a function.

  (3) The number of letters in the word is given.

     The important thing to remember is that one end or the other of the
clue will be a straightforward definition of the word.  The rest of the clue
will be one of the following.

 ANAGRAMS
 --------

     An anagram is a wordplay involving rearranging the letters of a word
(or phrase) to form another word (or words).  A cryptic clue for the word
ACROBAT might be

  Trapeze artist jumped at cobra. (7)

"Trapeze artist" is the exact definition of ACROBAT.  "jumped" is a
necessary word that implies that the word(s) directly preceding or following
are to be anagrammed (scrambled).  In this case "at cobra", when scrambled
make ACROBAT.  The word or phrase that implies scrambling can be almost
anything, although a good cryptic maker will use something that fits the
rest of the clue.  "Trapeze artist jumbled at cobra" would be legitimate,
but an acrobat jumps, not jumbles, so "jumped" is better.

 CHARADES
 --------

     Another name for this is "rebus".  The word has been broken down into
parts, none of which mean the same as the original.  The clue describes each
part in order.  For instance, a clue for the word PLEASANT might be

  Agreeable requests lead to a social insect. (8)

"Agreeable" means pleasant.  "Requests" suggests PLEAS and "social animal"
means ANT.  The "leads to a" is inserted to show that PLEAS precedes ANT.
Notice there are no extraneous words in the clue.


 REVERSALS
 ---------

     A reversal is a wordplay meaning "backwards".  There will always be an
indication meaning backward, to the left, to the west, etc.  In cryptic
crosswords where there are vertical as well as horizontal words, the word
indicating a reversal may be rising, upward, to the north, etc.  An example
of a reversal clue for TAPER might be:

 Concerning Ms. Schroeder, westward is a thin candle. (5)

"Concerning" is RE.  "Ms. Schroeder" is PAT.  Reverse them and you have
TAPER.  "Westward" indicates a reversal and "a thin candle" is a TAPER.
"is" is legitimate because it shows that the first part equals the second
part.  If the clue were "...westward shines a thin candle." it would make
more sense, but "shines" would have no purpose.

 CONTAINERS
 ----------

     A container is a word inside another word.  As with the other clues,
there's a tipoff word to indicate a container.  "Surrounds", "grabs",
"holds", "invades", etc. all may show a container.  An example of a
container for the word CRAYON might be

 Beam penetrates inmate, turns into coloring stick. (6)

"Beam" is RAY.  "penetrates" indicates that RAY is contained by "inmate",
which is CON.  "coloring stick" is CRAYON with "turns into" a legitimate
phrase showing that the first part of the clue (the wordplay) equals the
latter part, the straight definition.

 HOMOPHONES
 ----------

     A homophone is another way of saying homonym -- a word that sounds like
another but is spelled differently and means something else.  The tipoff for
a cryptic homophone clue is something like "sounds like", "heard", "out
loud", "they say", etc.  An example of a homophone for PEARS might be

 Fruits are making cuts, I hear. (5)

"Fruits" is the definition.  "are making" indicates the equality of "fruits"
and "cuts".  "cuts" is a synonym of "pares", which is a homophone of
"pears", indicated by "I hear".

 DOUBLE DEFINITIONS
 ------------------

     As you know, there are two parts to a cryptic clue.  In double
definitions (which are often short) both parts of the clue define the word.
It's just that the word has two different meanings.  For instance, a double
definition for SPADE might be

 Shovel a black card. (4)

Both "shovel" and "a black card" mean SPADE.  If a cryptic clue is very
short, look first for a double definition.  The other types of wordplay
can't usually be done in two or three words.

 HIDDEN WORDS
 ------------

     These are the most frustrating types of clues for solvers because even
though the word is right before their very eyes, they often miss it.  The
word is part of the clue (although disguised) and there will be a tipoff
word such as "hidden in", "found in", "spied in", etc.  An example of a
hidden word clue for MEANDER might be

 Wind blows through crime and eroticism. (7)

The word MEANDER is found in the last two letters of "crime" plus "and" plus
the first two letters of "eroticism".  "Wind" is the straight definition.
Double definitions are not as strict with the "every word must have a
function" rule as the others are.  It's legitimate to have a long,
meaningless phrase with the word hidden inside.  Maybe the rulemakers
decided to give cryptic puzzlemakers a break?

 OVERVIEW
 --------

     That's it!  Learn to recognize these and you'll be solving cryptic
puzzles in no time!  The first time I saw a cryptic crossword puzzle I
looked through the clues and when I couldn't get a single word right away, I
figured that this type of puzzle wasn't for me.  Then one day I gave it
another try and in about fifteen minutes I got one!  The rest is history.

     While the seven types of wordplay listed above cover just about any
clue, there are some standard things a cryptic solver needs to keep in mind.
Abbreviations are used quite often.  If a state is mentioned, immediately
think of the two-letter abbreviation.  Musical terms such as "pp" for very
soft or "ff" for very loud are often used.  Abbreviations of the elements
are used.  Silver is AG, gold is AU, mercury is HG, for instance.  North,
south, east and west are N, E, S and W respectively.  Roman numerals are
popular -- M is 1000, D is 500, X is 10, etc.  $1000 is G.

     In other words, your knowladge of common abbreviations is important.
Also, don't be surprised if more than one type of wordplay is used in a
single clue.  My clues are not nearly as complicated or clever as some of
the professional ones you'll find in Dell magazines, so CRYPTI-CROSTICS is a
good place to start.

     A good cryptic clue will almost seem to make sense.  A fantastic clue
will make sense, but these are hard to find.  I really get a kick out of
some of the almost profound sentences that cryptic clues can sometimes make.
For instance, "Rabbi Thornberg hides a hare. (6)" seems to have hidden
meanings that border on the cosmic...or the ridiculous.

     In my opinion, cryptics are the wave of the future for U.S. puzzle
fans.  Check out the puzzle books on the newsstands and you'll see more and
more of them.  They're great for solving while driving on freeways with a
friend.  It's not good for the driver to be constantly glancing at a book in
the passenger's hands to help her with a regular crossword.  But with a
cryptic crossword, seeing the puzzle is not that much of a help.  If the
passenger says, "Somehow strap an old Greek.  Seven letters.", the driver
can mull that one over AND keep his eyes on the road.

     Making up cryptic clues is not necessarily hard, especially if you
don't force yourself to make too much sense.  The ones in the Dell
puzzlebooks, edited by masters like Henry Hook, are superb.  The ones in my
CRYPTI-CROSTICS on Side Two are legitimate, but would probably not pass Mr.
Hook's scrutiny.  But don't worry about making up cryptic clues until you
have many puzzles under your belt.  Start with CRYPTI-CROSTICS then move to
the excellent puzzles in GAMES magazine, the Dell puzzle books, the National
Review, Vanity Fair and other magazines that are jumping on the cryptic
puzzle bandwagon.

     This is a long text file about a subject only marginally connected with
computers.  Thank you for your indulgence.  I really believe that cryptic
puzzles are going to be more popular in the U.S. as time goes by, and
programs like CRYPTI-CROSTICS show how the computer can do some things
better than pencil and paper.  I'm very proud that the cryptic kick on
computers may have its beginning on a C-64/128, on LOADSTAR 128 yet.

FT

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