All cryptic puzzlers understand that compilers employ words cryptically to obtain their answer, and that they need to recognize those words for what they stand for - LOVE to yield the letter O; SPECIALIST to yield the common suffix ENT; COMPANY to yield CO etc . Many puzzlers built up a list of such words, as have I, with a glossary of over 800 such words.
Beyond such words, compilers often test your knowledge of Minerals, Numbers and Foreign Words so we'll now look at how you cope with such ruses.
MINERALS & ELEMENTS
You'll need to know the symbols for some common elements from the Table of Elements.
The symbol for LEAD is PB but isn't often used because the letters aren't often found in words, whereas the symbols for GOLD ie AU and for SILVER ie AG are commonly employed.
H for HYDROGEN, C for CARBON and O for OXYGEN also find favour. A few others that come in handy are FE for IRON; SN for TIN; AL for ALUMINIUM; CL for CHLORINE; NA for SODIUM and CU for COPPER. It's a good idea to have access to the Table of Elements which should show in most encyclopaedias.
Here are a couple of examples of how these symbols are used in clues:
"Silver has no saint in charge when it comes to disbelieving (8)"
ANSWER = AG NO ST IC
"Copper seldom found on some arrows (6)"
ANSWER = CU RARE (a poison used in blowpipe arrows)
NUMBERS
You need to know your Roman numerals especially
I for 1; IV for 4; V for 5; VI for 6; IX for 9; X for 10, though sometimes you need the letters io; XI for 11; XL for 40;
IL for 49; L for 50; LI for 51; IC for 99; C for 100; CI for 101;
ID for 499; D for 500; DI for 501; IM for 999, M for 1,000;
MI for 1001 etc
NOTE re THOUSAND: K as for KILO or G as for GRAND are sometimes used instead of M. You just have to see what fits.
And don't always expect these Roman numerals to be used in the accepted manner. Compilers use numeric licence as readily as they do literary licence eg
CLUE: 101599 sort of pride (5) ANSWER: CI V IC
Not fair is it!
Here are a couple of more straightforward uses of numbers in clues.
"Five get into a dance and celebrate (5)"
(Instead of 'five' the word 'quintet' could be used)
ANSWER: RE V EL (Here the dance is a 'reel')
"Queen takes in 51 people and then another 11 to make a potion (6)"
ANSWER: E LI XI R (Queen = ER)
NOTE: Sometimes no mention is made of a particular number but you may well be expected to know that a 'cricket team' = XI; a 'rugby' team = XV or that a 'crew' means 'EIGHT' (seldom VIII which is difficult to use in word building.
OFFBEAT NOTE: Sometimes the word 'number' needs to be interpreted as 'something that numbs' ie 'ether' or, less frequently, 'chloroform' and 'anaesthetist'
FOREIGN WORDS
You need to be a person of many parts to do cryptic puzzles, and one of those parts is to be a mini linguist. French words are the most commonly used eg;
To get the letters UN the clue may contain the words A FRENCH ie the French for the indefinite article A
Similarly the words THE FRENCH are seeking the letters LE or LA
The clue words FRENCH ARTICLE make you choose from LE; LES; LA; UN; UNE.
AND FRENCH is often used to get ET, which incidentally can also come from the word ALIEN
ON FRENCH is looking for SUR
Remember 'Sur la table' for 'on the table
EXAMPLE: " Enduring the French swindle (7)
ANSWER: LA STING
Then there are common French words such as TRES for VERY which may be used thus
"Pierre's very hand will result in an unlawful entry (8)
ANSWER: TRES PASS
Here you're expected to know that, to the Frenchman Pierre, VERY is TRES, and that one interpretation of HAND is PASS as in 'Hand me the salt please'
Nobody says that cryptic puzzles are going to be easy right??
Another device to indicate that you need to find a French word is the use of IN PARIS; IN MARSEILLES and so on
EXAMPLE: It's good in Paris as 500 grow older to get restraints (7)
ANSWER; BON D AGE
OTHER LANGUAGES
German words are probably the next most common foreign words to be used eg DER or DAS for THE; JA for YES; EIN for ONE, AN or A; DING for THING; etc
EXAMPLE: Indulge as the German comes after pot (6)
ANSWER: PAN DER
Just as we met PIERRE in the French words above, we meet FRITZ in German words. And words like IN BERLIN indicate that you need a German word
Two other common usages are:
THE ITALIAN to get IL
(For PIERRE as above read MANUEL and watch for words like IN MILAN)
and THE SPANISH to get EL.
(For PIERRE as above read MANUEL and watch for words like IN MADRID)
LATIN gets into the act too eg WITH LATIN is seeking the Latin word for WITH ie CUM
Getting into these foreign words may seem to be adding an extra layer of difficulty to cryptic puzzling but you'll find the more straightforward ones like THE, A, AND etc are enough to get you by.
It would be a good idea to have a French/English dictionary on hand. I personally have a series of the small yellow LANGENSCHEIDT dictionaries to cover most languages.
Well that's your lot for now. Here's hoping that some of the above broadens your cryptic horizons and eases your frustrations with our eternal adversaries, the compilers. Lots of luck.
Dick Honor is a retired publisher and self-confessed cryptic crossword tragic. He is the author of "Your Start-Up Guide To Cryptic Crosswords", a guide for those who believe that cryptic crosswords are beyond them. Dick provides beginners with simple language guidance, 450 practice clues with answers and a glossary of over 700 cryptic clue words.
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