Please see Volume 7 errata. Thanks again to Peter Glass for finding most of these.

 Please see Volume 6 errata. Thanks again to Peter Glass for finding most of these.

 Please see Volume 5 Errata. Thanks to Peter Glass for finding these peccadilloes.

 Please see the Volume 4 Errata. Peter Glass found 2 egregious and a few not horrible errors. Thanks Peter.

 Why I Find British Cryptic Crosswords Hard

These are from Daily Mail Cryptic Crosswords vol 1

First Ten Puzzles

1. Definition part does not define the answer or is very obscure
• THAT'S ROTTEN = PERISHED -possibly like fruit?
  
• COLLAPSE IS SURE TO FOLLOW = KISS OF DEATH
• THEATRE CIRCLES = OPERA
2. Obscure anagrinds
• downfall
• displayed
3. Used ONE to mean A rather than I in a word containing both 
• anagram PRaCTICE = TRICEPS
  
4. Strange wordplay doesn't generate the result required
• writer heading off to tour city = R(EC)ITER  but where is the EC?
5. Strange letter combinations
• ROYAL COUPLE=KER; EMERGENCY CALLS=SOS AND SOS; BIBLE=AV
• ONE EARNING LEADER=NOIA; WORK=PER; OFFICER GUARDING AREA=ALT
• KING=R; CAPE=C; FOR ALL TO SEE=U; CORPORAL=CO; UNIFORM=UN
6. General names to specific:
• PORT=RIO; GREEK WOMAN=MAENAD; GIRL'S=DI'S
7. British Celebs
• PALMER-TOMKINSON=TARA; SEBASTIAN COE=SEB
8. British words, place names, slang
• CRASH=PRANG; MEDIC=MB; LONG TIME=YONKS
• BUTT OF JOKES=AUNT SALLY; UNCLE'S PLACE=PAWNSHOP
9. Cricket references
• WHERE RORY FINISHES=LIE; BIG SHOT AT LORD'S=SIX

And finally, what I call WTF's - for obvious reasons. Wordplay that makes absolutely no sense. Here is a sample of clues with answers that I could not work out even given the answer.

1. Private bike kept inside ground
• SQADDIE - Brit for 'private'. I couldn't find BIKE or an anagram of INSIDE in the answer
2. Short instructions in Lincoln's inn
• obvious answer BRIEF but how?
3. Means to climb or somersault and run around gym
• ROPE LADDER
• rev OR + PE for ROPE but the rest?
4. Match is over - Germany's crushed for a change
• EDIT - when I saw the answer, I thought I must be looking at the wrong page
• can find no way into this
• wow! just worked it out
• Match is over (rev TIE), Germany's crushed (D for Germany embedded in rev TIE)
  
5. It's clearly beginning to go off with good reason
• another that boggles the mind
• answer is RIGHTLY
• beginning to go off is obviously 'delete the head' from 'It's clearly'
• BRIGHTLY -> RIGHTLY?
  
6. Work in middle-of-the-road theatre circles
• work is often OP but not here, I think
• middle-of-the-road may be OA but the THE shouldn't be in the clue
• the OA could be part of the answer O(PER)A
• but then, is WORK=PER?

Anyway, if you can annotate the solutions of these WTF's please let me know at plaldridgester@gmail.com

Thanks

Les

 

 

Awkward Constructions

Avoiding Awkward Constructions

Often a clue seems to work well except the verb tense or number does not. Sometimes using the infinitive or gerund will fix the problem.

Sometimes a difficult construction can be fixed by changing the placement of the cryptic part - first to last or last to first.

School administrators declared rules

Seems like a good clue but the problem is that the answer 'principles' differs from 'principals' by only a single crossing letter so the solver may have to wait until getting some crossing word to sort out the actual answer. Not good.

Rules school administrators declared

Changing the order fixes the problem. Now it is obvious which homonym is required.

The reason to restrict the consumption of beer

Not great. Lots of extra useless words. My bad. One of my 'Greatest Mis-hits'. By starting with 'The reason', the verb following couldn't be 'restricts', 'restricted' or even 'restricting'. So, I used 'to restrict' which is not a particularly good synonym of 'ration' in any case. Then, I guess I felt I needed 'the consumption of' for a better synonym of 'ration'. With the dictionary definition of 'rationale' coming first, I could not use 'The reason for ...' because 'for' would mean 'produces' but 'rationale' doesn't produce 'ration+ale'. And of course, 'from' is no good.

Allot beer for reason given

Easy-peazy once you've thought about it for a year or so. The order change allows 'for' to be used properly. 'reason given' is a good synonym for 'rationale', and 'allot' works well for 'ration'

Yearn for a tree

This is a double-definition clue so it looks like 'for' does not belong there. However, if 'yearn for' is the definition, it's fine. Also, 'a' seems like an added extra but here 'a tree' means 'a type of tree'.

A tree to yearn for

No. Here 'to' is used as a connector. In a double-definition, only 'and' or 'or', or no connector works.

Advisor to trick Arab potentate with a bit of treasure

The word 'con' is wanted here. But the verb would have to be 'cons' for 'Advisor' which should probably be 'Adviser'. This is kind of shifty. I used 'to trick' but really 'to con' should be the result. You could kid yourself (as I must have) that 'to' is just a connector between the dictionary definition and the cryptic part. 'to' is a bi-directional connector.

So, a year after publication, you can still find things to obsess over. But, it's worth it. In every puzzle, there will be a clue that will make you smile even a year later. Good luck. I will give whatever help I can to novice setters. I won't, however, edit entire books - a puzzle or two, maybe.⁴

4 Contact me by email: plaldridgester@gmail.com

First Puzzle

Your First Puzzle

Definitely get a program to generate puzzle grids. The best ones, like Crossword Compiler², have huge databases of words, can generate many different grid layouts in the cryptic crossword style, and in many different sizes (but 15x15 is pretty much the standard). They will also suggest lists of words to fit the grid.

I always select the words to use rather than let the program fill the whole thing in. The obvious problem with letting the program decide is that you don't get to use those clues that you've been busily writing in your notebook, and you'll end up with a lot of words that are impossible (or nearly so) to make into a good cryptic. So, I have a Python script³ that scans my private database of unused words/clues and suggests words that will fit the space and use the crossing letters. Usually, I can work six to ten of my prepared words into the grid. After that, the Crossword Compiler program will suggest words to fit. When scanning the available words suggested by the program, I use the same order of selection for candidate words as above. If none seems to work, I will try an anagram or a hidden word clue.

Clue writing is kind of an art. The best clues seem like snippets of poetry, or terse newspaper headlines. It takes time to develop your style. Often when a candidate word fits well into one of the above categories, the relation of the words in the cryptic part just don't align with the definition part. It can be difficult to make a readable clue that makes a modicum of sense. There are times, I confess, when I will use a clue that makes me wince whenever I read it. When your name is on the cover though, you want to make the thing perfect. On the other hand, don't try to make a perfectly clear and meaningful sentence by inserting extraneous words into the clue. Those extra words will just frustrate and anger your puzzle solver. Believe me, as a solver I've been known use choice words and even toss a book across the room when I encounter such poorly-constructed clues.

Filling the Grid

The safest method I've found for filling in a grid is to select words that I know I can make into good clues but hold off making the clues until the grid is filled in. Nothing is worse than having to jettison a really good clue because you have to backtrack from an impossible situation where no words fit or the ones that do are useless as cryptics. Hint: do not use a huge selection of oddball word databases with Crossword Compiler or other programs. The word list generated for you will include many useless words. The program won't know this and will tell you that you are safe to use a word when the only crossing words will be useless ones. Configure the program to use Basic English, American English, US English, Canadian English, phrases, and that's it. Avoid Literature, Wikipedia, and any others that include place names, exotic plants, chemical compounds and such. Those are included in the program to be used with standard crosswords.

Problem Letters

When selecting words, avoid words ending in a vowel other than 'e'; 'u' is especially bad. Often, you have to do it but there are a lot more words available that end in 'e'. Avoid words that when entered into the grid put consonants into places they don't work well in. Very few words end in 'q', or have 'q' as the second last letter ('Iraq', 'Iraqi' are the only ones I could find). 'x' rarely starts a word or ends it. 'b','f','j','v' and 'z' don't end many words except short ones. When entering words into the grid be very aware of the crossing letters you are setting up. Having 'x','z' and 'q' in the same word pretty much guarantees a problem. If you get stuck, unwind from the sticking point saving any clues you may have made up since if you can't use them in this puzzle, you may be able to use them in another.

2 https://www.crossword-compiler.com/

3 I will happily email any of my Python scripts to you if you want to get into the biz.