Classic Crossword Clues
It seems like an endless stream of crossword puzzles are created,
solved and discarded, and most of them have little wit or art. It
truly sets my teeth on edge to work through a book of puzzles and
discover that the puzzle writer has used the same puzzle cliches
three or four times. Thus, On the Waterfront director is
always ELIA, and A literary collection is always ANA,
and so on.
This is one reason why I prefer cryptic crossword puzzles, where the clues
themselves have been encoded through some kind of wordplay. It is
possible to make clues so abstruse that simply making out what they
mean is a satisfying (or infuriating) experience.
I recall that Rumpole of the Bailey used to do cryptic crosswords at
the breakfast table. And in Joseph Losey's movie The Servant,
James Fox struggles with the clue:
Waxed, so it can wane, 5 letters;
...we never find out what the answer is!
In Colin Dexter's "The Daughters of Cain", Inspector Morse puzzles
over the crypic clue in the Times:
Kick in the pants?, (3-5) letters;
and has only worked out "-I- -L-S-" by the time Detective Sergeant
Lewis comes in to work.
There is a recent book by Sandy Balfour, called "Pretty Girl in Crimson
Rose (8)", subtitled "A memoir of Love, Exile and Crosswords", which
includes an appreciation, examples, and history of cryptic crosswords.
In the lackluster movie "Enigma", NOT about Alan Turing, the
not-at-all-like-Alan-Turing character is given the code-cracker cachet
by instantly responding to the clue "Roast mules go topsy turvey,
10 letters."
In Jonathan Raban's novel "Waxwings", English expatriate Tom Janeway
returns to the solace of cryptic crossword puzzles during a crisis,
wishing it were yesterday:
He printed out the crosswords from the Guardian and the Times, then
holed up in the kitchen, trying to figure out "In the past,
you once strayed disastrously (9)."
In any case, I mention here a few of the clues, from regular or cryptic
puzzles, that caught my fancy. One desirable property of a clever
clue is misdirection, so that the clue seems strongly to indicate a
certain word, while actually being susceptible of another interpretation.
In that regard, the best clues are those where, even when you
have the answer, you still need to think for a while to understand
why it's the answer!
-
A as in Aachen. (4 letters)
-
EINE
-
A name is troublesome. (Cryptic: 7 letters)
-
AMNESIA (Colin Dexter: "Death is Now My Neighbour")
-
Amundsen's Forwarding Address. (Cryptic: 4 letters)
-
MUSH
-
An overnight letter? (3 letters)
-
INN
-
Bank depositor. (5 letters)
-
RIVER
-
Barely runs? (7 letters)
-
STREAKS
-
Big heart. (3 letters)
-
ACE
-
Black and white set. (5 letters)
-
CHESS
-
Bouncer's place. (10 letters)
-
TRAMPOLINE
-
Break one's word. (9 letters)
-
HYPHENATE
-
Browning pieces. (8 letters)
-
TOASTERS
-
Bust down reason? (Cryptic: 9 letters)
-
BRAINWASH
-
Calculus for canines? (6 letters)
-
TARTAR
-
Camel's end? (3 letters)
-
ASH
-
Celebrity center. (5 letters)
-
ONEAL
-
Consider an imaginary animal? (Cryptic: 4,2,4 letters)
-
BEAR IN MIND
-
Dame's introduction. (5 letters)
-
NOTRE
-
Dancer's group. (8 letters)
-
REINDEER
-
Delivery aid. (7 letters)
-
ZIPCODE
-
Do the dishes. (5 letters)
-
CATER
-
Do's that are don'ts. (9 letters)
-
COMBOVERS
-
Draft pick. (3 letters)
-
ALE
-
Eight letters. (3 letters)
-
TUV
-
Eleven? (3,5,7 letters)
-
ONE AFTER ANOTHER
-
English sum. (1,2 letters)
-
I AM
-
Flip side? (5 letters)
-
TAILS
-
Garden party. (4 letters)
-
ADAM
-
Gives a number to. (7 letters)
-
DEADENS
-
Globe plotter. (4 letters)
-
IAGO
-
Grace period. (8 letters)
-
MEALTIME
-
Half profile? (7 letters)
-
KENNEDY
-
Handled better? (7 letters)
-
RENAMED
-
Having not yet made the cut? (5 letters)
-
PREOP
-
Head of England. (3 letters)
-
LOO
-
Heartless one? (6 letters)
-
TINMAN
-
Horrid glances from Charles Grodin? (7 letters)
-
ANAGRAM
-
How to make a sinner thinner. (4 letters)
-
LISP
-
It can help you get a date? (6 letters)
-
CARBON
-
It may be fit for a queen. (8 letters)
-
BEDSHEET
-
It may be hung from a board. (3 letters)
-
TEN (still mad about this one!)
-
It may come after a bridge. (7 letters)
-
REFRAIN
-
Its employees are in training? (7 letters)
-
LIONEL
-
Jobs in the computer biz. (5 letters)
-
STEVE
-
Just a little out of place? (4 letters)
-
SHOW
-
Kick in the pants? (Cryptic: 3,5 letters)
-
HIP FLASK
-
Large container of brass. (8 letters)
-
PENTAGON
-
Leaves home. (4 letters)
-
TREE
-
Lift a curse. (5 letters)
-
BLEEP
-
Love handle? (7 letters)
-
PET NAME
-
LP insert. (3 letters)
-
MNO
-
Make-up artist. (4 letters)
-
LIAR
-
Mass communication medium. (5 letters)
-
LATIN
-
More work. (6 letters)
-
UTOPIA
-
No performers found here. (5 letters)
-
JAPAN
-
Number 10 on a table. (4 letters)
-
NEON
-
Numbers holder. (5 letters)
-
TORAH
-
Octavia's offer? (4 letters)
-
NERO
-
One can't do this. (4 letters)
-
DUET
-
One ordered to take two tablets. (5 letters)
-
MOSES
-
One past due? (3 letters)
-
TRE
-
Ones who never think of flying? (10 letters)
-
AUTOPILOTS
-
Open position (4 letters)
-
SEED
-
Owner of the Y? (4 letters)
-
MALE
-
Oxford foundation? (4 letters)
-
SOLE
-
Pan films? (6 letters)
-
TEFLON
-
Part of a plot. (4 letters)
-
ACRE
-
Passed illegally. (6 letters)
-
LEAKED
-
Passing events. (10 letters)
-
RELAY RACES
-
Permanent features (5 letters)
-
WAVES
-
Place to find a nun? (7 letters)
-
DREIDEL
-
Point of resolution? (5 letters)
-
PIXEL
-
Pole vault units? (6 letters)
-
ZLOTYS
-
Polo grounds. (4 letters)
-
ASIA
-
Preschoolers. (3 letters)
-
ROE
-
Pretty Girl in Crimson Rose? (Cryptic: 8 letters)
-
REBELLED
-
Put into gear. (6 letters)
-
CLOTHE
-
Puts on a coat. (6 letters)
-
PAINTS
-
Queen's home. (7 letters)
-
ANTHILL
-
Queens plate setting. (4 letters)
-
SHEA
-
Record Holder. (9 letters)
-
REGISTRAR
-
Refrain from piracy. (6 letters)
-
YOHOHO
-
Ring bearer. (6 letters)
-
SATURN
-
Roast mules go topsy turvy. (10 letters)
-
SOMERSAULT
-
Rock Singer. (7 letters)
-
LORELEI
-
S? (7 letters)
-
LARGESS
-
See people? (7 letters)
-
BISHOPS
-
Select a tie? (4 letters, cryptic)
-
DRAW
-
Selling points? (5 letters)
-
SHOPS
-
Sends off letters. (6 letters)
-
EVICTS
-
Six footer. (3 letters)
-
ANT
-
Slanted column. (9 letters)
-
EDITORIAL
-
So and so? (5 letters)
-
NOTES
-
Soap unit. (7 letters)
-
EPISODE
-
Some are fit for a king. (6 letters)
-
SHEETS
-
Starbuck's orderer. (4 letters)
-
AHAB
-
Steps on a scale? (5 letters)
-
TONES
-
Support for a proposal. (4 letters)
-
KNEE
-
They go back and forth to work. (4 letters)
-
SAWS
-
They may be shifted in transit. (9 letters)
-
TENSPEEDS
-
They wrap their food well. (4 letters)
-
BOAS
-
Three points in a row, perhaps. (8 letters)
-
ELLIPSIS
-
Throw for a loss? (9 letters)
-
SNAKEEYES
-
Tip of Massachusetts. (6 letters)
-
ONEILL
-
Tip of one's tongue. (3 letters)
-
ESE
-
Tongue-tied one. (4 letters)
-
SHOE
-
United, for one. (7 letters)
-
SYNONYM
-
Unlocked area? (4,4 letters)
-
BALD SPOT
-
Used to avoid listing. (8 letters)
-
ETCETERA
-
Way off base. (5 letters)
-
LEAVE
-
What I might mean. (3 letters)
-
ONE
-
What the bronco does to chesty cowgirls? (5 letters)
-
BUXOM
-
What they may be out of in January. (6 letters)
-
OFFICE
-
Work with feet. (3 letters)
-
ODE
-
Would one rather work there? (3 letters)
-
CBS
-
!? (Cryptic: 6,4,1,4 letters)
-
DOESN'T HAVE A CLUE
While I seem to have lost my interest in, or access to, cryptic
crosswords, I still do some of the conventional kind. In that
activity, I have become accustomed to the way puzzle posers feel
that they may legitimately supply clues so indirect that they serve
not as clues, but as confirmation after the answer has been guessed
some other way. However, there comes a point when the clue is so
worthless that you feel insulted and the whole flow of the puzzle
solving process is stopped. I call such cases
styptic crossword puzzles and I record here a few objects
of my disdain:
-
Scuffling (4 letters)
-
ATIT ..., you know, "at it", which, among myriad meanings,
could be taken to mean "scuffling" if you really really don't
feel like thinking any further for a better clue than this.
Last revised on 17 October 2018.