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;

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;

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.