Cryptic crossword clue types
Setters use a small toolkit of devices over and over again. Learn to recognise these fifteen and you'll be able to unpick almost any clue. Each guide explains the device, lists its common indicators and works through an example.
- Anagram
The letters of some words in the clue are rearranged to make the answer.
- Charade
The answer is built from pieces placed one after another, like building blocks.
- Container and contents
One part of the answer goes inside another.
- Hidden word
The answer is written out in full inside the clue, spanning one or more words.
- Homophone
The answer sounds like another word or phrase in the clue.
- Reversal
A word in the clue, or a synonym of it, is written backwards.
- Double definition
Two different meanings of the same word sit side by side.
- Deletion
Letters are removed from a word to leave the answer.
- Cryptic definition
The whole clue is a single, misleading definition, often a pun.
- &lit (all-in-one)
The whole clue is both the definition and the wordplay at the same time.
- Initial letters (acrostic)
The first letters of several words spell out the answer.
- Alternate letters
Every other letter of part of the clue makes the answer.
- Spoonerism
The opening sounds of two words are swapped, named after the Reverend Spooner.
- Letter substitution
One letter in a word is swapped for another.
- Combination clues
Two or more devices, such as an anagram inside a charade, work together.