[flerdle] Without banging on too much about it, cryptic clues are really good fun when you get into them - both solving and setting them. Those eight I did were just quickies off the top of my head, so not terribly good examples (as pointed out by various people) - but a really neat clue is a joy to behold.
The basic premise is that the clue is in two parts : The
definition and the
clue (or wordplay). The
definition is a direct reference to the word(s) in question - most usually a synonym, but in the case of names for example it might just be "he" or "she" to signify a male or female name. Also "in (country)" often means that it is a reference to a town/city in that country.
The definition must always either be at the beginning or the end of the clue. Occasionally it is the whole clue, with the crypticity wrapped in the way it is phrased.
The clue part is the interesting bit - this is where a second, indirect reference to the word is made. Here are the main ways that the cryptic part is formed :
- Double definition (a second definition for the same word - though with a different meaning)
- Anagram
- Embedded (the word is in there, usually split between two or more words, but running consecutively)
- Reverse embedded (as above but running backwards)
- Homophones (... sounds like ...)
- Exclusion (removal of specified letters or words)
- Concatenation (joining words together)
- Inclusion (one word placed inside another)
- Puns (word play that suggests the answer)
- Representation (Roman numerals, chemical symbols etc)
- Any combination of the above
I bet I've missed something crucial; but if we did have a game then we could maybe explain each clue as it is solved to help cryptonewbies.