13 Ways on How to Solve a Cryptic Wash Post Crossword

3. Guess the “indicator term” by memorizing common indicator words. Look at the wordplay portion of the clue to locate the indicator term. This term will help you guess which wordplay device is being used. Once the indicator term has led you to the clue device, you’ll be able to apply its rules in order to solve the puzzle.

• For example, within “edict wrongly,” “wrongly” is the indicator term. Once you’ve studied the common clue devices and indicator words, you’ll be able to tell right away that this clue is using an anagram!
• “Wrongly” and other words such as “broken,” “confused,” etc., indicate that the letters of a word need to be rearranged to reveal the answer, which is how an anagram works.
• In this case, “wrongly” refers to “edict,” so you know you’ll need to scramble the letters to reveal a new word. The new word, as we already know, is “cited” which is the answer because it is a synonym for “quoted from,” the clue definition. Voila!
• Before you are ready to start solving clues, you’ll need to memorize the common indicator terms and their corresponding clue devices!
  

  Wash Post Crossword

4. Rearrange the clue’s letters when dealing with anagram clues. Solve an anagram by rearranging the letters of a word to reveal the hint, which, along with the definition, will help you find the clue’s answer. As with the previous clue, “edict” becomes “cited” after you shuffle the letters in the wordplay around.

• Spot an anagram by looking for words that indicate change or modifications. Common anagram indicator words include “transfer,” “cook,” “dress,” “out,” “off,” “moved,” or “lost.”
• The words you will need to jumble will be located either directly before or after the indicator word.
• For example, the following clue is an anagram: “Dress suiting a saint.” “Saint” is the definition and “dress suiting a” is the wordplay. “Dress” indicates that this is an anagram because it implies change. Since there are no words preceding “dress,” you know that the words that follow it, “suiting a,” are the words that need to be rearranged. “Suiting a” can be reshuffled to reveal “Ignatius,” a saint!
• Anagrams are often the longest words in the crossword puzzle.
  

  Wash Post Crossword

5. Join parts of words together to find the answer with charade clues. Charades are formed by joining parts of words from the clue together to create a new word. Charades do not usually have indicator words, but typically contain words such as “has,” “with,” “and,” or similar conjunctions.

• You’ll often need to think in terms of synonyms to know which words to join together.
• For example, in the following clue, “wave cereal bowl,” “wave” is the definition. By process of elimination, you know you are working with the words “cereal” and “bowl.” If you look for synonyms, you’ll get “bran” (for cereal) and “dish” (for bowl). Using the charades method of combining words, you’ll get “brandish,” which is the answer because it is a synonym of your definition, “wave.”
• In addition to synonyms, you may need to work with word abbreviations in order to solve charade clues. For example, “place on bottom of sack:” “Pl” is the abbreviation for “place” and “under” is a synonym for “on bottom.” Combine the two to get “plunder,” which also means “sack” (your definition).
  

  Wash Post Crossword

6. Combine letters from different words to answer clues with hidden words. Identify a hidden-words clue by recognizing indicator terms such as “some,” “buried in,” “held by,” or “in part.” Scan your sentence for words that can be made by combing the first or last letters from one word with letters from an adjacent word.

• For example, in the clue “Scottish snack offered in disco nearby,” your definition is “Scottish snack,” the indicator is “offered in,” and your wordplay is “disco nearby.”
• The hidden word will always be located in your wordplay phrase, so scan it carefully and consider whether there is a word that can be made by combining parts of “disco nearby” that matches the definition “Scottish snack.” You’ll find the answer by combining the last three letters of “disco” with the first two letters of “nearby” to make “scone!”

7. Infer the clue’s second meaning to solve double definition clues. Look for linking words such as “into,” “by,” and “and” to spot double definitions. These clues typically don’t use indicator words and vary a bit from the standard clue format. Instead of having a definition, wordplay, and indicator, they have two definitions whose meaning points to the same solution.

• For example, consider the clue “expose tactics by removing glove.” You know that “expose tactics” is one definition and is joined to the second definition “removing glove” with the connector “by.”
• After reflecting on the meaning of both definitions and trying to assess what they have in common, you’ll arrive at the answer: “Show one’s hand.”
  

  Wash Post Crossword

8. Decipher the clue’s riddle when solving a cryptic definition clue. Examine your clue for question marks to identify a cryptic definition clue. With cryptic definition clues, the entirety of the clue is your hint—there’s no wordplay section of the clue.

• In the following clue, “Hairstyle with comb in it?” you’re looking for a word that captures the entire meaning of the sentence. “Comb” is not meant literally but refers to “honeycomb.” The answer is “beehive,” which is a hairstyle and relates to the “honeycomb” reference.