It helps motivate them to keep at it if they get stuck on a harder clue later on. It's a good idea to have a few easy clues so that people can get some of the answers quite quickly. So the clues must be something everyone can relate to. If people don't understand the clue, they're not going to get the answer! And they're going to get frustrated. It's common sense: a clue is no good if no-one understands it. If you're writing a crossword to be solved by more than one person, your clues need to be general enough to be understood by everyone who's going to try and solve them. It's a great idea for a present - a fun activity and also a wonderful keepsake (and the keepsake then carries the memory of attempting to solve the crossword!). Sometimes we've designed crosswords that created to be solved first, and then, after the solving, a print of the crossword with answers is given as a gift. Once you've got your list of answers and before you start writing the clues, think about your audience: who is going to read the clues?Īre you creating your crossword as a gift? Is it a celebration of someone's life? Then your clues exist to give context or add information about the answer in the grid.Īre you creating a crossword as a puzzle for a group of people to solve? Then your clues must contain sufficient information for people to get to the answer. We've seen all sorts of subject matter on crosswords ( read our blog post here - crosswords are very versatile!) and we've seen all manner of different clues.īut what makes a good crossword clue? If you're creating a crossword as a gift for someone, or you're creating a crossword for people you know to solve, read on for a few simple pointers that can help when writing those all-important clues. They're mostly given as gifts, though sometimes they're intended as crosswords for people to solve (for example, at social gatherings like weddings). The clues rely on wordplay, letter-play and ambiguity of meaning in words.How To Write Clues For Your Own CrosswordĪre you creating a crossword? Choosing the answers is important and fun, but writing great clues can make your crossword even better.Īt elevencorners we've designed many personalised crosswords for our customers. Cryptic crosswords exist in other languages, but they are not quite the same as English cryptics. As well as Britain, they are popular in Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and several other English-speaking countries. The cryptic crossword has never really taken off in the States in a big way. His successor Azed (Jonathan Crowther) came up with these 3 simple elements: 1. After him came Ximenes (Derrick Macnutt) who devised some guidelines for setting fairclues. His clues were fairly obscure and difficult to solve. The first all-cryptic crossword in English was created in 1926 by poet and translator Edward Powys Mathers, who called himself Torquemada after the Spanish Grand Inquisitor. N/A – no ranking, you used a Hint.Īlthough the crossword puzzle was invented in the United States (by an Englishman), cryptic crosswords are a British creation. If you use a Hint, you won’t get a ranking.Ĭompletion Click/tap Continue to show the Scorecard with your time, rank and RETURN option so you can play again. Word Fills in the correct word for the space or clue you’ve highlighted. Letter Fills in the correct letter for the square you’ve highlighted. Click/tap the Reveal button indicated by the tick icon to display incorrect letters in red for 5 seconds OR select the red Clear button to remove any incorrect letters from the grid. Reveal Provides a 5-second peek at the entire solution.Ĭheck Checks for mistakes. (Click/tap the Hint button again to go back to Menu options). Hints Click/tap the Hint button to display the hint options in the top menu bar. Reset Click/tap on the Reset button indicated by the circle arrow to clear the grid and restart the crossword. Click/tap Resume when you wish to restart play. Pause To pause during play, click/tap the Timer (or the pause icon on your smartphone). Click/tap Show to restore your view of the Timer. If you do not like working against the clock, select Menu then Hide at the top of the puzzle. Timer The Timer indicated by the clock icon begins counting as soon as you start the crossword. Once the square is highlighted, use the Backspace key to delete the letter OR click/tap on the square you want to change and simply type in a new letter. Delete/Change Letter Click/tap on the letter you wish to delete.
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