Cryptic Crosswords: The Games People Play
If you love word puzzles, then you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy of Games magazine or its sister publication, World of Puzzles, which appears in alternate months. Both contain a pot pourri of standard and quirky crosswords, encrypted ciphers and word searches, as well as a spate of trivial pursuits, eyeball benders, mysteries and maddening math problems to solve (with not a Sudoku in the bunch).
There are feature articles, such as a look at the stunning artistry of Asian games from mysore to mah-jongg, an interview with the world’s most prolific collector of mechanical puzzles, as well as visits to the World Dicing Championship in Las Vegas (where else?) and to the BrickFair in D.C., where a gathering of 10,000 AFOLs (Adult Fans of Legos) could view incredible reproductions of iconic buildings like the Taj Mahal.
As you would expect, there are the requisite reviews of the latest in board and electronic games, culminating in the annual Games 100 Buyer’s Guide.
What always brings me back, however, are the cryptic crosswords. Basically, they are crosswords constructed on word plays. The thinking required is both lateral and literal, with two clues given for each entry. Among them are: anagrams (prepared umpteen IQ tools: EQUIPMENT); homophones (counted frozen chicken: NUMBERED (numb bird); reversals (returned beer fit for a king: LAGER (regal backward); containers (celebrity residing in Costa Rica: STAR); and double definitions (Scooter was blue: MOPED).
It takes a while to get the knack of it, however, and many first timers give up before giving these challenging puzzles a real chance. Following are a few of my favourites, gleaned from back issues of Games. Give them a go.
1. Faces six wise men (7 letters)
2. Traveling rocky domain on top of camel (7)
3. Lint police (4)
4. Apply a glossy finish and red lines disappear. (7)
5. Policemen in barns surrounded by prisoners (10)
6. Rob liquer stores masked (7)
7. Shakespeare’s Kate is endlessly clever (5)
8. Touches back row (4)
9. A Kleenex under discussion (2,5)
10. Run Warsaw resident through verbal survey (6,4)
My thanks to Bob Stigger, Pam Wylder, Emily Cox, Henry Rathvon et al for many happy hours of mind-bending frustration and, when all is solved, a goodly measure of self-satisfaction.
Answers:
1. Visages: VI + sages
2. Nomadic: unscramble domain + C
3. Fuzz: double meaning
4. Varnish: R (abbreviation for red) inside vanish
5. Constables: cons around stables
6. Oblique: word is hidden in Rob liquer
7. Shrewd: shrew from Taming of the Shrew and shrewd minus D
8. Spat: pats backwards
9. At issue: also A Tissue, double meaning
10. Gallup Poll: sounds like (verbal) gallop + Pole
I like crosswords, but I LOVE logic problems. Have you ever tried those before?
Somehow, I could never see the logic. I’m sticking to word puzzles.
[...] in January, 2009, I wrote a piece on GAMES magazine and honed in on my favourite puzzle format, cryptic [...]