Blogging from A to Z – Day 3 – Cryptic Clues

As some folks here know I grew up in England, so from a fairly young age I started trying to decode the mysteries of the cryptic crossword. Cryptics follow a distinct of rules that may be daunting to new solvers, but once mastered there is nothing more satisfying than that aha moment when you finally get the answer.

If you would like to learn how to solve cryptics. Here is a good place to start: http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2008/08/tackling-cryptic-crosswords-7-step_11.html

 

Here are a few of my own cryptic puzzles:

And Then There Were Eight – this was my first cryptic published in the Enigma (magazine of the National Puzzlers’ League).

Here is a little Cryptic Cone puzzle.

And we as approach Passover, here’s a little cryptic I wrote for Passover 2013.

But wait, there’s more. Everyday on Facebook hundreds of folk from around the globe fritter their hours away by setting and solving cryptic clues for each other in Facebook’s Cryptic Crossword Society – come join us!

Often times cryptic clues are based on puns – so here’s a BroCollie and a Collieflower – enjoy!