120
votes
Accepted
Cryptic Clue Guide
(Throughout this post, I will be using cryptic annotations in code blocks. The answer word is made up of all of the capital letters; the punctuation, lowercase ...
- 145k
55
votes
Accepted
The Two-Trench Truce
That is a very impressive amount of content to fit in such a tiny cryptic. If you haven't had the time to solve it yourself, I recommend stopping here until you have the chance. Let's start with the ...
- 7,119
34
votes
Accepted
What xkcd Means
Here is the filled grid:
Explanation of "transmitted over the phone" and "horrifying people interested in numbers" for clues, but not yet for WORD 2/WORD 3 extraction:
Clues, answers, and ...
- 7,119
33
votes
Accepted
A crossword to appease all
This is a very cleverly constructed puzzle. If you are into crosswords, please consider giving this a try before reading the answer.
The postscript says that there are no cryptic double definitions ...
- 58.6k
33
votes
Accepted
Japanese Fusion Alphabet Soup
The completed dish
The reasons why
The ultimate message
Follow the directions
My answer
- 145k
27
votes
Accepted
A Cryptic Crossword in Indonesian Language (TTS Kriptik Bahasa Indonesia)
In the chatroom created by North, he and I have been attacking this, and we've finally done it.
Here's the grid:
Wordplay explanations -- across clues:
and down clues:
For many of these there are ...
- 117k
25
votes
Accepted
Nominally, he has only half a life at 59! - British cryptic crossword question
Your instinct is correct - the answer is indeed a five-letter name, clued by 'Nominally, he' (so you are looking for a male name, specifically). It is:
Why?
- 134k
23
votes
Accepted
A Page of Puzzling
The solution is
The crossword was first solved by @NeilW, and @Sconibulus solved the alphametic and the maze (go upvote them!).
For the Sudoku:
For the Anagram:
For the Logic puzzle:
Back to the ...
- 5,109
23
votes
A crossword to appease all
Wrap-up: The making of "A crossword to appease all"
This is not a solution to the puzzle but provides notes from its poser. This type of answer has been approved by the community.
Caution: This post ...
- 7,497
23
votes
Accepted
Spell at days to circumference globe (6)
I think the right way to decode this clue is to consider
- 1,850
22
votes
Accepted
GRID-THIRTY-SIX
Full details on individual clue answers in this sheet. Thanks to Beastly Gerbil, boboquack, elias, Rubio, and Sid for the help.
Part 1: Assembly and Cryptics
Part 2: Matching and More Cryptics
Part ...
- 145k
19
votes
Accepted
Headless horseman claims new head
Combination of all answers with credits
Sahara desert capitals of historically African region in Germany (4)
Fifth Element: Besson's first and last is full of romance gold (5)
Second detective ...
- 21.6k
19
votes
Accepted
18
votes
GRID-THIRTY-SIX
Wrap-up: The Making Of GRID-THIRTY-SIX
This is not a solution to the puzzle, but provides notes from its poser. This type of answer has been approved by the community.
Caution: This post may contain ...
- 11.9k
18
votes
Accepted
O Cryptic! My Cryptic!
Let's see if we can lift the lid,
Upon this puzzle's finished grid:
And now unspoiler (if you choose),
For explanations of the clues:
Now all is said and all is done.
In solving this I had great fun ...
- 134k
17
votes
Accepted
Cryptic with missing capitals
Funny beret men strike ?? to convene (4)
Containers found in a ?? plaza (4)
Ten ?? site's leaders return after first state, shortly (4)
Ethnic group is ??, locally (4)
Dmitry's ?? chamber first ...
- 117k
17
votes
Accepted
Suspected felicide in the Schrödinger household
The grid:
Clue explanations:
And, from the 10 ambiguously-solvable Across clues, we can see that
- 145k
16
votes
Accepted
Station to Station
Solving the Clues
Thanks to Ankoganit, Apep, ffao, Sid, and thecoder16 for helping with the solution to this part.
Filling the Grid
Finding the Answer
- 145k
16
votes
Accepted
Popularity Within a Target Audience
This was a joint solve by Deusovi, ffao, Gareth McCaughan, M Oehm, noedne, and Sid (and probably at least one or two other people that I forgot).
For details of the solutions to each puzzle, see this ...
- 145k
16
votes
Accepted
Arc (&) Reactors
Here, first of all, is the grid.
(1) an arc began in a work of fiction... Nine clues and answers are completely normal; the clues' first letters spell out the period of time, and their last letters ...
- 117k
16
votes
Accepted
Could a non-native English speaker work out cryptic crossword puzzles?
Could a non-native speaker work out cryptic crossword puzzles?
Cryptic crosswords require a fair amount of fluency in English, but being a native speaker is certainly not required! Kishore Rao is a ...
- 145k
16
votes
Accepted
Transform a (very small) crossword
The only way to fill this grid is to make it:
The completed grid:
The clues:
Finally:
- 14.2k
15
votes
Accepted
Plenty of Clues in the Crossword
The final grid looks like this:
The four kinds of clue, less obscurely described, are:
The extra gimmick is that
Three of them are resolved by
So here are the clues and their solutions. They are ...
15
votes
Accepted
Plot Twist (variety cryptic)
(Solution by Gareth McCaughan, Volatility and possibly some anonymous others; thanks to Volatility for making a spreadsheet in which we could collaborate. In the end I think I did most of it, which is ...
- 117k
15
votes
Accepted
A Ghastly Cryptic
The Four Ghosts
The four ghosts, which gimmick entries in some way, act as follows:
The Ghost of Christmas Past:
Napstablook:
The Box Ghost:
Nearly Headless Nick:
Our Foe
Circling the letters as ...
- 145k
15
votes
Accepted
Cryptic cross... with words
Here is the final grid (credit to Jacob Shetler, Remi Henry and M Oehm for solving some of the clues)
1. Far north Silicon Valley's research & development leaders surround Jessica (8)
2. Pop ...
- 133k
15
votes
Cryptic with missing capitals
Given that
Here are a few:
1a Funny beret men strike ?? to convene (4).
8a Hideout between left and right, return ??'s finals (4)
Stalk Dorothy's aunt following the heart of ?? (4)
15a. In the ...
- 4,345
15
votes
Accepted
3D cryptic featuring Mao, Stalin and Simba's uncle
The grid:
Clue explanations:
Some comments on selected clues:
- 145k
15
votes
Accepted
14
votes
A Page of Puzzling
Partial Answer:
MAZE
ALPHAMETIC
NUMBERS
ANAGRAM
CRYPTIC CROSSWORD
PAGE NUMBER
- 19.7k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible