What is a cryptic crossword?

A “cryptic,” or “British-style” crossword is one in which each clue is a puzzle in itself, involving wordplay such as anagrams, homophones, hidden words, and other devilish tricks.

Each clue reads as a sentence, but it’s important to recognize that the meaning of the sentence—its “surface reading”—is not important. Rather, the clue hints at the answer in two different ways, and thus is composed of two parts:

• Definition

  A straightforward (or thinly or thickly disguised!) definition of the answer word(s) appears at the start or end of the clue.

• Wordplay

  The rest of the clue is a sort of enigmatic hint, in which wordplay gives a second path to the answer.

Example

What is Learn Cryptic?

Learn Cryptic is a daily game that teaches the cryptic-curious how to decipher clues.

As with regular American-style crosswords, it takes a lot of practice to get good at solving cryptic puzzles. For beginners, the learning curve can be steep. To help guide you to the answer, the app has two kinds of hints:

• Clue type

  At the top left of the screen, purple pills tell you the type(s) of wordplay used. A single clue can use as many as four different types of wordplay! Hover over or tap the pills to see a brief description and example of each type.

  

• Hints

  The "Show hint" and "Reveal solution" buttons guide you through each step of deciphering the clue.

  

What different types of wordplay will I find?

Tap a type below to learn more:

• Anagram
• Charade
• Container
• Deletion
• Double Definition
• Hidden Word
• Homophone
• Initialism
• Letter Bank
• Reversal
• Spoonerism
• & Lit.
• Combination

Anything else I need to know?

• A new clue is released each day. Access past clues from the main menu via the “See all clues” button.
• For each day’s clue, the app keeps track of how many guesses it took you to find the solution, and how many hints you used.
• Tap the eye icon in the top left to hide or reveal the purple pills that indicate the clue type(s).
• If you’ve correctly guessed the answer but you’re not sure how the clue works, press the “Show logic” button to be guided through the steps.
• Share your results with friends using the “Share score” button.

Now let’s dive in and try a few clues!