In his seminal work Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword (1966), Ximenes presents a taxonomy of clue types and principles for setters to adhere to in the interests of fairness. The wholly cryptic crossword evolved by the early 1940s, since which time cryptic crosswords have appeared daily in all major British newspapers.ģSeveral different types of cryptic clue emerged in the first forty years of the tradition, and the “rules” for setting clues were codified by the influential early setters Afrit (Alistair Ferguson Ritchie) and Ximenes (Derrick Somerset Macnutt). However, the first modern crossword did not appear until 1913, when Arthur Wynne authored a word-square puzzle which was published in the New York World (figure 3).Ĭrosswords featured in British newspapers from 1923, and, within a few years, some began to include clues which were more than “plain definitions,” such as “elusive definitions,” anagrams, and “hints” (Macnutt 1966, 19). A Brief History of the Cryptic Crossword in BritainĢWord-square puzzles such as the Sator Square (figure 1) have existed since ancient time (Austin 1939), and riddles such as those found in the Exeter Book (figure 2) are among the earliest English-language documents we have. Other types of cryptic clues exist, but this type (definition with instructions for construction) is the most common in modern cryptic crosswords and will be the focus of this article. The “constructor” can be explained thus: put a word for “dog” (CUR) inside a word for “insight” (SEE) to create SECURE, which can be glossed as “guard.” The coherence of the familiar phrase “guard dog” confounds the solver’s attempt to separate the constructor from the definition, as does the fact that the word “sight” is a noun in the context of the whole clue, but a verb when used as part of the constructor. The definition here is the first word alone. The words comprising the “constructor” (my term for instructions for constructing the answer) are purposely obscured by their distribution across a phrasal boundary. The answer is PUDDING BASIN, an anagram of “pub sign add in,” defined by “Cook’s vessel.” The instruction to decode an anagram is provided by the word “amending.” The complete clue suggests perhaps the addition of HMS Endeavour to a pub signboard.
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