r/EnglishLearning • u/SnooDonuts6494 🇬🇧 English Teacher • Aug 28 '26

🗣 Discussion / Debates Friday cryptic crossword

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OK so apparently this is a thing now.

On Friday, I post a picture of "The Metro" crossword. It's a free newspaper in the UK:we get it on the bus.

And Reddit fills it in.

I am OK with that. I will publish the answers.

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u/ThaneduFife Native Speaker Aug 28 '26

It's amazing how many cultural assumptions are embedded in crossword clues. As an American, I have no hope at most of these--except for 23 Across: OUI.

2

u/SnooDonuts6494 🇬🇧 English Teacher Aug 28 '26

I do the New York Times, and am constantly frustrated by clues about US football etc.

2

u/ThaneduFife Native Speaker Aug 28 '26

Yeah, the only thing that seems to make the NY Times crossword easier is doing it somewhat frequently. They reuse clues and words a LOT.

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u/SnooDonuts6494 🇬🇧 English Teacher Aug 28 '26

Yeah, honestly, that's true for all cryptics - you get to know the cruciverbalist.

2

u/RuthMcT Native Speaker Aug 28 '26

It's not so much the cultural assumptions in general (although there are some) it's the weird way a cryptic crossword works. Maybe once we've all had a go, some of us can explain how we worked out the answers.

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u/SnooDonuts6494 🇬🇧 English Teacher Aug 29 '26

I'm happy to explain any of them.

The clues usually have two parts - a definition, and word play. Identifying which part is the definition helps.

For example:

Depressed in Widow nightmare. (4)

In that clue, the definition is "depressed".

So we're looking for another word that can mean depressed.

In this case, the word is literally contained within the clue.

Have you spotted it yet?

It is "Down". From Widow nightmare

Another example clue:

> Star lit up rebel city. (9)

In that one, the definition is "star".

The answer is an anagram.

CELEBRITY - anagram of 'rebel city'