Cryptic crosswords are often seen as a challenging puzzle form — delight may be rare to anyone new to this type of brain teaser! On first reading, the clues can seem to be made up of complete gibberish. However, cryptic crosswords actually conform to a

Crosswords Beginner's guide to solving cryptic crosswords To celebrate publication of 25,000 Guardian cryptic crosswords, here are some handy tips to help you solve them

How to Solve a Cryptic Crossword. Unlike standard or "New York Times-style" crosswords, cryptic crossword clues almost never have a literal meaning. Instead of reading such a clue to determine its answer, you must carefully decode it in...