The clue is a contract
American-style crosswords, the kind in daily newspapers in the United States, keep one rule above all others: the clue must be substitutable for the answer. Whatever the clue says, the answer could replace it in a sentence, with the same part of speech, the same tense, the same number and the same register. Everything else in this guide follows from that rule. If the clue is an abbreviation, the answer is one. If the clue is slang, the answer is slang. If the clue is a question, the answer is not a question, but it is the thing the question is about. Constructors rely on solvers knowing this, which is why a clue can be short and still fair.
The second rule is that the clue never contains the answer or a form of it. "Running shoe" will not clue RUNNER. That rule is what forces the indirection in the first place, and it is why so many clues reach for a synonym, a category or a pun instead of a definition.
The signals and what they mean
| Signal | Example clue | What it tells you | Answer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abbreviation in the clue | Sept. follower | The answer is an abbreviation too | OCT |
| "Abbr." or "for short" | Doctor, for short | The answer is a shortened form | DOC |
| Past tense | Walked unsteadily | The answer is past tense | TOTTERED |
| Plural | Garden tools | The answer is plural, usually ending in S | HOES |
| Question mark | Bank deposit? | Wordplay, a pun or a second meaning | SILT |
| Blank | "___ we there yet?" | Fill in the missing word of a phrase | ARE |
| "e.g." or "for one" | Poodle, e.g. | The answer is the category the clue belongs to | DOG |
| Foreign word in the clue | Friend, in Paris | The answer is in that language | AMI |
| Capitalized first word | Polish, as a surface | A proper noun, or a word that only looks like one | BUFF |
| Quotation marks | "Got it!" | A spoken phrase or exclamation | AHA |
Abbreviation in the clue, abbreviation in the answer
This is the convention that unlocks the most squares. If any word in the clue is abbreviated, or the clue carries a tag such as "Abbr.", "for short", "briefly", "in brief" or "initially", the answer is an abbreviation, an initialism or a clipped word. The abbreviation in the clue does not have to be the one in the answer; it only has to be there. "Hosp. areas" is a straight clue for emergency rooms, but the period after "Hosp" tells you to write ERS rather than look for a nine-letter word. The convention also runs the other way: a clue written out in full, "Hospital areas", would not be used for ERS in a well-edited puzzle.
| Clue | Answer | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Hosp. areas | ERS | "Hosp." is short, so "emergency rooms" becomes ERS |
| Sch. in Cambridge | MIT | School abbreviated, answer abbreviated |
| Dec. follower | JAN | An abbreviated month cues an abbreviated month |
| Ave. crossers | STS | Avenue shortened, streets shortened |
| Mil. rank | SGT | Military is abbreviated, so the rank is too |
| Corp. money manager | CFO | A corporation title as initials |
| Doctors' org. | AMA | "Org." is short, so the answer is initials |
| N.Y.C. subway org. | MTA | Initials in the clue, initials in the answer |
Two refinements. First, the signal only promises that the answer is short-form, not which short form: "Mil. rank" could be SGT, CPL, PFC, GEN or LTC, and the crossings decide. The crossword solver takes the letters you already have, with ? for the blanks, and lists every word that fits the pattern, which is the fastest way to turn "three letters, middle one G" into SGT. Second, "briefly" and "for short" promise a shortened form, which may be initials (CFO), a clipped word (DOC) or a textbook abbreviation (SGT); the letters you have from the crossings decide which.
Tense, number and part of speech agree
The clue and the answer are the same part of speech in the same form. A verb clue in the past tense has a past-tense answer; a plural noun has a plural answer; a comparative adjective ("happier") has a comparative answer. The convention lets you fill the last letters of an answer before you know the word: a plural clue almost always ends in S, a past tense in ED, a participle in ING, a comparative in ER. When a word that seems right will not fit, check the form first, because the clue is usually telling you exactly which one it wants.
| Clue | Answer | Agreement |
|---|---|---|
| Runs | JOGS | Third person singular to third person singular |
| Ran | JOGGED | Past to past |
| Running | JOGGING | Present participle to present participle |
| More than one run | JOGS | The same letters as the verb, a different part of speech |
| Happier | MERRIER | Comparative to comparative |
| Most happy | MERRIEST | Superlative to superlative |
Ambiguity is allowed, and used. "Runs" might be a verb (JOGS) or a plural noun (a baseball score, or stockings' flaws); "Polish" with a capital P at the start of a clue might be the nationality or the verb, because every clue starts with a capital letter and that letter hides the difference. The word finder helps when you know the ending but not the start: words ending in ED, of a given length, containing a letter you have from a crossing.
The question mark and other tricks
- Question mark. A "?" at the end of the clue means the surface reading is misleading. "Bank deposit?" clues SILT, what a river leaves on its bank; "Big bang?" might be a loud haircut. The answer is still a fair substitute once you see the second meaning, which is the point: the question mark is the constructor admitting the trick.
- Fill in the blank. A clue with "___" wants the missing word of a well-known phrase, title or lyric. Blanks are usually the easiest clues in a grid and the best place to start, because the phrase itself limits the answers to one or two.
- "e.g.", "for one", "for example". The clue is an instance and the answer is its category. "Poodle, e.g." is DOG; "Mars, for one" is PLANET or GOD, and the length decides.
- Foreign-language hints. A place name or a nationality in the clue puts the answer in that language. "Friend, in Paris" is AMI; "Friend, in Madrid" is AMIGO; "Water, in Berlin" is WASSER. The hint can be a word from the language itself: "Amigo" alone would clue FRIEND, while "Amigo's friend" is a different puzzle.
- Quotation marks. Something said aloud: "Got it!" for AHA, "No way!" for NEVER. The register carries over, so a casual exclamation gets a casual answer.
- Nouns that are verbs. "Flower" is usually a plant, but with a question mark it may be a river, something that flows. "Number" with a question mark may be something that numbs. These are the classics, and every regular solver has met them.
Themes and rebus squares
Many American puzzles have a theme: a set of long answers that share a gimmick, usually revealed by one answer, the revealer, whose clue explains the joke. The theme entries are usually the longest across answers and sit in symmetric positions, so once two are solved the length and position of the others are known. A rebus is a square that holds more than one letter, or a symbol, and the same contents work for the across and the down answer through that square. Rebus puzzles rarely announce themselves. The tell is a well-known answer that is a few letters too long for its slot while every crossing confirms it; that is the moment to write the extra letters small in one square and look for the same trick elsewhere in the grid. If you are solving on paper, the word unscrambler is useful for theme entries that rearrange the letters of a familiar phrase: paste the letters and it lists the words they make, longest first.
How British cryptic clues differ
A cryptic clue, the standard in British newspapers, is built from two parts that both lead to the answer: a plain definition, at the start or the end of the clue, and a piece of wordplay that constructs the same word. The solver's job is to find the split. The wordplay has its own grammar of indicators. An anagram indicator ("mixed", "broken", "arranged", "drunk", "out") sits next to the letters to be rearranged. A container indicator ("holding", "around", "in") puts one word inside another. A hidden-word indicator ("some", "part of") says the answer is spelled out across the words of the clue. A homophone indicator ("we hear", "reportedly") means the answer sounds like something in the clue. The surface reading is designed to mislead, but every clue is also a precise set of instructions, and a solved cryptic clue can be checked letter by letter.
For the anagram part the anagram solver does the mechanical work: enter the letters the indicator points to and it lists every word that uses all of them, including two-word anagrams of a phrase. American puzzles use anagrams too, but only as a theme and with the trick announced; in a cryptic they are the daily bread, and the indicator is the only warning you get.
A reading order for a hard clue
- Look for a period, an "Abbr." or a "for short": the answer is an abbreviation.
- Fix the form: tense, number, comparative. Write the likely ending (S, ED, ING, ER) in the last squares.
- Look for a question mark, a blank, an "e.g." or a place name, and read the clue the way that signal demands.
- Check whether the first word is a capitalized trap, a noun that could be a verb, or a word in another language.
- With two or three crossings in place, put the pattern into the crossword solver and see which of the remaining words satisfies the clue's form.
Frequently asked questions
Why is a crossword answer sometimes an abbreviation?
Because the clue signaled it. In American-style crosswords an abbreviation in the clue means the answer is abbreviated too: "Sept. follower" gives OCT, not OCTOBER. The same goes for the tags "Abbr.", "for short", "briefly" and "in brief", and for initials, which cue initials.
What does a question mark at the end of a clue mean?
That the clue is not straight. A question mark warns that the obvious reading is a trap and the answer rests on a pun, a second meaning or a word broken into pieces. "Bank deposit?" is not about money but about what a river leaves on its bank, SILT.
Do the clue and the answer have to match in tense?
Yes. A past-tense clue has a past-tense answer, a plural clue a plural answer, a comparative a comparative. If a clue reads "Ran" the answer cannot be JOGS, and if it reads "Garden tools" the answer ends in S. The agreement is a convention, but it is one of the firmest, and it is the first thing to check when a word will not fit.
What is a rebus square?
A single square that holds more than one letter, or a symbol, in both the across and the down answer. Rebus puzzles usually hide the trick until a solver notices that a well-known answer is one or more letters too long for its slot. Themed puzzles may also use the same square for a word like HEART or a digit.
How are British cryptic clues different?
Every cryptic clue has two parts: a plain definition and a piece of wordplay that builds the same answer, and the solver has to work out where the clue splits. The wordplay follows its own signals, most famously anagram indicators such as "mixed", "broken" or "arranged" next to the letters to be rearranged. American-style clues are usually one definition, with the difficulty in the misdirection rather than in a formal second part.