Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In more difficult puzzles, the indicator may be omitted, increasing ambiguity between a literal meaning and a wordplay meaning. Examples: "Half a dance" could clue CAN (half of CANCAN) or CHA (half of CHACHA). If taken literally, "Start of spring" could clue MAR (for March), but it could also clue ESS, the spelled-out form of the starting letter S.
The abbreviation is not always a short form of the word used in the clue. For example: "Knight" for N (the symbol used in chess notation) Taking this one stage further, the clue word can hint at the word or words to be abbreviated rather than giving the word itself. For example: "About" for C or CA (for "circa"), or RE.
An acrostic is a type of word puzzle, related somewhat to crossword puzzles, that uses an acrostic form. It typically consists of two parts. The first part is a set of lettered clues, each of which has numbered blanks representing the letters of the answer.
Clues and answers must always match in part of speech, tense, aspect, number, and degree. A plural clue always indicates a plural answer and a clue in the past tense always has an answer in the past tense. A clue containing a comparative or superlative always has an answer in the same degree (e.g., [Most difficult] for TOUGHEST). [6]
A 15x15 lattice-style grid is common for cryptic crosswords. A cryptic crossword is a crossword puzzle in which each clue is a word puzzle. Cryptic crosswords are particularly popular in the United Kingdom, where they originated, [1] as well as Ireland, the Netherlands, and in several Commonwealth nations, including Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malta, New Zealand, and South Africa.
Some of the soldiers' chatter, including D-Day codewords, may thus have been heard and learnt by some of the schoolboys. Dawe had developed a habit of saving his crossword-compiling work time by calling boys into his study to fill crossword blanks with words; afterwards Dawe would provide clues for those words.
It can be synonyms, antonyms, explanations, examples, or familiar word-parts (prefix or suffix). [10] It can be definitions, comparisons, or contrasts. [11] Meaning can also be derived via descriptions of cause and effect or through inference. [12] A 1966 study identified fourteen types of context clues for native speakers. [13]
Crosswordese is the group of words frequently found in US crossword puzzles but seldom found in everyday conversation. The words are usually short, three to five letters, with letter combinations which crossword constructors find useful in the creation of crossword puzzles, such as words that start or end with vowels (or both), abbreviations consisting entirely of consonants, unusual ...