6 months of the Quick Cryptic Crosswords

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This is an experiment – but it seemed a useful point to summarise the new tricks developed by the Quick Cryptic Crosswords in the Guardian after the first 6 months. The 26th crossword in this series of 11 x 11 crosswords to support new solvers has been published and so far…

… there have been a significant number of people reporting that they’ve learned to tackle cryptic crosswords and have moved on to the Quiptic and Everyman Crosswords – where possible, sadly, not always.   Generally the feeling is that these Quick Cryptics are pitched at a level that’s acceptable for those learning – because, as for all of us, even the more complicated clues come with crossers to help solve them – it’s a crossword for a reason.  Please note experienced solvers – the learners are happy! – and the Special Rules also apply here.

There is a discussion in General Discussion about where to move on to, as it’s acknowledged that the Quiptic is inconsistent, not always a step up, but a leap up from the Quick Crossword.  If you haven’t already, try last week’s Pasquale or the Dynamo from Monday 16 September.

… there have been 5 setters altogether,

  • Carpathian set 11 puzzles
  • Picaroon set 10 puzzles
  • Maskarade set 3 puzzles
  • Brummie set 1 puzzle
  • Chandler set 1 puzzle.

In that time they have explored 16 (or 14) different types of clues:

  1. Anagrams – appeared in 22 puzzles with 91 different anagram indicators
  2. Charades – appeared in 19 puzzles
  3. Hidden – 12 puzzles with 38 different indicators
  4. Double definitions – 10 puzzles
  5. Acrostics – 8 puzzles with 23 different indicators
  6. Alternate letters – 6 puzzles with 22 different indicators
  7. Insertions – 6 puzzles with 22 different indicators
  8. Reversals – 6 puzzles with 26 different indicators
  9. Soundalikes – 5 puzzles with 18 different indicators
  10. Deletion – 3 puzzles, #3, #5 & #10, with 13 different indicators
  11. Cryptic definitions – 2 puzzles, #21 & #25
  12. Decapitations (a specific type of deletion) – 1 puzzle #21 – with 5 indicators
  13. Hidden reversals – 1 puzzle #21 – with 7 indicators
  14. Letter swaps – 1 puzzle #11 – with 6 indicators
  15. Palindromes (specialist reversals) – 1 puzzle #12 – with 4 indicators
  16. Spoonerisms – 1 puzzle – #16

As well as learning a range of indicators, the setters have introduced a number of abbreviations and bits of crosswordese along the way.  This list includes all the abbreviations and standard crossword jargon introduced, plus some of the extras I added into the commentary when I was blogging.

ABBREVIATIONS Crosswordese explanations
0/O egg, oval, bagel  + duck & over (cricket)
bi
 bisexual, both ways
b born (genealogy) also né and née bob shilling (old UK coins)
BA Bachelor of Art/graduate cha/char charwoman / daily / cleaner
c caught (cricket) Con Conservative/deceive/study/prisoner
C/con Conservative (political party) do party
CE Church (of England) el the (in Spanish)
CH Church (from maps) era time, also EON, AGE & t
Cu Copper (chemical symbol) est Parisian is (French for he/she/it is)
d dead & daughter (geneaology) gel set
d depth (length, breadth & depth – l x b x d) I setter (also me, my)
DI Detective Inspector imp troublemaker
dr doctor in trendy
DS Detective Sergeant leg limb / on (in cricket)
E ecstasy (H for heroin, C for cocaine) NT New Testament (also National Trust)
ed editor on working, leg (cricket), above
ER queen, old queen (Elizabeth Regina) OT Old Testament
ER US Emergency Room (A&E in UK) pal friend
er hesitation, also um red revolutionary – also Trot
ex former (lover) setter setter’s name, also I’m, I’ve, me (+ dog)
f father (also Fr – church) tar sailor / AB / Jack / salt / OS (ordinary seaman)
FT Financial Times (papers include i) un a in French (also possibly une)
GI American soldier (also la, le, les, de, des, ein, der, die, das, il)
H husband (genealogy)
I one (Roman numerals) General Knowledge
ID identification / papers Acts New Testament book – and all the rest!
in trendy cool Ali (Muhammed) – boxer
IOUS debts – I owe you Che (Guevara) – revolutionary
it SA – sex appeal / appeal (the IT girl) Cher singer
K king (card or chess notation) Hope Bob Hope – entertainer
L left (and R for right), clothing sizes, Latin RedRum race horse
leg on (cricket) Tate gallery (galleries)
m maiden (cricket) Wine Asti (also red and tent)
ma mother (also mum, mam) parents ma, pa, mum, mam, dad, pop
mag magazine Tau as a cross and Greek letter
MP politician (member of parliament) also PM
N new, number (also No), north (compass point) compass points – N, S, E, W
O old
ODI one day international (cricket)
OK, F fine (from pencil gradings) pencil gradings – F, H, HB, B, etc
op opus / work (operation)
R rook (chess), right, run (cricket), Republican Chess K, Q, B, N, R (queen, bishop, knight)
ref referee, match official Cards A, K, Q, J (ace, king, queen, jack)
S  son (genealogy), stumped (cricket), second (SI unit), small (clothing sizes) clothing sizes – XS, S, M, L, XL
SA South Africa, also seen as RSA
S soprano from musical parts musical parts SATB – soprano, alto, tenor, bass
sc sculpted by
SS steamship or just ship
st street (maps & addresses), stone (imperial weights) St, Ave, Cres, Ter, Rd, etc
t time (from science)
US American  (also A, Am)
VA museum (Victoria and Albert)
VI six (Roman numerals) I, V, X, L, X, D, M – plus combinations
w wife, with and wide / wicket (cricket)
y yard (Imperial measurements)

Adding in the indicators as someone requested them:

Indicators

Clue type Indicators
Anagrams Building / rebuilding

after manipulation, alter, amended, at work, can be,  complex, composed, cooked, could be,  developed, devised,  engineer, ground, involved, manufactured, new, novel, otherwise expressed,  poured out,  rearranged, rebuilt x 2, reconstructed, refurbished, remodel, reorganised, rewritten, that’s rebuilt, to be resolved, to reform, treated, varied, working
disturbance

about, alter, around x 3, awful x 2, badly, breaking, broadcast x 2,  casually, changes,  converted,  dancing, disorganised, disrupted, distributed, exploded, fancy, fizzy, fluttering, flying, gets upset, goes wild, going wrong, misguided, misspelt, moved around x 2, moving x 2, out, playing x 2, possibly x 2, rampant, revolting, surprisingly, swaying, swimming x 2, travelling x 3,  turn, turned out, upset x 2,
oddness

amazingly, confused, criminal, dicky, disturbed, dreadful, drunk x 3, eccentric x 3, extraordinary, foolishly, funny, haphazardly, inappropriately,  is drunk, nuts, oddly x 2, off, randomly, rocky, strange x 4, strangely x 5, wild, wildly x 2,
Hidden a bit, a bit of, admitted by, among, bit of, concealed by, containing, dressed in, during, eaten by, envelopes, found in, from within x 2, held by x 2, helping of, helps build, hides x 2, hiding x 2, holding, hugged by, imprisoning, in part,  in x 7, kept in, of, part of x 3, partly x 5, piece from x 2, pockets, section, section in, some of, some x 3, somewhat x 2, suppressing,  taking part, to a certain extent, with .. in
soundalike announced, audibly x 2, broadcast, by the sound of it, for auditor, heard, in audition, in speech, it’s said, loudly x 3,  on the radio x 3, picked up x 2, reported, reportedly x 2, reporter’s, speaking, we hear this, we hear x 3, we’re told x 2.
definition by example (DBE) e.g., kind of, maybe, perhaps, possibly, question mark (?), say x 2
acrostic at first, at the outset, beginnings, characters leading, faces of, first bits, first of all, first pieces, first signs of, heads of x 4, in openings of, initially x 3, leaders in, leaders of x 3, leads to, originally x 3, primarily x 3, principal characters in, starters of x 2, starters x 2, starts off, starts to x 3, those foremost among, tips off (of),
insertion about x 2, around, between, clutching, crossed by, during x 2, embraacing x 2, entering, filled, found in, going around, going round, in x 3, including, keeps x 2, over, receiving, served by … in, set in, surrounded by, to arrest, to consume, with .. in
deletion almost, endless x 2, having taken a, ignoring, initially ignored, lacking losing head, missing, missing first piece, no introduction, tailless, taking last of, top hidden, without
reversal [is] put back, back x 2, brought up, coming back, coming up, flipping x 2, from bottom, from the east x 2, going west, heading north, heading westward, lying about, on reflection, on the way back, put up, recall, retreating, returned x 2, reversing, revolutionary x 2, rolled over, sent back, spins around the wrong way, turned up x 2, up, upset
alternate letters alternately, at intervals x 2, at regular intervals, even bits, even parts, evenly x 2, every other bit, every other character, every so often, ignoring odd bits of, ignoring the odds, occasionaly scrubbed, occasionally, odd parts, oddly cut, oddly deficient, oddly x 4, on and off x 2, periodically cut, periodically x 2, regular components, regularly serving, regularly x 5.
letter swap change of heart, finally changing, finally swapped for, losing head for, originally changing, swapping leader
palindrome comes and goes, either way, turned over just the same, up and down
reverse hidden carries back, in revolutionary, partly .. returning, rejected part of, slice of upside down, some  up, topsy-turvey section
decapitation losing head, removing lid, removing top, that’s a non-starter, top piece missing

 

29 comments on “6 months of the Quick Cryptic Crosswords”

  1. Thanks for the great summary.

    While I would not call myself an experienced solver, I do have a couple of years under my belt. I only mentioned this to say that I do enjoy the Quick Cryptics and I have learned quite a bit from Shanne’s commentary.

    Many thanks Guardian and Shanne

  2. I first ventured into cryptics in 2021 and had been doing it regularly until I hit a brickwall with the Quiptics.Perhaps my solving techniques were wrong??
    So I decided to come back and relearn the basics and I believe I am in the right place.

  4. Very impressive. Thanks Shanne. Whilst I consider myself an experienced solver I enjoy the quick cryptic and your fully explanatory blog. I will also be revisiting this particular blog when I am struck and in need of inspiration

  5. Thank you very much Shanne, for all the hard work you’ve put into this. The list of anagrams and crosswordese could form a useful reference, not as a definitive list of course, but examples of what to expect in crosswords.

    Have we not yet had “books” = OT/NT, “large” = OS or “second” = MO? These might be the commonest crosswordese not yet seen.

    Should SABT in your left hand abbreviations list be S?

  6. Excellent summary Shanne. Many thanks for this and for your regular blog pages explaining the QCs and occasional Quiptics and others. They have helped me greatly in picking up cryptic crosswords which I had thought beyond me. And thanks to The Guardian for bringing in the QCs. I am one who has since tried Quiptic and Everyman off the back of the learnings from the QC.

  7. Wonderful summary, and I really appreciate your glossary of abbreviations. Many thanks for this overview and for your ever enjoyable and helpful blogs!

  12. Just brilliant ! Thank you so much. I began to try these quick cryptics when they started – having struggled with Everyman and, more recently , quiptics.
    The quick cryptic along with this excellent blog have given me the support I’ve needed. Don’t always succeed but am definitely making progress
    This summary is extremely helpful. So many many thanks.

  13. Thanks for pulling this all together. As one of the beginners who started with my first ever cryptic being the first one of this series, it’s been generally very well pitched and I’ve been able to take on a fair few of the Quiptic and Everyman puzzles, to varying degrees of success. A big thanks for Shanne for the encouragement and excellent explanations, although pleased to report that today’s Quick Cryptic was a full solve and parsed all the clues myself 😁

  15. Thanks Shanne so much for the summary. I’ll print it out to refer to it. I’m definitely getting better and quicker at the quick cryptics and really enjoying them after years of just doing the quick crossword. Heading for the Quiptics and the Cryptics eventually.

  16. Never seen all these in one place. Some I knew, some are new to me. I think I have been making a lot of progress since the Quick Cryptic Crossword started. This will help even more. Much appreciated

  17. These are such useful lists, Shanne. Thank you. As a beginner who started cryptic crosswords this year through a u3a course, I am loving these Quick Cryptic crosswords from The Guardian. Absolutely perfect for my level. Not sure I’m brave enough to move on to the more challenging puzzles yet.

  18. This is such a gift. Thank you – I’m still in the foothills of cryptics but you’ve helped me not to lose heart.

  19. Thanks Shanne for going to all this effort, it’s an excellent summary! I have been solving guardian quiptics now for just over half a year, meaning when I started there was no quick cryptic to sink my teeth into. I have now done all 27 of the quick cryptics and honestly think it is an excellent set up for new solvers to get to grips with some of the common tricks of the trade. I find that knowing what you are looking for is a great way of developing that keen sight needed when you advance to the quiptic, everyman or even the cryptic (which I have not yet attempted!)

    I hope that everyone else has really been finding the series a delight, whether you’re an experienced solver who wants to enjoy a nice puzzle or a newbie who really wants to learn. It’s great to see more people joining the crossword solving community 🙂

  20. Thank you! I’m sure I’m not the only one who always wanted to try cryptic crosswords but could never find a way in. The Minute Crossword made me try again and this site along with the quick cryptics has been a brilliant next step.

    I am very grateful.

  21. I started trying to solve in January when I needed sth to do with my dad in hospital. I WISH the QC and this helpful blog had been a thing. I found the supposedly easy Quiptic/everyman often very off putting but I persevered. I have spent endless hours doing my own version of this cheat sheet after buying tons of books and reading Alan Connor’s blog. But this is great. Thanks you. (I’ve even started a cryptic crossword solving club… SE15 if anyone is keen.)

  22. Sorry – slow to do this, but theres’s been a question today on the Quick Cryptic 28, asking where to go for the next steps. We have had various suggestions, and I have been saying I’d collect them on this summary listing for the first 6 months, but I haven’t done so yet. It’s been a tad busy the last couple of weeks!!

    I’d say this week’s Quiptic from Chandler was a gentle step up (this is 1299, he also set 1291), as were the two from Pasquale (1296 from 22 September & 1292) and Picaroon (1297 from 29 September and 1290), but Anto (1298) isn’t a Quiptic setter. For the Quiptics you’ve got the check buttons and blogs on 15^2. To get to the others, change the last digit of the number in the url bar.

    Picaroon, Matilda, Chandler, Carpathian and Pasquale are all reliable Quiptic setters who dial the difficulty up and down accordingly. Hectence can be, but a lot of us find her harder, Anto is often setting in the Quiptic slot, but most of us find him at the same sort of difficulty as the Cryptic crosswords. You can also sort the Guardian crosswords by setter – so all Carpathian’s puzzles are found here and all Matilda’s here and on 15^2 here (although that relies on the blogger adding that information to the blog).

    Someone else recommended older Everyman crosswords – going back before the current setter, who I find uneven, some weeks I find that it’s Quiptic level, others Cryptic. You can work on the previous week’s when the check buttons are there and the blog is already published. I’ll find that link and start adding to this resource:

    Elsewhere, there are suggestions that the Daily Telegraph crosswords are easier (which I did know, my parents take the Torygraph and I cut my teet on crosswords solving what my mother couldn’t) and the Quick Cryptics in the Times, both of which are behind a paywall. Personally, I wouldn’t give money to either the Telegraph or the Times, but you pay your money and you take your choice.

    Neither the FT or Independent crosswords are behind a paywall and Matilda sets as Velia in the FT and Carpathian sets as Vigo in the Independent – but you can’t search back more than a month in the Independent without subscribing. Hectence, if you get on with her, sets as Zamorca in the FT.

  23. paddymelon (On Quick Cryptic 27)
    October 7, 2024 at 05:58 | Edit
    Kenmac@21. 🙂
    oh no computer@28 and Rob Clow@25. Not a bad idea for people to do both the Guardian and the Tele or others, although some may not want to pay the freight for the Telegraph. I started off on ”straighter” cryptics, where I learned the tools, and spent some time on cryptic crossword sites with helpful examples of clue types, indicators, lists of abbreviations etc, and reading books on how to solve cryptics. Good to have a grounding in the basics before leaping into unknown territory, and sometimes you just want to be able to solve, or up your skills, in a more predictable, comfortable environment.

    I think it’s a big jump to Guardian cryptics, with their quirkiness, and rule-bending, different setters’ styles, and variation in levels of difficulty. If you don’t know the conventions, how can you know when to think outside the square? However, the Quick cryptic and the Quiptic, compiled by setters from the Guardian stable, do give exposure to different styles and Guardian-type tricks, and Shanne has been collating examples over the past 6 months.

    Additional information and some outside resources are listed under FAQ and LINKS on the fifteensquared home page, but there are others. Maybe people can share here what they find helpful?

  24. michelle (from Quick Cryptic 13)
    June 29, 2024 at 09:11 | Edit
    Excellent puzzle for beginners and very enjoyable.

    Marc @7 – I had sort of struggled with cryptics for years and then I discovered fifteensquared which helped me a lot to improve. I used to go back through the Guardian archives online and do old Everyman & Quiptic puzzles as well as (in those days) Rufus’s Monday cryptics. I would then look them up here at fifteensquared to read the parsing, especially of the ones I had not solved or understood how to parse.

    For any beginners now, apart from the Quick Cryptic, I would recommend they go back over old Everyman puzzles (which I am also doing now), say from #3600 backwards, then refer to the relevant fifteensquared blog. For the Guardian link it is easy to do, just use the current link and change the last 4 digits to 3600, eg
    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/4053 becomes
    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3600
    then continue with
    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3599
    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3598
    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/everyman/3597
    and so on.

    The reason I recommend them is because I think they were easier back then.

    You can then refer to the relevant fifteensquared blogs for those puzzles.

    Good luck!

  25. James [from Quick Cryptic 11]
    June 16, 2024 at 10:21 | Edit

    [deleting stuff specific to the crossword]

    Nonetheless loving these Quick Cryptics for a beginner!

    I just posted on QC#9, for @Steffen: Cracking the Cryptic have a 30-60 minute video every Friday where they talk you through the solving of the Times Friday Crossword. Excellent for getting in the mind of a solver: https://youtu.be/EL7TQFbK6dQ

  26. paddymelon (from Quick Cryptic 6)
    May 21, 2024 at 05:07 | Edit
    I’ll post here, for any latecomers, and repost again next week as I think this is a great resource, by Alan Connor, Guardian crossword editor and Everyman setter. It covers many of the clue types which have been appearing in this series of Quick Cryptics and has heaps of links to other articles of his on Cryptic Crosswords for Beginners.

    https://www.theguardian.com/crosswords/crossword-blog/article/2024/may/20/cryptic-crosswords-solution-anagrams-clue-letters

  27. paddymelon (from Quick Cryptic 5)
    May 4, 2024 at 11:44 | Edit
    Shanne@7. Agree that looking things up is the way to learn, and I (almost) always check a dictionary when I find an unfamiliar word or to confirm something I think I’ve got from wordplay. I don’t have Chambers but I usually go to Onelook https://onelook.com/ as it links to several dictionaries.

    When I first got into Cryptics, I found sites which helped me with clue types, abbreviations etc. The link below from Crossword Unclued is a good place to start:

    https://www.crosswordunclued.com/2008/08/tackling-cryptic-crosswords-7-step_11.html

    Also Alan Connor’s series in the Guardian, Cryptic Crosswords for Beginners, is very informative, and entertaining. Others have said they learned a lot from books, eg Chambers Crossword Manual.

  28. Wow! This weeks blog is SOOO useful and helpful. As a slow learner I am just beginning to be able to do a lot of the answers without resource to looking up a thesaurus. I am really enjoying doing it and checking out why something is correct on this blog which is FANTASTIC. Thankyou for doing it every week! I will maybe start to try the puzzles you suggest. I have tried to learn to do cryptics in the past and failed miserably. It’s like a portal to another dimension.

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