From today, I’m trying an experiment. Since The Guardian introduced the Quick Cryptic just over a year ago, it’s clear that there are a lot of people trying their hand at cryptic crosswords for the first time.
As most of us know, once you’ve been bitten by the cryptic bug, it’s hard to shake it off. Many newbies progress to the Quiptic and/or Everyman but, of course, unlike the Quick Cryptic, there’s no indication of what kind of clues they’ll be facing.
The idea of Newbie Corner is that inexperienced solvers can ask for a hint or just blatantly ask for the answer – a bit like phone-a-friend.
Newbie Corner has been added to the main menu.
It’s experimental, let’s see how it goes.
Good on you Ken.
We older solvers need the newbies to be coming on, to support the rest of us in our old age,
As a ‘newbie’ solver I think this is a good idea and a hint would hopefully be enough to get a bit more of whichever puzzle you are attempting moving forwards again. Not sure that I would want the full answer to be provided though – that seems a bit too much to me personally.
Sounds good. We could probably treat it to a more esteemed position than tucked under Cookies though. Maybe “Home, Newbie Corner, General Discussion” etc?
I think it would be good to group the more meta links together at the end – about, policy, cookies etc. There’s also a grouping that could be made of things people are encouraged to post in, and things that are just to be read.
It’s a shame that fifteensquared requires this sort of thing to be all in one post. It may get unwieldy with all the different puzzles out there. A newbie forum would work better, where you could have one post per puzzle, but I assume this is beyond the capabilities of the current blog-oriented site.
Max @3
I agree and I’m planning to revamp the menu. The biggest problem for me is that the changes are instantaneous and I know I’ve messed up in the past.
This is a brilliant idea , I do this at work , people bring me everything from the Metro to the Listener and I just give extra specific hints to help with specific clues . Much easier verbally of course but it should work on here once it settles down . I am willing to help and will check it twice a day , before my swim and when I get home .
This is such a great idea! I really appreciate the time and effort of all the bloggers and administrators here. This site has really helped me get to grips with cryptics. I do find the main challenge with midweek cryptics is the layering of multiple clue types (charade with an anagram thrown in for part of the solution). Just knowing that’s what I’m looking for would be incredibly helpful.
This site provides that service in a potentially less cumbersome way.
I am a total newbie in my 70’s. I am working my way through Guardian quickcryptic in reverse – presently at 32 – and wondering where to go next. GQC is a great learning tool….
As an aside I belong to a u3a (university of the third age – which has been rebranded to ‘sound’ less elitest) and am working to set up a cryptic crossword interest group.
Any advice would be very gratefully received……
Marzipan @9 The free daily cryptic on lovattspuzzles.com is QC level and good for practice. They also have a cryptic clue game with explanations.
Guardian quiptic can vary a lot in difficulty.
Marzipan @9 I’d recommend extending your range to the Times Quick Cryptic which is daily except Sunday, 13×13, always immaculately clued and blogged over at ‘Times for the Times’ where you can ask questions under the blog just like here.
Marzipan @9 – I agree with Jay about the Times Quick Cryptic. The next step after that I think is the Telegraph’s back-page puzzle (just called its ‘cryptic’, rather than the Toughie). That’s blogged at bigdave.44.com, which has hints as well as the answers. It’s also daily except Sunday – although Saturday’s is a prize so not blogged immediately.
Thanks for the suggestions – have noted them.
Like this idea. I’m a year in on my cryptic crossie journey having started with the QC series and have been doing the Quiptics, including working my way back through the archives. A way of getting some hint support other than just the full solution blogs sounds great.
Ken, that’s a cracking innovation, more power to your elbow for exploring ways to improve 15sq.
As an “ex-newbie”, I sometimes felt the “advanced” cryptic community was a bit like the freemasons.
It isn’t though…posters are generally a helpful bunch!
What a lovely idea! Been bitten by the solving bug for a few years now but still feel like a newbie sometimes- a chance to give back with occasional tips seems a great addition to the mix.
Marzipan @9. I concur on recommendations for The Times Quick Cryptic which are all blogged on TimesforTheTimes (of which I am admin). The puzzles are behind a paywall, but you can get a puzzles-only subscription from The Times. You can find a (free) set of puzzles in the same style at https://reinterred.blogspot.com/2020/10/weekend-quick-cryptic-crosswords-index.html. As for starting a U3A cryptic crosswords group, I’ve been running one for over a year and have assembled a lot of tutorial material based on, but extending, Henry Howarth’s excellent online course and book. Email me at john@eceaconsulting.co.uk for more information and access to it, if you like.
Sounds good! I’m not exactly a ‘newbie’, having done the Everyman since my teens (so 50+ years). I now also do the Guardian Quiptic, but usually struggle with the weekly cryptics – still miss Araucaria!
Since I retired I’ve persevered with them a bit more, but still rarely manage to complete more than a couple a week.
Be prepared for questions from me. Lots of them! 😂
Any source of help and guidance is appreciated, and perhaps it would stop me clogging up the main blog, which I feel l pester too much.
I think it is a superb idea.
Newbie Corner is a great idea. I was introduced to Cryptic puzzles during the dreaded ‘lock down’ and it not only helped to lift my depression it brought laughter and smile’s into my days, as I loved the humour to be found in the majority of clues.
Dear husband and I have continued solving and I spend at least two hours each day around the kitchen table working through the Guardian cryptic of the day and Everyman on Sunday. My favourite setter was Nutmeg, I also enjoy puzzles by Vulcan and Paul.
What a great idea. I am comfortable with Vulcan/Everyman but have very mixed results with all the other setters I try in the Guardian. I will definitely use the help when I hit the brick wall that would previously have led to abandoning. Who knows, one day I might finish one of Paul’s challenges. Thanks to all who will contribute to this. It is really appreciated
So I tried Monday’s Times Quick Cryptic – I found it more challanging than the GQC and revealed 3 of the words. Some of the answers I got right but didn’t understand how from the clue. I did check words too as I progressed through the crossword.
I went to TimesfortheTimes to check the parsing and discovered that some of the clues incorporated both charade and anagram. Also there was a pure cryptic. So definitely an advance for me and lots of looking up words in The Chambers Crossword Dictionary.
There were mixed reviews of yesterday’s (Monday’s) Guardian Cryptic from Vulcan – several of us commented that we found it more accessible than the Quiptic from Anto, but others found it harder. If you find Anto challenging, it might be worth looking at the Monday Cryptic and seeing if you find that achievable.
I wonder if you would also allow us to ask questions about solving? For instance I have been consistently solving Everyman, Quiptic, Guardian Monday Cryptic (and the full week of Cryptics in The Irish Times) for about three years right now, but unlike other puzzles where that level of “success” would almost automatically allow me to gradually transition to the harder ones later in the week, I find the jump in level of difficulty from Monday to Tuesday and so on in The Guardian to be really challenging. Is there a trick to advancing that I’m not aware of? Or if this a psychological block perhaps?
CrosaireLover@24. I think discussing the process of solving and a sense or evidence of ”improving” is really valuable. I don’t think enough attention is paid to that. The Guardian cryptics, with their rule-bending and variability, over days of the week, or with different setters, is, I believe, a very challenging launching point for newer solvers. You have to first learn the rules, before you can break them. Another analogy is clowns in the circus, the most skillful but deceptively humorous performers.
Then there is the expectation on solvers themselves. I know that I couldn’t navigate an ocean, even if I lived to be 120 and started learning today. My brain just doesn’t work that way. I’m just happy to generally steer in the right direction, and get one or two nibbles on the line to sustain me.
Crosairelover@24: Don’t set too much store by the belief that Guardian crosswords get steadily harder as the week goes on; not even Monday can always be guaranteed to be on the easier side, and Tuesday is often a real toughie, rather than a gentle step up from Monday. Wednesday won’t necessarily be harder still. I found that it was always worth at least attempting the rest of the week; even the Prize can sometimes turn out to be quite do-able. There is also this mysterious thing called “being on the setter’s wavelength”, which can mean that you can find so-called “easy” setters more difficult than “harder” ones (I used to have this trouble with the late Chifonie: always accounted an easier setter – but not by me).
Just keep trying – and do not put anybody on a Do Not Attempt list (though Enigmatist is well known for being particularly difficult).
The best advice I was given when I started was to keep a note book and when you come across devices or wordplay that are new to you, especially anything that you particularly enjoyed, note them down. This might include abbreviations, unusual synonyms, lists or whole clues etc. Periodically you can review your notes to reinforce those things.
CrosaireLover@24: Good advice already, but a few things to add. Solve with a friend if you can, because if stuck, you can bounce ideas around and sometimes one of you will immediately see an answer that has the other stumped. Don’t be afraid to put a puzzle in the naughty corner and come back to it – I’ve been solving for mumblemumble years and I find it can help to let your mind reset when stuck, even with dailies – it’s almost essential with more complex puzzles. And finally, if you do admit defeat, head to a site like this where you can learn and understand what the clue was doing. (You might also find, as many of us do, that you end up coming here because you’re sure an answer’s right but you don’t entirely know why!)
Thank you very much to paddy melon, gladys, Jay, and Catnip. Very helpful advice and I appreciate that you took the time to respond.
Any hints on how to read all the ‘earliers’. They don’t seem to be definitions so they must be directing to do something but I am not sure what. 😅 I solved 20 without it. I am on 28.
Catch partners in North America gatecrashing earlier (7)
Thanks!
CrosaireLover@29. And the main thing is to keep a sense of fun!
Not just for newbies. I’ve been doing ’em for years, and today Fed stumped me royally. Even after I saw the answer, the parsing was opaque to me. My point, I suppose, is that everyone’s a newbie about something.
Nikki@20, in both those clues the structure is definition followed by two elements of wordplay. “earlier” then directs you to put the second bit of wordplay in front (or above) the first.
I hadn’t spotted that Paul had used it in twice in the same puzzle.
Nikki @30 – that’s the Guardian Paul cryptic from Wednesday. He’s using earlier in two different ways in that puzzle, in 20D it’s to give the order of the parts of the charade. In
28A Catch partners in North America gatecrashing earlier (7)
Earlier is ERE, the poetic synonym and gatecrashing is an insertion indicator.
NA is North America
and partners are as in bridge, the card game.
Does that help?
I know it’s confusing, but I think the intention is that this page is intended only for discussing the idea of having a newbie corner.
The actual newbie corner is at https://www.fifteensquared.net/2025/05/16/newbie-corner/ and is also linked to from the page header, or the top menu on small screens.
Yes, very confusing to have two different sections both called “Newbie Corner”, only one of which is actually Newbie Corner…
@36: This page is really just an announcement of the new feature. I imagine it will go away soon.
@Jay 27: I am doing this (I am very new as only been doing crytics since March 2025) but on an excel spreadsheet because of tabs and because of CTRL+F (to find a word). I find the very action of noting the synonym, abbrev, meanings particular to the ‘crossword world’, odd clues etc helps my memory.
I get this from the parsing after I have completed the crossword.
@Max 35 and @Gladys 36: Just looked at the other one. It is much more clue specific whereas this is more general and (for me) helpful.
Agree that should maybe in one place but is there a need for a general Newbie and a clue specific Newbie forum……….?
While we’re on discussing lists of words to help, would a summary of the Quick Cryptics to the #60 be helpful?
I produced a blog post for the first 26 weeks, started building another version around 52/53 weeks, but didn’t finish it for various reasons, partly because I year was not clearly 52 or 53 weeks, and at the time there wasn’t much chat about needing that help.
Thank you, Shanne, that does help! I was thinking it was an indicator.
Sorry All, I used the wrong thread 😂