2021-04-22 07:54
I learned of CV Sir’s passing through messages from crossword friends last Wednesday. I had not been in touch with him since over a year, and infrequently even before that. And yet, hi… Read More
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Crossword Unclued is a blog for cryptic crossword enthusiasts. It has solving tips, explanations of clue types and wordplay styles, analysis of interesting clues and other crossword trivia.
2020-03-10 09:16
We have received your answers and your feedback to Prize Puzzle: Hindi Crossword 7. It is time to give out the solution, reflect on your responses, and announce the name of a lucky winner. … Read More
2020-03-02 00:00
Holi is round the corner - and we are back with our customary Holi special crossword in Hindi. Kishore and I took upon ourselves a fun setting challenge for this puzzle: all clues as couplet… Read More
2019-09-02 11:20
On 16 December 2014, the New York Times puzzle grid carried this answer which led to much bafflement in the solving community: Source: © 2014, The New York Times The clue (33a) was "Sc… Read More
2019-05-07 02:12
Crossword sightings in Indian films are rare. And so I watched with great interest as Byomkesh Bakshi in Shajarur Kanta (2015) lingered on the puzzles section of the newspaper while holding… Read More
2019-04-24 02:30
In the article Crossword Grids That Hold More Than One Letter Per Cell, cryptic setter eXternal (Steve Bartlett) gave us a detailed tour of “rebus” crosswords, with tips… Read More
2019-03-31 05:39
We are back as promised to share the solution of Hindi Cryptic Crossword 6 and announce our winner. One of the many delights for us, while reading your responses, has been hearing from first… Read More
2019-03-18 09:08
We’ve had a mad scramble to get our latest Hindi crossword puzzle out just in time for Holi. Happy Holi dear readers! Kishore (aka Incognito) and I present our sixth collaboration over… Read More
2018-11-12 06:26
This NYT Wordplay article Yes, You Can Write More Than One Letter in a Square and an ensuing twitter discussion got me to discover some fascinating grid-fill gimmicks used in advanc… Read More
2018-01-22 17:06
I tried out this mobile app recently that shook me out of blogging hibernation. If you have friends new to cryptic crosswords and keen to learn, this might interest them. Here are my impre… Read More
2016-06-07 03:13
As most of you would know, the series of white squares in the crossword grid, into which answers are entered, are called "lights". Do you also know why they are called "lights"? No, it… Read More
2016-04-28 14:40
Take a close look at this clue: Away from home, in the open, dies in battle (7) OUTSIDE OUT (in the open) (DIES)*; Definition: away from home The etymology of OUTSIDE is OUT + SIDE, so… Read More
2016-04-25 01:30
One of the hallmarks of a strong cryptic clue is a misleading definition. Some definitions are so creatively done that they stick long after one has solved the puzzle. Guardian 26720 (Arach… Read More
2016-04-25 01:30
One of the hallmarks of a strong cryptic clue is a misleading definition. Some definitions are so creatively done that they stick long after one has solved the puzzle. Guardian 26720 (Arach… Read More
2016-03-28 23:40
Your submissions for Hindi Cryptic Crossword 5 have been seen and evaluated. Now to share the solution and announce the winner. The Solution The explanation of the answers: आë……Read More
2016-03-19 07:57
It's Holi time, it's Hindi varg-paheli time. Take a stab - there is a prize to be won! Kishore and I present to you our fifth Hindi cryptic crossword. After clueing in couplet form for the… Read More
2016-03-09 06:22
The crossword world has been abuzz with this FiveThirtyEight report for the past few days. The investigation and its aftermath have spawned several threads of conversations about plagiarism… Read More
2016-02-24 22:52
A batch of eight clues with tricky parsing. The answers are given with the clues. Can you annotate them? Post the annotations in the comments section. Update (2nd March 2015): Annotations… Read More
2016-02-18 03:06
In a taxi in Jakarta, I found an abandoned newspaper with a crossword in Bahasa Indonesia on it. This was the first time I saw a crossword in Indonesian and I was pretty excited. The driver… Read More
2015-12-31 13:13
A selection of my favourite clues from the crosswords I attempted in 2015. Enjoy solving! Wish you a very happy new year 2016. Times 26295: PIN number? (4,3) D___ __G Guardian 26647 (Arac… Read More
2015-12-28 07:05
Ramki Krishnan won at the Indian Crossword League for the second consecutive year. Hear from him his thoughts on the IXL 2015 finals. [To know more about the champion solver… Read More
2015-12-26 21:16
A grander venue, many first-time finalists, a bigger audience, a new "buzzer" round in the on-stage finals – IXL 2015 finals took things up another notch this year. Many of the top… Read More
2015-12-02 03:59
A crossword solver tells us in song why the words in the Sunday Times puzzle elude her today. The song is "Crossword Puzzle" from the 1977 off-Broadway musical revue Starting Here, Starting… Read More
2015-11-25 17:42
I might not have read Marc Romano's Crossworld had I not received it as a gift. The subtitle tells us that the book is about "one man's journey into America's crossword obsession". An unfami… Read More
2015-09-15 00:24
A word that can take on multiple meanings, and can conform to different parts of speech, becomes a powerful tool in the hands of a cryptic setter. 'Can' and 'about' are classic examples that… Read More
2015-08-26 03:43
13 entries got all (or nearly all) of the answers right to Hindi Cryptic Crossword 4. Here's what the completed grid should look like: The Solution The explanation of the answer… Read More
2015-08-16 19:24
As promised, here is the latest Hindi crossword set by Kishore and me. This one has been a long time in the making - we came up with the idea soon after the Holi crossword was done and Kisho… Read More
2015-08-08 00:31
I hit 'Publish' on the first post on Crossword Unclued seven years ago this day. Time does fly when you're having fun! 413 posts and counting… Much has changed in the online world i… Read More
2015-07-31 03:28
Each of the clues below has a different type of bird in it. The bird's name may be the answer or part of the wordplay. Can you find all the birds? [Answers updated] Times 25048: Bird thu… Read More
2015-07-21 02:56
The Hindu Crossword has, on its current setting team, three setters who are not yet 25 – but who show a maturity in their crossword construction that belies their relative newness to t… Read More
2015-07-17 17:59
Playfair is an encoding device used to add solving complexity to advanced cryptic crosswords. How Playfair encoding works Playfair encoding is based on A codeword or phrase, in which no… Read More
2015-06-30 09:30
During World War II, recruiters for Bletchley Park had looked for crossword solvers to join them, as it was believed that crossword experts would be good codebreakers. [The story is that in… Read More
2015-06-17 03:27
A reader shared this video clip with me from the movie Hot Fuzz. I recalled its (quite scathing) mention in the Guardian Crossword blog's entertaining series on crosswords in fiction, and wa… Read More
2015-05-26 02:15
The sight of a crossword affects not just people like us who solve or set. The stark geometry of its grid, the passion it inspires in people who engage with it, are subjects of fascination t… Read More
2015-05-18 02:33
That place of confinement can boast of many imaginative substitutes for its name. Clues that show how these get used in crosswords. 1. JUG Times 25628: Maybe go through mood change… Read More
2015-04-30 08:15
A few years ago, I was awestruck with the cleverness of this winning clue from the Azed Slip Archive: The jungly mass one cleaves (7) MACHETE [M (mass) +ACE (one)] cleaves i.e. holds… Read More
2015-04-17 04:05
As chemistry taught us, every chemical element has a unique symbol, a short character representation usually derived from the element's name. Fe = Iron (from Latin ferrum), O = oxygen, K = p… Read More
2015-03-27 01:15
Why don't we do a crossword puzzle. It'll only take us five minutes. Or, in your case, six. – says Joan Clarke to Alan Turing in the 2014 film The Imitation Game. Something about… Read More
2015-03-11 01:15
The Hindu Crossword 11335 by AfterDark featured a technical marvel – a quadruple pangram in a 15x15 British-style grid. Why is it a technical marvel? Fitting the entir… Read More
2015-03-02 04:25
What an experience! Putting together Holi ki Paheli (puzzle for Holi) has been exhilarating to say the least - exchanging over a hundred emails with the creative setters who wrote clues for… Read More
2015-02-19 05:11
The parsing of these clues stumped me even after I knew their answers. Sharing with you the clues along with their answers. Can you see how their wordplay works? Post the annotations in t… Read More
2015-02-05 02:35
Kishore and I have got our third Hindi crossword grid filled and ready to be clued. Hindi crosswords 1 and 2 have been special prize puzzles on the blog. With crossword 3, we thought we'll d… Read More
2015-02-03 03:00
What quirks and patterns do Buzzer's crosswords for The Hindu reveal? We've examined puzzles by Gridman, Neyartha, Sankalak, and Arden earlier – now Buzzer takes center stage. The fir… Read More
2015-01-27 08:14
Since 2010, The Hindu Crossword has seen a shift in its puzzle contribution format. From a small group of long-time setters who supplied 6+ crosswords per month, the crossword team expanded… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
To interview someone long-familiar is tricky business - there is the risk of omitting questions we already know the answers to, or of veering into off-topic terrain. The lack of distant awe… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Most often, the word 'setter' in a cryptic clue is a self-reference by the crossword setter, one that you would replace with the first person pronoun (I, ME, etc) to get the answer. A typic… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Quick post to get your grey cells gymming on a Sunday. The four fine clues below have a theme to them. Solve and tell what it is. Guardian 25934 (Rufus): A sign of wrong and right, we he… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
FT14242 (Monk): Letters missing in this post office mail delivered around Greece (8) A "lipogram" is a kind of constrained writing that excludes a specific letter or group of letters. The… Read More
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