Puzzles for practice

Overview

There is no shortage of cryptic crosswords available to practice on. The most important consideration is to find  puzzles that are at the right level of difficulty for you. You will need to have access to the solutions and ideally access to explanations of the clue wordplay.

This article will help you find puzzles to practice on that are suitable for you. It covers the following aspects:

Level of difficulty

Cryptic puzzles differ in their level of difficulty
Published cryptic crosswords follow a common set of principles that govern how clues are constructed. The main difference between them is how difficult the clues are to solve.

Puzzles appearing regularly in a particular publication will be broadly consistent in their level of difficulty. Assessing the level of difficulty of puzzles is not an exact science, but they can be classified into four categories of increasing difficulty — easier, intermediate, challenging and advanced.

The first three categories align with a simple segmentation of the UK national press:

 Puzzle difficulty   Press segmentation   Newspaper titles
 easier   'Mass-Market'  The Sun, The Mirror
 intermediate   'Mid-Market'  Daily Mail, Daily Express
 challenging  'Quality Press'  The Telegraph, The Times, The Guardian, The Independent


For example, The Sun's cryptic crossword is typically easier than the Daily Mail's, which is in turn easier than The Times Cryptic Crossword.

The factors that determine clue difficulty are explained in Learn How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords.

Gauging the right level of difficulty
In order to improve your solving skills, you need to be tackling puzzles that are at the right level of difficulty for you. Too easy and you won't be stretched — too hard and your progress will be slow.

Here is a scheme to gauge whether a puzzle offers an appropriate level of challenge for you:

  • too easy: If you have solved all or nearly all the puzzle within 5–10 minutes then it's not sufficiently challenging.
  • too hard: If after 10–15 minutes you have solved no more than one or two clues then you are not yet ready for this puzzle. You can return to it later in your development.
  • about right: If after 10–15 minutes you have solved about a third or more of the clues then you have found a suitable puzzle to work with. You have the capability to solve clues at this level of difficulty, and it's going to stretch you. With practice and access to supporting resources, your performance will improve.

Finding a puzzle that's right for you
If you are a beginner, then start with an easy puzzle. If this is too easy, then move on to progressively harder puzzles until you find one that is giving you the right level of challenge.

There is no shame in starting at the beginning — like any skill, solving improves with practice and application.

Be realistic about your progress
Mastering any skill takes many hours of practice, so be realistic about your expectations.

Basic skills you need to apply when solving, such as being able to form anagrams, will slowly improve with practice.

There is also a lot of specialist knowledge that solvers gradually accrue through experience. Here are some examples:

  • that the word 'worker' in a clue may require ANT in the solution
  • that 'see' can be a noun meaning 'bishopric' and so may require ELY in the solution (the city of Ely is a bishopric in the UK)
  • that an archaic meaning of 'without' is 'on the outside', and so 'without' can serve as a sandwich indicator.

Learn How to Solve Cryptic Crosswords includes exercises and reference tools designed to fast-track familiarity with some of the more common examples of this specialist cryptic crossword knowledge.

Moving on up
If you find that your regular puzzle has become largely a task of filling in the answers, with very little head scratching in between, then is time to move up a level to something more challenging.

This can be a big jump, so be prepared for what may feel like a step backwards as you find your feet at the next level.

To start with, stick to the same puzzle — the publication's editorial policy will ensure a degree of consistency which you will find helpful. Once you are getting the measure of clues at this level, then shop around, because the exposure to different cluing styles and approaches will broaden your skills.

Practical considerations

Aside from the level of difficulty, there are several practical considerations to consider when choosing puzzles to practice and develop your skills:

Publication format
Crosswords are published in printed media, online and as apps for mobile IT devices.

Many newspapers and magazines regularly feature a cryptic puzzle, and collections of these may be available in book form. Most of the national UK newspapers also make their puzzles available online, for which there may be a subscription charge.

Some people prefer solving on paper, for which a pencil is preferable so that you can correct mistakes. Solving online offers extra features but also brings some additional considerations, and these are covered in the next section — Crosswords online.

Number of puzzles available
You will need to have access to a plentiful supply of puzzles to practice on. Newspaper puzzles are typically published on a daily or weekly basis. The number of puzzles available from an online source can vary greatly.

Cost
In general, solving cryptic crosswords is a low-cost pastime — it doesn't require any special facilities and getting access to crosswords need not be expensive.

If you start buying a daily newspaper purely for the crossword puzzle, then work out what this will cost over the course of a year. If the same puzzle is available as a collection in book form or online, then these are likely to be cheaper options.

Crosswords online

Cryptic crosswords available online can be solved on personal IT devices such as laptops, tablet computers and mobile phones. The software applications required to do this are typically provided by the crossword publisher at their site. Some applications run over the internet, and some require you to download and install the application first. You may have to put up with adverts if the puzzles are made available for free.

Availability for different platforms
A personal IT device may not support the capability to solve on-screen all the crosswords that are published online, so you will need to check what is possible on yours. Owing to the pace of consumer IT product development, the use and availability of crosswords on personal IT devices is likely to be a rapidly changing landscape.

Special features of solving on-screen
Because of the interactive capability of IT, applications for solving puzzles on-screen offer features that add to the solving experience. Some of these features can't be replicated when solving on paper.

Typical features include:

  • check — whether an answer you have entered is correct
  • reveal — 'cheat' facilities to reveal individual letters or the whole word
  • solution — reveal the completed grid with all the answers filled in
  • timing and other data capture to record and display your progress.

Before you start solving a puzzle on-screen, find out if there is a facility to save your answers as you go along.

The experience of solving on-screen
Your experience of solving on-screen will depend on the software application, the size and resolution of the screen on your IT device, and the ease of entering letters into the grid.

I find that being able to see the whole grid and all the clues on screen simultaneously makes for the best solving experience. Some applications and IT devices require you to scroll up and down to access clues and sections of the grid.

Some publishers of online puzzles provide a print facility so you can solve on paper, and you may prefer to do this.

A selection of puzzles

The final part of this article presents a selection of published puzzles at increasing levels of difficulty. Internet links are provided for puzzles available online, and summary information about each puzzle is presented using the following key:

D Daily  published daily 
W Weekly published weekly
P Print available in a printed newspaper
B Book collections available in book form
A App collections available as an app
OF Online, Free available online, free of charge
OC  Online, Charge   available online for a subscription charge 

 

Easier puzzles

Daily Mirror Cryptic D  P  OF -
1 The Sun Two-speed D  P OF B 
Lovatts Daily Cryptic   D - OF  B
Best for Puzzles   Easy Cryptic D - OF -
2 Teazel  Best Cryptic - - - A
Guardian Quick Cryptic W  P  OF -

 

1 The Sun crossword has two sets of clues — quick and cryptic — leading to the same answers. This provides some extra assistance when learning how to solve the cryptic clues.

2 Sample puzzles available for free.

Local newspapers may also publish cryptic crosswords, and these are typically at an easier level of difficulty.


Intermediate puzzles

1 Times  Quick Cryptic D P OC B
Daily Express  Crusader D P OF B
Guardian Quiptic W - OF -

 

1 You need to subscribe to the Tlmes online to have online access to the Times crosswords puzzles

Regional newspapers may also publish cryptic crosswords, and these are typically at an intermediate level of difficulty.

 

Challenging
The puzzles appearing in the UK ‘Quality Puzzle’ are more challenging.

Prize puzzles and those appearing in the weekend editions are often a little easier than the daily puzzles.

Of the daily puzzles, the Telegraph is generally easier than the others:

Observer   Everyman  W  P  OF  B
1 Telegraph  Crossword   D P OC  B
1 Telegraph Toughie  D P OC  B
1 Times Crossword D P OC B
Guardian Crossword D P OF B
Independent   Crossword D  -  OF B 

 

1 You need to subscribe to the Tlmes and the Telegraph for online access to their puzzles

The Telegraph Toughie, The Times, the Independent (including the i) and the Guardian are all, on average, at about the same level of difficulty. The difficulty of an individual puzzle will depend more on the setter and what they came up with on the day than which of these newspapers it appears in.

Differences in editorial policy between these puzzles affects the solving experience but not necessarily how difficult the puzzle is.

Advanced
These are specialist puzzles for experienced solvers, and typically harder than the standard puzzles in the 'Challenging' category.

The Guardian Genius is a difficult themed puzzle published online on the first Monday of each month.

Advanced puzzles tend to use barred grids consisting of white squares only, as opposed to the black and white blocked grids of the standard puzzles. They may be thematic and may incorporate another layer of encryption with additional instructions.

Observer   Azed W P OF B 
Times Listener   W  P  OC B

 

There are also two clubs which provide advanced puzzles to their subscribers: