“I should construct a cryptic”, I thought. “How hard can it be?” Pretty damn hard, as it turns out. How are there people who do this every week???<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you don’t know what cryptic crosswords are, you can read about them in Stella Zawistowski’s recent article<\/a>. Basically, each clue is made up of two parts \u2013 a (usually) straightforward definition, and some word play where the words may have no connection to the definition. Cryptics are pretty standard fare in the UK and other countries, but are still relatively rare here in the US. But you can find lots of great clues on Twitter by searching for #crypticclueaday<\/a> or #crypticcluecontest<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I started this puzzle as a regular crossword, but quickly realized it wouldn’t work. Then I thought of the clue for 1-Across, and realized the theme would be great for a cryptic. After that it was a simple matter of spending a few hours forcing all the words into a grid, and then many many more hours of writing clues for them all and then endlessly revising those clues to make them all work. Huge thanks to everyone who tested this puzzle, but especially to Joshua Kosman<\/a> and Lily Geller<\/a> for their incredibly detailed edits and suggestions. Every word matters in a cryptic clue, and it’s in large part thanks to them that my clues have the right words \u2013\u00a0and only the right words. If you are at all interested in cryptics you should subscribe to Joshua’s weekly Out of Left Field<\/a> puzzles, which are insanely good and reasonably priced<\/a>. You should also follow Lily on Twitter where she posts lots of cryptic clues and usually wins the weekly cryptic clue contest (including an amazing clue<\/a> this week).<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have a lot more to say about this puzzle, but all of it would be spoiler-y, so instead you’ll just have to solve it and then read the solution notes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n