Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. The mere mention of “cryptic” crossword clues can be enough to put an amateur puzzler off their game before pencil has hit paper.

“In a poll, 64% of Americans felt that the New York Times Crossword is the hardest to complete,” followed by The Washington Post at 19% and USA Today at 13%. Whether you’re taking your first steps ...

Tony Long will be sharing his knowledge in an illustrated talk in Thame called Cracking Cryptics: An Easy Guide to Solving ...

“Three Strong Women” author NDiaye: five letters.

Crosswords, inexplicably, are more popular than ever. The New York Times alone apparently has more than 28 million people playing its word games. (Speaking of which, have you tried Slate’s?) Something ...

Welcome to Fifteen Minutes first-ever (to my knowledge) cryptic crossword. Cryptics are the trickier and weirder British cousin of normal crosswords. Whereas a normal crossword’s clues only have a ...

“Have you heard about the crossword compiler? When he died, he was buried 6 down and 3 across” ...

TODAY’S TRICKS Clues begin or end with a definition of the answer. The rest is one of these: Anagram Anagram of answer and hint that there’s an anagram ‘Senator arranged crime (7)’ gives TREASON ...

Among the most challenging crossword puzzles are those in which the answers are hidden in the clues themselves. These are aptly called cryptic. For example, what is the answer to Used to be healthy, ...

A drawing that riffs on the latest news and happenings.

One oddity of cryptic crosswords is that they rely on shorthand that may not be obvious to foreign, or even just modern English, solvers. “Sailor” for instance, can refer to the letters AB, as in ...