The Stickler Weekly 36 Solution

Piecing together cryptic clue wordplays is a fundamental part of cryptic crossword solving. A well-written clue should be solvable from its wordplay alone, so structuring a wordplay so that solvers are given enough information to reconstruct the answer is crucial to the whole process. When teaching people how to solve, I take a different approach to the usual one of explaining how a clue resolves to an answer. The key for me is learning about clue structure: the definition and wordplay and associated cryptic devices and how to spot them. Once someone can recognise wordplay devices through the common kinds of indicators they use, they are well on the way to being able to solve any clue in any puzzle. Take 26-across:

Cold, rough sea is not for lightweight boat enthusiasts (9).

Put your mind into identification mode and label the cryptic possibilities of the most obvious components:

 
It doesn’t matter whether the labelling is exactly right – the process is done to identify the likely structure of the clue. Since abbreviations and indicators are the domain of the wordplay part of a clue, it’s easy to see where the wordplay is and therefore where the definition is likely to be. Identifying the definition is key to unravelling any cryptic clue. This may look idealistic and too easy, but I guarantee this technique will work in most cases, as most clues use indicators of some kind. There are indicators for containing, positioning, mixing up, truncating, subtracting and others, and the only clues that don’t have them are cryptic definitions, double definitions and some charades – therefore the absence of indicators is also a pointer to particular types of clues.

If you have trouble working out some clues, have a go at identifying possible abbreviations and indicators and using that knowledge to pin down the definition. I know it works.