Tag Archives: Wordplay

Clever cluing and outlaw wordplay…

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Last week I collected some of my favorite examples of clever crossword cluing, hoping to highlight some marvelous wordplay along the way.

To do so, I called in the cavalry and recruited the help of a half-dozen or so fellow puzzlers. As the terrific, funny, and cunning clues poured in, some of them were accompanied by notes, indicating that one publisher or another had barred them from publication.

Some clues, no matter how funny or clever, are rejected by publishers who view them as inappropriate for public consumption.

I respectfully disagree. =)

Heck, I wrote an entire blog post about cluing last year that featured my favorite not-quite-appropriate-for-all-sensibilities clue.

So please enjoy some immensely clever clues that didn’t make the cut elsewhere.

New York Times Crossword contributor Ian Livengood considers this one of his favorite answer/clue combinations, and it’s a real treat. He offers “Group getting some air play?” as the clue for “MILE HIGH CLUB.”

Patti Varol, Los Angeles Times Crossword contributor, turned some heads with the clue “Car bomb?” for “EDSEL.”

Crossword fiend Doug Peterson, via Patti, shared another eye-popping clue: “I had ‘BUILDING’ in a Sun puzzle and Peter Gordon clued it as ‘Erection’. We agreed that that one is hilarious and unlikely to be used anywhere else.”

My chums from Penny Press came through as well, offering clues that caught the attention of The Powers That Be.

Puzzle editor Keith Yarbrough contributed two wonderfully wicked clues for common crossword fodder, offering “Public hanging” for “ART” and “Brest milk” for “LAIT.”

Crossword guru Eileen Saunders also lobbed two sharp examples of choice wordplay my way, offering “Hoe house?” for “SHED” and “Wombmates?” for “TWINS.”

But my favorite contribution was definitely the one offered by variety puzzler Leandro Galban: “Kindergarten snack?” for “PASTE.”

Not only did I laugh out loud at that clue, but there’s more. In the email accompanying the clue, Leandro said, “We received at least one letter questioning my sanity so you know it was a success.”

I’d like to thank my fellow puzzlers for some tremendous wordplay and a few hearty laughs today. Keep on pushing the envelope! You never know what clever clues they’ll conjure next.

Clueless? Not these folks!

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If you saw the clue “poultry sum,” would you deduce the answer was “CHICKEN FEED?” What about the clue “Spanish root word?” Would you write “OLE” in the grid?

Clever cluing is the lifeblood of great crosswords. No matter how crafty a given puzzle’s theme, no matter how challenging or playful the entry words, crosswords live and die on their clues. And there’s a real art to creating a great clue.

I have a few clues in my personal files that I’m pretty proud of, ones that employ wordplay or pop culture references in an interesting way.

In the past, I’ve used “Locksmith?” for “HAIRDRESSER,” and I’ve previously clued the entry “TELL-ALL” as “Book of revelations?” Both of them employ just enough wordplay to appease my inner pun-loving wordnerd.

With that spirit in mind, I reached out to a few of my fellow puzzlers and asked them to contribute some of their favorite clues, either that they’ve created or that they’ve seen in other puzzles.

Los Angeles Times Crossword contributor Patti Varol wrote one of my all-time favorite clues — “Baa nana?” for “EWE” — so I was eager to see which clues she was most proud of.

She offered “In a glass by itself” for “NEAT,” which is great, as well as the playful “‘Egads,’ like, way updated” for “OMG.”

Patti also recommended a clue for “SPELLS” from the August edition of the Crosswords Club: “Breaks down in English class?”

New York Times Crossword contributor Ian Livengood also suggested a fellow puzzler’s work, stating that Jeremy Horwitz delivered “Bum rap?” as a dynamite clue for “BABY GOT BACK” in a Times puzzle.

LA Times Daily Crossword editor Rich Norris provided a cagey clue for “MOMENT”: “Second cousin?”

Several puzzlers from Penny Press were happy to lend some of their favorite clues as well.

Crossword guru Eileen Saunders plucked a few choice ones from her Rolodex for us, including “Mouse sound?” for “CLICK,” “Fir coat” for “BARK,” “Support system?” for “BRA,” and “Flip one’s lid” for “BLINK.”

(Patti also recommended one of Eileen’s clues, citing “Spot remover” for “DOGCATCHER,” echoing Eileen’s inclusion of “Labrador retriever?” for “DOGWARDEN” as one of her favorites.)

Puzzle editor Keith Yarbrough offered up some nimble wordplay as well, including “Feat of Klee” for “ART,” “Bean dip” for “NOD,” “Bach’s lunch” for “WURST,” “Kid, napped” for “SUEDE,” and “Thyme and thyme again” for “HERBS”.

All of these clues show the ingenuity, intelligence, and whimsy that are inherent to truly fun and engaging puzzlemaking, and I’d like to thank my fellow puzzlers for sharing some of their best with us today. Keep up the great work!

A twoderful holiday five you and yours!

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A holiday hello to my fellow puzzlefiends and solvers!

In the giving spirit of Christmas, I wanted to leave a small token of wordplay wonder for you. As such, I’m happy to present one of my all-time favorite comedy routines, a Victor Borge classic called “Inflationary Language.” It’s a little word puzzle in and of itself, and I think you’ll quite enjoy.

Answers? Why, you shouldn’t have!

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Apologies for the delay in posting the answers to the Word Mastery for the Holidays post, my fellow puzzle fiends! The holiday season, so ridiculously hectic.

In any case, here are the answers! How did you do?

1.) Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

Oh Come All Ye Faithful

2.) Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

Hark, the Herald Angels Sing

3.) Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.

Go Tell It on the Mountain

4.) Nocturnal timespan of unbroken quietness.

Silent Night

5.) Embellish the interior passageways.

Deck the Halls

6.) An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestial sphere.

Joy to the World

7.) Twelve o’clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

It Came Upon a Midnight Clear

8.) The Christmas preceding all others.

The First Noel

9.) Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

Oh Little Town of Bethlehem

10.) In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children’s slumber furnishings.

Away in a Manger

11.) Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.

Jingle Bells

12.) The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of far eastern heads of state.

We Three Kings (of Orient Are)

13.) Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature’s dormancy.

Winter Wonderland

14.) In awe of the nocturnal timespan characterized by religiosity.

Oh Holy Night

15.) Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as an hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas

16.) Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift-giver.

Here Comes Santa Claus

17.) Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of frozen minute crystals.

Frosty the Snowman

18.) Tranquility upon the terrestial sphere.

Peace on Earth

19.) Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

20.) Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders.

Little Drummer Boy

21.) Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Word Mastery for the Holidays

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This has been floating around the Internet for years — I can remember my English teacher challenging us with it in my sophomore year of high school, back in the Mesozoic Era — but I can’t think of a more delightfully seasonal puzzle for the blog’s loyal solvers and verbivores.

See if you can figure out these reworded holiday song titles! Enjoy!

1.) Move hitherward the entire assembly of those who are loyal in their belief.

2.) Listen, the celestial messengers produce harmonious sounds.

3.) Proceed forth declaring upon a specific geological alpine formation.

4.) Nocturnal timespan of unbroken quietness.

5.) Embellish the interior passageways.

6.) An emotion excited by the acquisition or expectation of good given to the terrestial sphere.

7.) Twelve o’clock on a clement night witnessed its arrival.

8.) The Christmas preceding all others.

9.) Small municipality in Judea southeast of Jerusalem.

10.) In a distant location the existence of an improvised unit of newborn children’s slumber furnishings.

11.) Tintinnabulation of vacillating pendulums in inverted, metallic, resonant cups.

12.) The first person nominative plural of a triumvirate of far eastern heads of state.

13.) Geographic state of fantasy during the season of Mother Nature’s dormancy.

14.) In awe of the nocturnal timespan characterized by religiosity.

15.) Natal celebration devoid of color, rather albino, as an hallucinatory phenomenon for me.

16.) Expectation of arrival to populated areas by mythical, masculine perennial gift-giver.

17.) Obese personification fabricated of compressed mounds of frozen minute crystals.

18.) Tranquility upon the terrestial sphere.

19.) Omnipotent supreme being who elicits respite to ecstatic distinguished males.

20.) Diminutive masculine master of skin-covered percussionistic cylinders.

21.) Jovial Yuletide desired for the second person singular or plural by us.

Get a clue.

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One of the most challenging parts of making a puzzle is coming up with new or clever clues. I daresay it’s the toughest part of creating a puzzle.

Of course, that same challenge also makes it one of the most enjoyable aspects of both puzzle-making and puzzle-solving. (After all, if every clue is simply a synonym or a fill-in-the-blank, it wouldn’t be much of a puzzle.)

Now, I love wordplay, I always have. Whenever I can work palindromes or anagrams or the like into a puzzle or its clues, I’m all over it. Getting to do a series of Tom Swifties as clues one time was a particular joy.

But this style of cluing is harder than you think, since sometimes you only have so much space allotted for cluing an entire puzzle. The difference between two lines and three can be crucial.

So your goal should be wordplay that’s funny AND space-efficient while still being appropriate for a wide audience. A personal favorite that I’ve seen in crosswords for a while now is the clue “It’s for posers.” (The answer is “yoga.”)

In my own cluing experience, my sense of humor occasionally causes me to stray toward impropriety when it comes to clues.

For instance, I had a puzzle where I needed to clue “bald,” so I used “unlocked” as the clue. Mildly clever, not too bad, and totally unoffensive. That’s the trinity I need to hit for new cluing.

But in the same puzzle, I had the word Lisp, and I was trying to conjure up a fun clue, instead of relying on something like “speech issue,” which is bland. The clue I eventually came up with — “Make sin thin, e.g.” — made me smile, but I scrapped it, because it might come off as insensitive.

That’s why a clue like “Grass guillotine” for “lawnmower” could cause some problems. You could offend people with that. (The French, or the recently decapitated, I suppose.)

But sometimes, you simply can’t help yourself. A fellow puzzler was trying to come up with an inoffensive way to clue “witch hunt,” a phrase that would’ve fit nicely into a particular crossword grid. (Referring to either the historical pursuit of witches OR the general connotation of persecution was out of the question.)

My thought was that wordplay could save the entry, by getting people to summon up the phrase itself without the negative connotations. You know, like “spellcaster’s search?” or something like that.

That clue came to mind later. After another clue. One that I loved so very, very much, but that I could never use for the above reasons.

My clue for “witch hunt”…

“Pressing engagement.”