Cryptic crossword indicators
Indicator words tell you what to do with the letters. Learn to spot them and most cryptic clues fall into place.
Anagram
Some letters in this clue need rearranging.
abandoned, aberrant, abnormal, abroad, abused, adapted, adjusted, adrift… 237
Hidden word
The answer may be sitting in plain sight, spelled out across the clue's words.
a bit of, among, amongst, bit of, buried in, carries, carrying, concealed by… 47
Reversal
Something here gets read backwards.
back, backed, backing, backward, backwards, brought back, coming back, flipped… 49
Container
One piece wraps around another.
about, absorbing, accommodating, admits, admitting, around, besieging, boxing… 58
Insertion
One piece goes inside another.
admitted to, amid, amidst, among, boxed by, breaking, caught by, caught in… 52
Homophone
Listen rather than read: the answer sounds like something.
aloud, announced, announcing, audibly, broadcast, broadcasting, by the sound of it, for the audience… 44
Remove first letter
A word here loses its first letter.
beheaded, beheading, decapitated, first off, first out, first to go, heading off, headless… 17
Remove last letter
A word here loses its last letter.
abbreviated, abridged, all but, almost, brief, briefly, clipped, curtailed… 34
Remove outer letters
A word here loses its first and last letters.
boundless, edges removed, limitless, outsiders removed, pared, peeled, shelled, skinned… 11
Remove middle letter
A word here loses its middle.
cored, coreless, disheartened, heartless, heartlessly, losing heart, without heart… 7
Outer letters
Only the outside letters of a word are used.
banks of, borders of, bounds of, case of, cleared out, edges of, emptied, empty… 23
Central letters
Only the middle of a word is used.
center of, central, centrally, centre of, core of, heart, heart of, hub of… 13
First letters
Look at the first letters of some words.
at first, at the start, beginning of, beginnings of, capital of, capitals, early, first… 34
Last letters
Look at the last letters of some words.
at last, at the end, bottom of, bottoms, close of, closing, conclusion of, end of… 27
Alternate letters
Every other letter of a stretch of the clue is used.
alternate, alternately, alternatively, at times, even, even bits, evenly, evens… 26
Spoonerism
Swap the starting sounds of two words.
spooner, spooner's, spoonerised, spoonerism, spoonerized… 5
Charade (building blocks)
The answer is built from pieces placed side by side.
above, added to, adding, adjoining, after, against, ahead of, alongside… 31
Link word
This word probably just joins the definition to the wordplay.
are, as, becomes, becoming, being, for, from, gets… 41