Abstract

The cryptic crossword is a highly sophisticated and challenging type of intellectual puzzle that has been a daily feature of British newspapers1 for nearly a century, and yet the culture and traditions surrounding it have received little scholarly attention. This article outlines a short history of the cryptic crossword and explains how cryptic clues work. I argue that cryptic crossword clues have a great deal in common with poetry, and that we have much to learn from their structure. Many cryptic clues depend for their effect on confusing the solver through the use of overlapping syntactic and semantic hierarchies, so they serve as evidence that overlapping hierarchies are not merely an unfortunate limitation afflicting XML languages but are psychologically and linguistically real. Finally, I present a TEI schema and an approach to encoding the components of cryptic crossword clues in a way that enables algorithmic analysis of trends, features, and clue types, with a view to creating a historical corpus of encoded clues which will illuminate the evolution of the tradition.

Highlights

  • The cryptic crossword is a highly sophisticated and challenging type of intellectual puzzle that has been a daily feature of British newspapers1 for nearly a century, and yet the culture and traditions surrounding it have received little scholarly attention

  • I argue that cryptic crossword clues have a great deal in common with poetry, and that we have much to learn from their structure

  • I present a TEI schema and an approach to encoding the components Journal of the Text Encoding Initiative, Issue 12, 19/08/2019 Selected Papers from the 2017 TEI Conference of cryptic crossword clues in a way that enables algorithmic analysis of trends, features, and clue types, with a view to creating a historical corpus of encoded clues which will illuminate the evolution of the tradition

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Summary

A Brief History of the Cryptic Crossword in Britain

Crosswords featured in British newspapers from 1923, and, within a few years, some began to include clues which were more than “plain de nitions,” such as “elusive de nitions,” anagrams, and “hints” (Macnutt 1966, 19). 3 Several di erent types of cryptic clue emerged in the rst forty years of the tradition, and the “rules” for setting clues were codi ed by the in uential early setters Afrit (Alistair Ferguson Ritchie) and Ximenes (Derrick Somerset Macnutt). In his seminal work Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword (1966), Ximenes presents a taxonomy of clue types and principles for setters to adhere to in the interests of fairness. An excellent example from the master setter Araucaria (John Graham) is this: Of of of of of of of of of of (10) 3 (quoted in Hoggart 2013)

Why Study Cryptic Crosswords?
Encoding Cryptic Clues
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