cryptic clue
Puzzle's oblique pointer
A cryptic clue is a type of crossword puzzle hint that conceals its answer through wordplay rather than straightforward definition.
Each clue contains two parts: a literal definition and a coded instruction (anagram, hidden word, double meaning) that leads to the same answer by different routes.
The cryptic clue "Broken arm in cast" yields MARC—an anagram of "arm."
- crosswordClue-based letter grid
- word puzzleLanguage-based mental game
- anagramReshuffled letter word
- wordplayVerbal wit techniques
- puzzleChallenge testing ingenuity
solver · hidden · riddle · enigma · cipher · acrostic · setter · definition · indicator · container · reversal · homophone · abbreviation · grid · across · down · compiler · decipher
- cryptic puzzlesriddle, cipher, code, cryptogram, enigma
- crosswordsacross, acrostic, codeword, crosser, intersecting
- riddlesriddles, riddle, conundrums, conundrum, enigmas
- wordplaypun, puns, punning, punny, punster
- ambiguityambiguity, ambivalence, double meaning, vagueness, equivocation
- subtexthidden meaning, implied meaning, veiled meaning, subtext, innuendo
cryptic cluedictionary definition
A word's stated meaning
trivia question · plain language · direct question · fill-in-the-blank
cryptic, clue, crypt, crypts, cryptically, cryptography, cryptographic, encrypt, encrypted