Cryptic Crossword

Just try it — you might get hooked on cryptics, too! Cryptic crossword clues have two parts: a definition (which can be hard to spot, as it can appear either at the beginning or end of the clue, and you never know how many words it encompasses), and wordplay, which can be of several varieties, to keep you on your toes. The trick is to figure out which part is the definition and which part is wordplay — once you figure that out, the answer is easy to ferret out. Kind of. It’s loads of fun when the correct answer “clicks”! App is very easy to use and has lots of free puzzles. Plus, you can get hints — a letter or a whole word — and you can check your answers to see how many are incorrect, and where your errors are. Makes it a snap. Love this app!

I really like this app! I’ve only started learning how to do cryptic crosswords a year ago, and many of the more well-known ones (like Guardian) are still a bit too challenging for me. I would say these are definitely on the easy side, so if you’re a seasoned cryptic solver, you might not find these challenging enough. But it was perfect for me! I get to practice stretching my brain on puzzles that are the right level that I can actually completely solve them. If you’re not sure it’s for you, you get a whole 28 puzzles with the free app. I went ahead and paid the very reasonable fee to unlock the rest of the puzzles. If I had to change something, I do wish there was more variety of wordplay in the clues. A whole lot of clues are anagram puzzles or “find the hidden word” puzzles, so this app isn’t really teaching me to solve the more difficult ones which have more types of complex wordplay.

The problem with these Cryptic Crosswords is that they're going to run out and I'll be bereft. Teazel generously gives you 18 free puzzles (took in each of nine sets) and for some very low purchase price opens all of them, which is approximately 180 puzzles. It's actually a bit more because there one or two sets that have an extra game. If you're a cryptic fan like I am, this is a feast of puzzles. I tried to hold myself to one —or maybe just two — puzzles per day but I ended up like a kid in the cookie jar, unable to resist. There is an option to erase an entire puzzle but I'd really love the option to erase them all in one "swell foop" so I can do them over again. Even better would be to have a new set of cryptic puzzles, but if Teazel won't provide new those, I'll try their regular crosswords to see if they also present a pleasurable challenge. One caveat for those of us in the States, it helps if you quite a bit of British slang (or can find a translation dictionary) but since it seems the Brits produce lots of good cryotics.