Answer
Homophone Clues
homophone clues define the answer as a sound-alike of another word. Learn "we hear" and its synonyms, why US and UK pronunciations trip solvers, and examples.
The short answer
A homophone clue defines the answer as something that sounds like another word: indicators are "we hear", "audibly", "on the radio", "reported", "in speech". The definition half gives the meaning; the homophone half gives a word pronounced the same. If a clue mentions sound, say the candidate out loud.
The sound-alike mechanism
Homophones are the only clue type where the wordplay half never shares letters with the answer — only sounds. The textbook case is the WAIST/WASTE family: "Rubbish around the middle, we hear (5)" — rubbish = WASTE, which sounds identical to WAIST, "the middle". The parse is valid when one half defines the meaning and the other half, spoken aloud, produces the answer. Because our solver verifies letters, it flags homophone parses with a "sound-based, verify aloud" label rather than a green check.
The accent trap
British setters use Received Pronunciation: "wine/whine" split historically, "caught/court" merged in some US dialects but not RP, "herb" without the h. A clue that is unsolvable in your accent may be a perfect homophone in the setter's. When stuck on a homophone clue, test the sound in a British accent before concluding the clue is flawed — the majority of cryptics published worldwide follow UK conventions.
Why homophones love question marks
Good homophone clues end with a question mark as often as cryptic definitions do, because the surface reading is deliberately absurd ("the sea, we hear?" for SEE). Treat a sound-word plus question mark as a double signal: homophone first, cryptic-definition second if the homophone fails.
A second worked example, end to end
Clue: "Prince, we hear, is doing nothing (7)" — "we hear" is the homophone indicator; "doing nothing" = IDLING (7 letters). Test: is there a prince pronounced like IDLING? Prince names: no obvious match — but the mechanism demonstrates the check both ways: take the definition candidate, sound it, and see if a real word (the homophone partner) emerges that could replace it. When the sound-alike is not a real word, the parse dies — the homophone partner must be a genuine dictionary word in its own right. Sound-only similarity without a real partner word is the most common false homophone parse.
FAQ
What are common homophone indicators?
"We hear", "audibly", "by the sound of it", "on the radio", "reported", "in speech", "spoken", "overheard".
Why do homophone clues sometimes feel wrong in my accent?
Cryptic conventions follow British Received Pronunciation. Pairs like caught/court or wine/whine behave differently across accents; try RP before ruling out the parse.
Are homophone clues common?
Moderately — roughly one in ten cryptic clues. They cluster in mid-week puzzles where setters can assume solver comfort.