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Hints Before Answers
We show the clue type and indicator first — reveal only what you need. The answer stays masked until Level 4.
Every Cryptic Device, Explained
Anagrams — jumbled letters flagged by words like "mixed", "broken", "wild". Hidden words — the answer lurks inside the clue itself. Charades — parts concatenated. Containers — one word inside another. Double definitions — two meanings, one answer. Reversals — read it backwards. Homophones — sounds like. Full reference: cryptic indicator words.
Which Paper Do You Solve?
Built for Guardian, Times, Telegraph and Indie-style cryptics — paste any clue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does it work on Guardian or Times cryptics?
Yes — paste any cryptic clue. The parser handles UK-style conventions including enumerations like (5,4).
Why not just show the answer?
Because the fun is the fight. You get the clue type and indicator first; the answer is masked until you ask.
What is "fodder"?
The raw letters an anagram shuffles. Our breakdown shows the fodder so you can verify the shuffle yourself.
How accurate are the breakdowns?
Anagram letters, hidden substrings and lengths are re-checked programmatically; anything that fails is labeled as unverified.
About Cryptic Solving with AI
Cryptic crosswords are built from wordplay the way jokes are built from misdirection — which is exactly why pattern-matching solvers can't touch them. CrosswordMate's cryptic crossword solver reads the clue the way a setter wrote it: finds the indicator, extracts the fodder, aligns the definition, and then — unlike ChatGPT — checks its own work: the anagram letters must really permute, the hidden word must really be a substring, the enumeration must really match. When a parse can't be verified, we say so instead of bluffing. See the indicator word reference to learn the vocabulary setters use, or read how the verification works.