Constructing Crosswords: Clues

Overview | Strategy | Guidelines | References

Overview

• Finally done with adjusting the grid and redoing any filled areas?
• "Brevity is the soul of wit."... ~Hamlet.
  "I think that applies to crossword clues as well." ~Will Shortz
• For 15 x 15, usually < 1600 characters for all clues; Nexus Submission Checker
• Fresh original clues are preferred over those recycled from older puzzles,
  or definitions copied from a dictionary.
• "It's sometimes difficult to find ways to keep things fresh...
  When you have to clue 'ODE' for the thousandth time, it can be a drag
  to sit there and try to think of a new way to clue it." ~Trip Payne
• I'm making my own crossword but I'm struggling to think up a clue
  for 3 Down, 'Armageddon'... Ah well, it's not the end of the world.
• "I have to clue the crossword answer EAT … again. I know, I know. This really isn’t that big of a deal.
  It’s such a familiar word. I don’t need to come up with any dictionaryish phrasing because we all know
  what EAT means. I shouldn’t even have to search the web to kick-start my brain. It’s that easy, in principle.
  
  So why am I struggling? EAT has shown up 367 times in The NYT Crossword since Will Shortz took over as editor in 1993.
  
  These Monday-level clues are classic fodder: “Dine,” “Partake of,” “Polish off,” “Chow down,” “Consume.”
  
  And then there are the groan-inducing plays on words: “Put away the dishes?” “Work on a submarine.”
  “Take sides?” “No longer fast?” “Have a little lamb?” “Conquer a hero?”
  
  We’ve even explored other meanings and vague wordings to disguise things: “Accept, as losses.”
  “Exhortation after saying grace.” “Dog/dog separator.” “‘Let’s ___!’”
  
  But you know what? Part of the joy of this job is to find that new clue for EAT. We’re always on the hunt
  for fresh ways to present otherwise-common fill. Shortz has been doing this for nearly 30 years, after all!
  
  “Clear your cookies?” anyone?
  Or this thoughtful clue: “‘People who love to ___ are always the best people’: Julia Child.”
  We can’t claim credit for all of these, of course. We’ve been lucky to see inventive new angles
  from our constructors over the years." ~Sam Ezersky, NYT Wordplay newsletter, 11/13/2023
• "When I first started making crosswords, I stuck to early-week puzzles,
  which generally have more straightforward clues. I’ve branched out more,
  and now enjoy writing clues for every day of the week. Friday and
  Saturday clues, though, are definitely the biggest challenge for me,
  and they are the hardest for constructors to nail.
  
  Generally speaking, the longer you solve puzzles, the easier it will
  be for you to write question-mark clues. You'll start to notice
  connections between words more quickly, and it will become easier
  to spot words that can have double meanings — which make them ripe
  for wordplay. Here are some of my best tips for writing these clues:
  
  Be intentional about which entries you decide to write question-mark clues for.
  Abbreviations, names, partial or prepositional phrases or technical terms
  you suspect aren’t broadly familiar to all solvers are bad candidates
  for tricky clues. OCTOPUS, ATTIC and PEPPER have great potential; HSBC,
  STUNK AT, IS ON, OLIVIA RODRIGO and HARD RESET, not so much. Wordplay clues
  are best when saved for very familiar words and phrases. Nouns tend to be the best.
  
  Come up with a list of words related to the word you’re cluing, keeping
  an eye out for words that have double meanings. You might use a resource
  like a reverse dictionary to help in your brainstorm. For instance, with
  OCTOPUS, you might write down 'arms,' 'suckers,' 'eight,' 'ocean' and 'ink.'
  With ATTIC, you could try 'story,' 'creepy,' 'cobwebs' and 'top.'
  

  Look at a list of idioms that have the words you’ve written down.
  Do any of them apply to the word you’re using? 'An arm and a leg' (no)
  'keep at arm’s length' (not really); 'armed to the gills,' (maybe)!
  Do octopuses have gills? Yes, they do! Could we get away with saying
  an octopus is armed to the gills? Maybe. In fact, we did.
  
  Look at a thesaurus to help you think of words that might be easier to
  play with than the first one that comes to mind.
  
  Think about homophones when you're using idioms to create a clue.
  Writing a clue for ANOINT, you might think about how anointing is a kind
  of rite -- but there might be more phrases that are related to 'right'
  than to 'rite.' 'Do the rite thing?' is a clue we used earlier this year."
  ~Christina Iverson; NYT Easy Mode newsletter; 1/5/2024

Strategy

• Find / clues that have been used in other crosswords:
• CrosswordTracker.com: Search: Answer or Clue
• CrosswordGiant.com:
  Search by Answer: answer entry/pattern (?) -> matching entries & clues;
  Search by Clue: clue word(s) -> entire clues & corresponding answer entries
• cruciverb.com: Answer Search ($; NYT, LAT, WSJ, Univ., WaPo)
• Cluer Database App: Mac, Win, Lnx; free;
  standalone app [image: right]; it can be integrated into CrossFire [image: below];
  Matt Ginsberg -- no longer updating; last update: 5/9/2023; try xd.saul.pw?
• xd.saul.pw Saul Pwanson; database updated regularly vs. cluer (8/2021); xd-clues.zip;
  xd-clues.tsv is a large tab-separated-value file that can be opened in a spreadsheet app (~6.6M rows);
  it can't currently be integrated/imported into CrossFire
• xwordinfo.com (NYT only; full date):
  Finder ($): answer entry/pattern (?*) -> matching entries & clues;
  Clue Search (free): clue word(s) -> entire clues & corresp. answer entries
• Check Crossword Publication Specs for guidance
  -- and in section below for NYT, LAT, Univ. WSJ
• There are a number of conventions and constraints to consider, e.g.:
• Part of speech mirroring: noun (singular/plural) or verb (tense) agreement between clue and answer
• Language: if clue is in Spanish or has a Spanish name or city, answer is likely Spanish.
• Different types of clues, e.g., FITB (Fill In The ___), firstname ___, ___ lastname, abbrev., acronyms, ...
• Solving: Decode Clues: more tips and examples
• 1-Across easier? Fagliano: for 5x5, 7/2/1 rule: 7 easy, 2 tougher, 1 tricky clue
• Harder puzzles (e.g., Wed, Thu) can have trickier clues (than Mon, Tue), e.g.,
• Mon: "Nabisco cookie"; "Cookie with creme filling"; "Twist, Lick, Dunk’ cookie"
• Sat: "Snack since 1912"; "It has 12 flowers on each side”; "Sandwich often given a twist"
• CROSSWORDS AND YOU: Difficulty (days of week)
• For especially ambiguous clues, add "?" to alert solver.
  How the Daily Beast's Crossword Constructor Thinks About Question Marks in Clues -- spoiler?
• It's ok to repeat clues -- sometimes for theme entries.
• Do not use actual answer words in any of the clues -- use different words or a cross-reference
• Fact check, correct typos, check part-of-speech mirroring,
  check clue numbers in any cross-references, e.g., "with 22-Across, ...".
• Nexus Submission Checker identifies words duplicated in your fill entries and/or clues
• Sleep on it. Ask a friend to solve the puzzle and provide feedback. Review, revise.
• If editors accept a puzzle, they'll often change many of the clues,
  in order to be more consistent for that day of week's difficulty, ...

Guidelines

• NYT: "Original, on-target clues, pitched at the puzzle’s intended
  difficulty level, including a variety of cultural reference points.
  Clues should reflect the difficulty of the puzzle.
  Our difficulty scale increases through the week, with the easiest puzzles on Mon
  and hardest on Sat. Sunday puzzles should reflect midweek difficulty levels.
  
  Clues should be fresh, colorful and precise.
  Try to be original, and inject humor where possible.
  Themeless clues should be more difficult and require imaginative thinking.
  Show us your wit and wordplay!
  
  For example, for the answer STRAP:
  Monday clue: “Subway rider’s handhold”
  Wednesday clue: “Part of a bike helmet”
  Saturday clue: “What might keep a watch on you"
• LAT: "Clues should match the difficulty level of the puzzle’s theme,
  and should be as accurate as they are creative"
• WSJ: "Clue difficulty level for daily puzzles ranges from moderately easy to difficult.
  If the theme is very straightforward, the clues should be on the easy side for use
  early in the week, while if the theme is tricky, the clues should be harder.
  Clue difficulty level for weekend crosswords should be medium to difficult.
  All puzzles, both daily and weekend, have titles.
  You should suggest a title that doesn’t conflict with any theme answers"
• Univ.: "If your puzzle would traditionally have circles, please be sure to include
  workaround hints in the clues (as described in the Basic technical specs section).
  We encourage you to consider the overall voice/perspective of your clues.
  Keep in mind that a diverse audience will be solving your puzzle.
  If a theme is particularly tricky, make the puzzle’s clues easier
  In addition to looking out for proper nouns in the grid, keep an eye out for putting
  a lot of references in your clues, which essentially turn non-proper entries into propers.
  Use 3 underscores for all fill-in-the-blank clues.
  Avoid vague clues. In general, if a clue isn’t deliberately using misdirection,
  it should have one and only one interpretation.
  Use at most 1 misdirection/question-mark clue per section. Also, be picky about
  question-mark clues in general, especially in sections that already have challenging fill.
  If you have a question-mark clue that seems stretchy,
  we’d rather see a straightforward clue in its place.
  
  When in doubt, err on the side of indicating when an answer is informal or abbreviated.
  Similarly, err on the side of including question marks for misdirection clues.
  Don’t include accent marks or nonstandard characters in your clues; our software can’t support them.
  With the exception of short words like “the,” “from,” etc., avoid clues containing answers
  that are elsewhere in the grid, especially if those answers are nearby.
  Every clue should contain useful information for the average solver.
  For example, when cluing a song title, include more information than just the year
  and singer’s name (e.g., part of a significant lyric).
  We use AP Style’s guidelines on spelling, hyphenation, capitalization, etc.
  Feel free to Google “your word” “AP Style” if you’re wondering how a word/phrase in a clue should look.
  The clue character limit (excluding clue numbers but including spaces) is 1600 for a 15x15..."

References / Examples

• NYT: How to Make a Crossword Puzzle, Part 4: Writing the Clues;
  Conjuring up easy clues and clues that will twist people’s brains
  What Day of the Week Should I Aim For? Start With the Theme Clues;
  The Words Are All There, Now We Just Have to Get Them in the Right Order;
  Only 72 More Clues to Write; But Is It O.K. to Copy Someone Else’s Clue?
  Basic Rules: Entries and clues must be consistent when it comes to number,
  part of speech and tense; When in doubt, test whether your clue could
  neatly replace your entry in a sample sentence;
  Don't repeat words in your clues that appear in the grid;
  Practice using qualifiers in your clues when appropriate
  Let your solvers know when to shorten things;
  Keep a close eye on the amount of trivia-based or current events clues
  (they might have a short shelf life);
  Play fair with misdirection; Try to strike a universal chord,
  rather than getting heavily specific; Proofread;
  Is The New York Times the Only Place to Get My Puzzle Published?
  What If I Need More Help? Is It True That the Editors Bite?
  the submitted puzzle (before editing): clues; web, .pdf, .puz
• Crossword Constructor's Handbook (Berry) Chapter 5: Writing the Clues
  Golden Rule: Your clue must be the same part of speech as your entry (exception to the golden rule);
  Avoid using words (or forms of words; or prefixes and suffixes) from the answer in your clue;
  Don’t define a word by example; Don’t editorialize; Limit your use of single-word clues;
  Keep your puzzle’s difficulty level in mind; Use a good mix of clue topics and styles;
  Capitalize the first word of every clue; Enclose names of books, short stories, poems,
  plays, films, TV shows, stage shows, songs, and works of art in double quotes;
  Enclose words that are meant to be spoken, or quotations from famous people
  or written works in double quotes; Cluing uncapitalized entries: nouns, verbs,
  adverbs, adjectives, interjections, prepositions, conjunctions, pronouns;
  Capitalized entries: famous names, geographical terms, arts & culture, companies/brands;
  Not-so-great entries: Foreign words, abbrev., prefixes and suffixes, variant spellings, Roman numerals;
  Fill-in-the-blank clues; Clues that cross-reference other clues; Analogy clues;
  Clues that refer to words as words; Writing Entertaining Clues: Using the dictionary def.;
  Using other references; Getting sneaky; Take advantage of common assumptions;
  Form a familiar phrase; Incorporate an idiom; Write a sound-alike clue;
  Disguise the key term's part of speech or capitalization; Aim to confuse;
  A Gallery of Cluing Mistakes
• Patrick Merrell: 24 Tips for Writing Crossword Clues from an NYTimes Constructor

• 
  

  The Art of Crossword Construction (Johnston): Writing Clues:
  Rules; Varieties of clues; Clue variety; Quiz about tricky clues

• How Crossword Puzzles Are Really Made Gaffney; MF; 9/10/2014
• How to construct a crossword puzzle for the New York Times
  Alex Boisvert, Crossword Nexus; video: 9:44; clues: @6:40; 4/23/2013;
• Walkthrough: Making a Puzzle with CrossFire [image: right]
• WordPlay documentary: cluing: no clips; solvers: @0:44:50
• Clues for center theme entries
• 32: With 33-Across, anagrams and puns (or parts hidden in 17-, 24-, 44- and 51-Across) = WORD
• 33: See 32-Across = PLAY
• Example: OLLI (next subsection)
• CROSSWORDS and YOU: Decode Clues (clue types, examples); Authoring