We Went Down, Down, To The Cryptic Puzzle

You’re listening to A Way with Words, the show about language and how we use it.

I’m Grant Barrett.

And I’m Martha Barnette.

And what to our wondering eyes should appear but a very tall man who is full of good cheer.

It’s John Chaneski, our quiz guy.

Hi, John.

Thank you.

Hi.

If you’ll excuse me, I was going to climb off this reindeer, which happened to be wandering fast.

And let’s get to the quiz.

Hi, guys.

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest on the Bewilderingly podcast, where a bunch of crossword pros gather and solve cryptic crosswords live.

Is it fun to watch someone solve a puzzle?

Yes, it is.

Yes, it is.

It’s very fun.

I was wondering.

That was the question.

No, it is.

It’s fun.

I’m listening.

Sure.

Well, that’s what people are doing here.

That’s right.

It inspired me to turn my attention to one of the main clue types in a cryptic crossword.

Oh.

This one is, now we’ve done these before.

You guys are pros by now.

The double definition.

Now, double definitions are typically easy to spot because they seem way too short to be an anagram or charade or a sound clue.

Sometimes they’re only two words.

So double definitions are exactly what they sound like.

Two different definitions of the same word.

For example, if the clue was pale-colored lamp, that would clue the word light, as light means both pale-colored and lamp.

Okay?

Okay, very good.

Yeah, now cryptic clues typically give the number of letters or enumeration of the answer in parentheses, but all of these answers are four letters long.

Good? Just to make it simple for you guys.

Okay, here we go. I’m going to give you a double definition clue, and the answer will be four letters long.

The first one is sad feathers.

Down.

Down, yes. I’m feeling down. I’m feeling sad.

And feathers are a kind of down, or down is a kind of feathers.

How about this one?

Skinny incline.

I was going to say ramp.

They are lean.

Yes, lean.

Very good.

All right, how about this?

Fall journey.

Fall journey.

Fall journey, another one of those places where…

Yep.

Four letters.

Trip.

Yes, trip.

Oh, good one.

Yeah, fall as in trip and journey as in trip.

Very good.

Okay, some of these, by the way, are more than two words, and that’s fine, too.

Let’s try this one.

Healthy water source.

Well?

Well.

Oh.

Well.

Well, well.

What?

That is great, yes.

Well as in water source and well as in healthy.

Very good.

Let’s try this one.

Exactly equitable.

Exactly equitable.

So fair doesn’t seem right.

Just?

Just is correct.

Yes, exactly as in just, exactly what I need, and equitable as in just, as in justice.

Very good.

Call for a squire.

Call for a squire.

Page.

Yes, page is correct.

Oh, nice.

To call for, and a squire is a page.

Here’s the last one.

This is comparatively a war and peace.

Stare at a member of the House of Lords.

Is this S-T-A-R-E?

Yes, it is.

Peer.

Peer is correct.

To peer, to look at, and a member of the House of Lords.

What were you going to say, Martha?

I was going to say gaze, but I don’t know how many there are.

You never know.

We’ll have to take a poll and find out.

But no, it is indeed.

That would be a phonetic, of course.

But this is a peer, P-E-E-R, peer, to stare.

And a member of the House of Lords is a peer.

Thank you for sharing stuff from your bag of toys with us, John.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you, guys.

My pleasure.

I’ll see you next time.

Thanks, John.

Bye-bye.

We do like crossword puzzles here.

And we like the puzzles that you pose for us.

If you’ve got a linguistic question or challenge that you’d like to see us tackle, the phone number is 877-929-9673 or email words@waywordradio.org.

And find all of our episodes and lots more ways to reach us on our website at waywordradio.org.