The alternate-letter clue is not the most common of devices, but you'd expect to come across it at least once in a week of puzzling. … the regularly picked letters from "starts near" give SATNA, and you need the initial letter ( as described here) of "Victoria" for a final V to make up the answer, SATNAV.Īnd please don't be disheartened to read that "oddly" is one of those words that has many duties in Crosswordland: it may well be indicating an anagram. So when Dac says …ġ0ac Routemaster perhaps regularly starts near front of Victoria (6) Other times, the alternate-letter approach might give you only part of the answer, the rest given by one of the other devices we've been looking at. … but wants every third letter of "rebelliousness" for the answer, BLUE. Here, Notabilis uses the familiar "regularly" …Ģ4d Rebelliousness regularly viewed as vulgar (4) Very occasionally, the spacing between the relevant letters might be a bit wider. So "discounting odds" tells you to take the even letters of "form, checks" for OMHCS, and "tips" to flip the phrase round for the answer, SCHMO. Here's Bannsider:Ģ3d Fool discounting odds, form, checks tips (5) As with most of the devices in our For beginners series, the whole shebang might work backwards – fairly clued, of course. Setters being what they are, variants pop up now and again. I've also seen "exceptionally", "alternately" and even "seconds out" do the same job. And here's one from Paul where you're looking for the "even" letters … In this example, Crux sneakily uses the word "odds" to lead you think of those bookmakers who work in betting shops …Ģ0ac Bookmakers work in them risk picking the odds (7)
Ignore the odd letters of "Bionic man" and you have a member of an ancient people from the Americas: an INCA. Other words to look out for are "odd" and "even", such as this one from Orlando:Ģ4d Bionic man ignoring the odds is old American (4) In those examples, "regularly" and "periodically" reveal the type of clue. … becomes less daunting when you realise that Arachne is asking for the common or garden answer TREE. … instructing you to read, regularly, the phrase "The Beano" to give you the answer, TEEN.Īnd so even a clue which might at first look off-putting if you're not familiar with 19th-century Russian novelists …Ģ4d Perhaps the elder Turgenev gets noticed periodically? (4) In the next clue, Orlando is even clearer …Ģ1ac Young person regularly reading The Beano (4) This has a deft, natural surface reading that may momentarily distract you from your task of taking every other letter from "cooks" to get a type of lettuce: the romaine, or COS. Ready? Some examplesġ6ac Type of lettuce cooks regularly discarded (3) The rest is made up of a hint that you're looking for every other letter, with the very word or phrase that you need to chop letters from.
One end of the clue gives you a definition of the answer. If you've read our feature on "hidden" answers, think of the alternate-letter clue as a close relation. Before you read on, a quick reminder: cryptic clues typically offer two ways to find the answer, in either order: a definition (indicated in bold in the examples that follow) and some wordplay (look out for italics).Īnd do remember when looking at the examples below that in a genuine puzzle environment, you'd probably have some letters available from other clues, making your job even more straightforward.
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