I'm quite fond of solving puzzles, although it's not an obsession. I'm a professional programmer, so a lot of my work is finding solutions to tricky problems, but sometimes I'll do it just for fun. Since I've been in my current job there is generally a copy of the free Metro newspaper around. It's pretty trashy stuff, but they do have a cryptic crossword that offers a bit of a challenge each day.
Regular crosswords tend to be a matter of finding a word that matches a simple clue. I can see one here that's Insect (3). It is probably bee or ant, but you cannot tell from the clue. A cryptic crossword clue should only have one answer, but it will not be obvious. This isn't the hardest crossword and others in more 'serious' papers will be much harder. This seems to be about the right level for me and I can generally finish it at least a couple of days each week.
I completed yesterday's and today's in under a couple of hours between actual work tasks and over coffee.
You really have to get to know the tricks they use in the clues to get anywhere. Here are a few examples:
- 11A Didn't allow to succeed (12). This is a classic double meaning. Succeed can mean to achieve something, but it also means to follow a family line, so DISINHERITED fits.
- 15A Come as profit, we hear, to a ship's company (6). If you see 'we hear' it means it will be a homonym. A ship's company is 'a crew', which sounds like ACCRUE.
- Ring me first when there's a disagreement about leisure (4,3). This puzzled me for a while, but I got some of the other letters that led me there. I guessed it had ME in it and 'Ring me first' implies it's followed by O. 'A disagreement about' was TIFF to give TIME OFF.
If you want me to explain others then leave a comment. I can't claim to be able to solve any cryptic crossword clues. Those in The Guardian are mostly beyond me, but maybe I'd get better with practice.
Another popular puzzle is the Sudoku where you have to fill numbers into boxes so that you have each of 1 to 9 in each row, column and sub-grid. I do these sometimes, but don't find it as much fun. This is something that a computer can do as it's all about eliminating possibilities. I didn't have time for the moderate one and there's a challenging too. It's a very mechanical process and if you make a mistake it's very hard to work out where. The crossword feels more like you are directly up against another human mind that is trying to be devious.
I was curious if anyone had managed to get a computer to solve cryptic crosswords. I found this article by someone who has. That's impressive as it has to know a lot about the language as well as know a lot of cultural references. The Metro crossword often refers to mythology or literature. Sometimes it has words I don't even know, but sometimes I can figure them out enough to take a guess and an internet search may tell me if I'm right.
Some crosswords offer prizes, but I just do it for fun.
Any other crossword fans here? What's your favourite?
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