PRINTABLE WORD PUZZLES: THE CRYPTIC CROSSWORD The cryptic crossword shown below is the hardest of all of our printable word puzzles.
In a cryptic crossword, each clue is its own word puzzle, and you have to read it the right way. What the clue appears to say when read normally usually has nothing to do with the answer, and is there as a distraction. The challenge is to find the way of reading the clue that leads to the solution. A cryptic clue has two parts: One part of the clue is the exact definition. The other part gives you the answer in terms of wordplay. Wordplay can include puns, synonyms, spelling things backwards, mixing up letters, taking things literally, etc. Nobody tells you which part os a clue is which. Here is an example, taken from the puzzle shown below: 19 Down: "Egg recipe with Bombay and Tangueray goes to our heads." is the clue for NOGGINS. This breaks down as follows. "Our heads" is the definition "egg recipe" gives us NOG, and goes "with" "Bombay and Tangueray," which are GINS. "goes to" can be thought of as "becomes," so NOG and GINS becomes NOGGINS (our heads).
Although difficult at first, this type of puzzle is highly addictive once you get the hang of it. So just right click on any image, select PRINT from the drop-down menu, and give it a try! Scroll down for the solution.  EXIT PRINTABLE WORD PUZZLES - GO BACK TO PRINTABLES PAGE
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