2004-10-03

prog: (zendo)
2004-10-03 03:55 pm

(no subject)

OK, I have managed to solve a handful of Cryptic clues, after completing a self-made exercise where I marked the wordplay/definition splits in a list of example clues and answers. Until that point, I didn't even know how to look for that division, so I really had no hope of solving any clues by myself.

Here is my solving strategy so far:

  1. Find and solve an easier clue. (Generally, this means clues with less words, since every word in a good cryptic carries its own information payload, so long clues can have protein-fold levels of twisty complexity.)

  2. Try to cravenly backsolve everything that crosses it. Then backsolve anything that crosses those, etc.

  3. Go to step 1.

Well, it's something.