Cryptic Benefits with Friends

You’ve known how to solve normal crosswords since you first encountered them on children’s placemats at chain restaurants. Cryptic crosswords are harder to break into but if you make the effort, they are fun and satisfying. They rely less on specific knowledge and more on wordplay and devious misdirection.

If you’re new to Cryptics, the best in-road is solving with a friend where you can bounce ideas off each other. XWord Info lets you do that over the Internet, similar to Partner Mode in The New Yorker.

How does that work?

You can solve together with any number of friends, but each friend needs:

• An XWord Info account
• A computer or tablet with a keyboard and mouse or trackpad.

The XWord Info Solver does not work on phones or tablets without keyboards.

Ok, then what?

Go to the Select Variety Puzzle page, find a Cryptic (yellow-coded) puzzle, and click the Collab link in the right-most column. If you try the September 1 Cryptic by Fred Piscop, you’ll end up here.

The grid will be grayed out until your friend joins you in your “room”. The easiest approach then is to click the [Copy link for this puzzle to your clipboard] button and then paste that into a text or email. When your friend receives it and clicks the link, both your and your friend’s grid will light up, and you’re ready to start typing.

Each letter you enter also shows up on your friends, computer, and vice versa. There’s a chat box you can use to communicate. Or just talk on the phone.

How do Cryptics even work?

There’s lots of help online. Here’s a good resource.

What if I still don’t get it?

Clicking the Solution link back at the Select Variety page will show you the answers. They might still not make sense. If you’re logged on, Cryptic solutions from the past few years also include a full explanation from the NYT. Once you’ve done a few Cryptics, you’ll need fewer and fewer trips to the answer page. Finish one without hints, and you’ll feel like bragging to the world.

What about other Variety types?

The collaboration feature also works on Puns and Anagrams, Vowelless, and a few other types that are laid out like normal crosswords. Diagramless puzzles work, but only after you agree to reveal the shape of the grid, which rather defeats the purpose. They don’t yet work on Acrostics.

Let me know what you think or if you have questions.