CRYPTONIBBLES are appetizer-size versions of Cryptic Crossword Puzzles. [When you are ready for a full course you might want to check out the cryptic crossword puzzle menu offered by the Globe and Mail newspaper and Webber's Cryptic Crosswords on the Thinks.com web site.]

Like the full-order item, CRYPTONIBBLES differ from standard crosswords in this important way: in most cases, you should not look to the literal meaning of the clue for a solution; instead, you should look for for:

• ANAGRAMS:
  In this type of clue, the solution involves rearranging some the letters in the clue to create a new word whose definition is included in the clue. In the example above, the clue for 2. DOWN might be: "Begin to make into a state of existence". The word "make" is a signal that you should, perhaps, look for an anagram. The number "5" at the end of the clue tells you the number of letters in the solution, so you know that you need to look for a likely grouping of five letters. The five letters in the word "Begin" can be rearranged to make the word "being" which can mean "a state of existence".
  Other signal words might include: crazy, sort, rearrange, muddled, mixed-up, rebuilt, etc.
  A useful strategy, if you suspect that you are looking for an anagram, is to write the letters of the original word (or group of words) in random order in a circle. This helps you to see the letters in different relationships.
  
  
  
• LINKED DEFINITIONS:
  Smaller components of the larger word may be defined separately in the clue to give you the meaning of the whole. In the grid above, the clue for SINUSES might be "Evil employments create stuffy cavities." "SIN" is suggested by the word "evil", one definiton of "USES" is "employments" and linked together they make "SINUSES" which can be "stuffy cavities".
• DOUBLE DEFINITIONS:
  A word can sometimes mean two different things. This type of clue makes reference to both meanings of a single word. A clue that read: "small and perfect." might refer to the word "model" which can be a small or miniature version of an actual thing and can also be something that is a perfect exemplar (a model citizen, for instance).
• HOMONYMS:
  Words or phrases like "sound", "they say", "I hear", etc. are sometimes a signal that the clue points toward two homonyms, one of which will be the solution. For example, if the clue was: "They told me not to snivel about the claret." this would suggest the homonym pair: WHINE (snivel) and WINE (claret).
• REVERSALS:
  Sometimes all or a portion of the solution will be made up of a reversal of letters in the clue. In the example above, the clue for 1 DOWN might be "The French forbid the continual overturning of pots." French "forbid" is NON, "pots" overturned is STOP (the reversal), and together they mean "continual" or NONSTOP.
• EMBEDDED WORDS:
  In this type of clue, the solution is found embedded within the words of the clue. If the clue for a five letter word was: "Within the Inferno I seem to hear a terrible sound.", the word "within" might prompt you to look for a five letter sequence in the clue that would fit the definition. In this case the highlighted letters: "Within the Inferno I seem to hear a terrible sound." form the word "NOISE" which means "a terrible sound".
• PUNS:
  A question mark (?) at the end of a clue is your clue that the solution will be a pun. "A bench warmer?" might be a JUDGE.
• MULTIPLE WORDS:
  The solution may contain more than one word, in which case, the numbers indicating the letter count will be written to indicate where the breaks will come. For example, (2,3,3) would tell you that the solution will be a three word phrase containing a two letter word and two three letter words.
• SOME CONVENTIONS TO WATCH FOR :
  Clues sometimes include some of the following conventions:
  • The world "French" in the clue sometimes means that "le" or "la" or the French equivalent of an English word appears in the solution.
  • The words "softly" or "quietly" in a clue may mean that the letter "p" (for "piano" in musical notation) appears in the solution. Similarly, "strong" or "forceful" or "loud" can be a signal to add an "f" (for "forte").
  • The word "friend" in the clue sometimes means that the word "pal" will appear in the solution.
  • The words "point" or "direction" in a clue can refer to the letters S, W, N, E -- the points of the compass. Similarly, the word "eastern" might suggest that the letter "e" will be part of the solution. "Far Eastern diet." = FARE ("far" + the "e" meaning "eastern" to give you "FARE" meaning "diet")
  • A reference to "mother" in the clue might indicate that the letters "m" and "a" (Ma) will appear in the solution.
  • A reference to "sailor" might indicate that the solution will include the letters "A" and "B" (AB being an abbreviation for Able Bodied Seaman), the word "tar" or the word "salt".
  • The words "initially", "capital", "left" can tell you to include the intial letter of one of the words in the clue in the solution. Words like "finally", "terminally", "tail", "right" can tell you to include a letter from the end of the word.
  • Words like "headless" and "tailless" tell you that need to remove the intial letter or final letter of a word before, for example, using it to make an anagram.
  • The letter "o" can be indicated by the word "love" (zero in tennis) or the word "zero" or words like "no", "none", etc.
  • The letter "i" can be signalled by reference to the concept of "one" or "single".
  • Roman numeral can sometimes be used to indicate letters: ten = "x", five = "v", hundred = "c". "A hundred will inquire after the barrel." = CASK ("hundred" = "c"; "inquire" = "ask"; "barrel" = CASK)

The CRYPTONIBBLE PUZZLES on this web site are not quite as high-tech as the big puzzles that you will find at the Globe and Mail web site and in Webber's Cryptic Crosswords collection. You will have to print each puzzle and fill in the clues with a low-tech pencil. By the way, it is a very good idea to use a pencil when working these puzzles... it is very easy to get off on a wrong tack.

You can, however, check the solution for each clue individually by clicking on the number for that clue, or for the whole puzzle by clicking on the SOLUTION link.

The other essential piece of equipment (besides a pencil and paper) to have on hand when working a cryptic crossword is a dictionary. Ever so often you will be in a position where you are sure you have analysed the clue correctly, the solution that suggests itself fits with the letters you already have in place, the word looks like a word, but it isn't a word you know. Look it up; maybe it is a word. For example, I was working one of the Globe and Mail puzzles recently. The solution was a five letter word and I had an "M" in the fourth position. The clue was: "Game in which Harry is superior to mother." The "M" led me to wonder if the word ended in "MA" (short for mother). If so, what three letter combination could refer to "Harry". "Hal" came to mind. "Harry" is short for "Harold" and so is "Hal". "HALMA"? It looked like a word. I looked it up in our Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary - Tenth Edition, and --- Yes, it is a word. Halma is a game played on a square board with rules similar to Chinese checkers. [By the way, there are some really neat word games on the Merriam Webster web site.]

If you find that trying a few nibbles has whet your appetite for this kind of puzzle, you might eventually want to invest in what my friend, Susan, calls a "cheater box". The Spelling Ace from Franklin Electronic Publishers is a hand-held electonic spell checker that will also build word lists from a series of letters and "wild card" inputs. One would only use the cheater box in desperation, of course, but it is one step better than actually looking up the answers.

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