Cryptic crosswords have appeared in the Daily Telegraph since 1925. We’ve been doing them daily for 20 years. The setters have fun and so do we. It helps to know that a setter is also a breed of dog, “lower” can mean “cow”, “butter” can mean “goat.
Spooner is a favourite. Revd W. A. Spooner used to mix up his words, as in 1 Across here, when he meant to say “Bike up the Strand”. There are many anagrams. In 30 Across, brew means mixup. You just have to reearrange the letters next to it. But in many instances, you need general knowledge, as in 8 Down—see Wikipedia.
Then there are anagrams, always indicated by a code word, such as “brew” in 30 across. and then you might have to spot two idioms meaning the same thing, the answer corresponding to one meaning of “swallow”.
But one of the biggest obstacles is knowledge of British culture and geography. There’s a wealth of terms and abbreviations in the grand old game of cricket. You need to be familiar with rivers, towns and counties
Few if any readers of Wayfarer’s will be fascinated by crosswords as such—a polite English phrase for wriggling out of a straight “no”. Do you like ballroom dancing? Not as such.
But I had to share with you 16 down emu: the cantankerous pet of Rod Hull. Hull is also a town in the East Riding of Yorkshire.