What do you think?
Rate this book
Minute Cryptic
Welcome to your brand-new wordplay obsession
From the creators of the hugely popular online puzzle platform, Minute Cryptic, comes this step-by-step guide to the fun and excitement of cryptic puzzles.
With over 160 different clues for you to solve, each chapter takes you through a different wordplay concept essential for unlocking cryptic crossword clues. As you complete the book, you'll build your skills and combine what you've learned so far, so that, by the end, you'll be able to take on the full cryptic crossword puzzle with total confidence.
This is a must-have games book for anyone who loves wordplay, brain training or simply some puzzling fun.
Give yourself a new challenge and step into the world of Minute Cryptic...
From the creators of the hugely popular online puzzle platform, Minute Cryptic, comes this step-by-step guide to the fun and excitement of cryptic puzzles.
With over 160 different clues for you to solve, each chapter takes you through a different wordplay concept essential for unlocking cryptic crossword clues. As you complete the book, you'll build your skills and combine what you've learned so far, so that, by the end, you'll be able to take on the full cryptic crossword puzzle with total confidence.
This is a must-have games book for anyone who loves wordplay, brain training or simply some puzzling fun.
Give yourself a new challenge and step into the world of Minute Cryptic...
- GenresPuzzlesNonfiction
352 pages, Paperback
Published December 30, 2025
178 people are currently reading
5126 people want to read
About the author
Angas Tiernan
4 books9 followersAngas Tiernan is the founder of Minute Cryptic, a daily cryptic crossword clue game.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
September 9, 2025
unpaid donut giants make a mess (11)
January 19, 2026
Minute Cryptic originally launched as an online puzzle platform and on social media, to teach people how to solve cryptic crosswords. I play the daily one clue puzzle every day along with Wordle and Squaredle. The online cryptic crossword clue and the book are aimed to help beginners one step at a time, to build the skills and intuition needed to eventually solve full cryptic crossword puzzles. I’ve been doing cryptic crossword puzzles for years but not an expert so I did find the book helpful. The one clue at a time is a modern and clever way to make cryptic crosswords less intimidating, by removing the pressure of a full 30-clue grid and allowing beginners to focus on mastering specific wordplay techniques at their own pace. If you’ve ever wanted to start solving cryptic crosswords, this would be a good place to start.
October 5, 2025
Learning to solve cryptic crossword clues is kind of like learning another language, making Minute Cryptic kind of like Duolingo for wordplay. Tiernan – with his trusty clue constructor, Liam Runnalls – has created a completely accessible guide that explains each component of a clue with plenty of examples, hand-holding, and positive reinforcement.
My full review of Minute Cryptic is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
My full review of Minute Cryptic is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
April 19, 2026
It was in November last year, I believe, when I started getting reels in my social media feed of Angas Tiernan, the author of this book and the co-creator of the Minute Cryptic website, explaining the answers to some of the cryptic crossword clues that get posted on his site daily. I have a dim memory of having seen full cryptic crossword grids in newspapers when I was younger, though I never gave them much thought if so. Watching these reels, I came to realize that being able to solve cryptic crosswords requires a degree of insider knowledge: not only is there a certain order of operations one must understand, but a whole host of codes that aid in reaching the solution. Once I started to pick up on the patterns, I was hooked.
Let me step back for the uninitiated. There are generally three elements to any cryptic crossword clue: the definition, the fodder, and the indicators. The definition is a synonym for the answer, and is usually one or more words found at either the beginning or end of the clue; figuring out which word or words are the definition sometimes is fairly easy just based on what seems most likely, but at other times it requires some trial and error. To take an example from the book—Actor’s outside odd room with world’s foremost director? (5)—the solution is a five-letter word, and the definition is director?, though it could just as easily have been “Actor” or “Actor’s outside”, or “world’s foremost director”. You can feel out what the definition likely is based on the wordplay, which is constructed from the fodder and indicators. The fodder in this puzzle is “actor”, “room”, and “world”. These are the words you’ll manipulate to reach the solution. Again, which elements are fodder isn’t immediately obvious, though it becomes easier to recognize them if you are able to spot the most likely indicators.
Indicators are words which tell you how to manipulate the fodder. Some tell you to anagram letters, some tell you to select and keep or select and delete certain letters, some are positioning indicators telling you to put certain letters next to each other, and so on. Sometimes you must even replace part of the fodder with a synonym before manipulating it further, and there’s no real way to know when do that except that the answer will not work without it. It can get complicated! In the example I gave, the indicators are “outside”, “odd”, and “foremost”. So… first you take actor’s outside, meaning the outside letters of the word “actor”—that gives us A and R. Next, “odd room” means that you take the odd letters of the word room, which gives us R and O. Finally, “world’s foremost” means that you take foremost (i.e. first) letter of world, which is W. Put it all together and you’ve got ARROW, which is another word for “director”.
There is always going to be exactly one correct answer which follows from the “instructions” the clue gives. This is what I love about cryptic crossword puzzles: like sudoku, they’re logic puzzles where the answer necessarily follows if you do the operations correctly. There’s often a good deal of misdirection, with the surface reading having nearly no relation to the ultimate solution—the best cryptics are ones where the surface reads so naturally that it is difficult to read it in a different sense. Most of the time, the solution is kind of a “dad joke”. Take another example from the book—Eccentric old man finally goes nuts (7)—the word “Eccentric” jumps out as an anagram indicator (if something is “eccentric” it is strange, wild, mixed-up). Anagramming “old man” could give us ALMOND, then “finally goes” instructs us to take the last letter of the word “goes”, giving us S, which put together is ALMONDS, another word for “nuts”.
I’ve become slightly obsessed with cryptics since getting into them a few months ago. My wife bought this book for me for Christmas almost immediately after it was published in the U.S., and my grandmother got me a membership to the Minute Cryptic website. That is to say, when I began reading this book I did have a fairly solid handle on how to solve them, though I wouldn’t say that I’m an expert by any stretch. The book is meant as a beginner’s how-to guide; because of my prior familiarity, I don’t know how successful the book would be if I were totally new to the format. I suspect without the benefit of the videos to help visualize the methods, it would be easy to get frustrated and give up. Tiernan and his co-author, clue-setter Liam Runnalls, do their best to simplify the process for readers, though. The book is separated into sections based on different indicator techniques, with a “lucky dip” chapter every so often using multiple types of indicators previously learned. Tiernan and Runnalls also managed to adapt a key feature of their website for their book: hints. If you get stuck on any puzzle, you can turn to the next page and see three hints for each element… a hint about the fodder, a hint about the indicators, a hint about the definition. Or, if you prefer, you can use “checking letters”—these are letter reveals, the sort you might discover if you were doing this in a true crossword grid rather than one puzzle at a time. In an actual crossword, having letters revealed from getting the answer to a different puzzle can help narrow your answer. If you prefer to use that “hint” method, or would like to use it to confirm your suspicions about a solution, they refer you back to previous puzzles. Maybe box 3 on the current puzzle is the same letter as in box 1 on page 172, for instance.
I saw some other reviewers who said they finished the book in a day or two. It took me 3.5 months. The reason for this is that I was very reluctant to take hints, hoping to eventually work all of the puzzles out on my own. Sometimes I would get stuck and put the book down, only returning to it days, or sometimes weeks, later. The book certainly humbled me in that regard! I did end up having to take hints on more than a few, but on the other hand, there were a number for which Tiernan added commentary that it was a particularly difficult puzzle but which I breezed through. One of the times where Tiernan adds commentary, he states, “This is about as hard as any clue will get in this book. Why did I put such a hard clue in the introduction to deletions? My hope is that you’re encouraged by how recognisable some of that logic seems based on your progress. Also, I think it’s reassuring to know that there are hard clues out there. It’d be so disappointing to finish this book and find that every clue was easy. One of my favourite things about cryptic is how often I’m still confused by a clue and elated by solving it.” I find that argument compelling! Incidentally, that puzzle he claimed was one of the hardest, was this: Did butterfly finally flutter away from insect group? (4) The answer relies on finding a substitution for “insect group”, which could be swarm; then, “finally flutter away” instructs you to take the final letter of “flutter” away from the word, leaving you with SWAM. And “swam” is another word for the definition, Did butterfly. I think that’s so clever!
Most of the notes I took are about which puzzles tripped me up and which I got easily even though the text claims it was difficult. I’ve found that, perhaps strangely, the ones with shorter answers (i.e. 3 or 4 letters) are often far more difficult for me than puzzles with longer answers. On the other hand, one of the hardest for me was: Compliments cook about coffee (8). This requires finding two substitutions—the word “fry” in place of cook, because frying is a way to cook something, and the word “latte” in place of coffee. You then put the substitute for cook about (i.e. around) the substitute for coffee, which produces the word FLATTERY, another word for Compliments. Minute Cryptic puzzles tend to lean heavily on an anagram indicators, but I’ve heard it said that full cryptic crossword grids set by others often lean heavily on this kind of synonym-substitution followed by letter manipulation. I definitely still find that part of the process challenging. Getting to “fry” from cook was especially tricky. Another one I struggled with was—Saudi Arabian power couple rents gemstones (9)—which requires abbreviating “Saudi Arabian” to SA, abbreviating “power” to P and doubling it (“couples”), and then substituting the word “rent” for HIRES, which when put together produces SAPPHIRES, another word for “gemstones”. Rather than take a hint from the book, and figuring that the definition as like “gemstones” rather than “Saudi Arabian” or “Saudi Arabian power” (although I did consider it), I saw the word “sapphires” and was able to reverse-engineer it from there. Some people might call this cheating and, truthfully, I do feel a little self-conscious when I get to answers this way, but on a “What to do if you get stuck” page near the start of the book, Tiernan suggests it is appropriate to search online when you are uncertain, and denies there is even such a thing as cheating in cryptics. “I google stuff, and you should too!” he says.
All of this is to say that this is a hugely satisfying book if you are into cryptic crossword puzzles the way that I am. I think it probably is a helpful how-to guide for somebody who is interested in these types of puzzles and maybe has a general grasp of the concept, but I am not certain if it would convert somebody who has no familiarity with them at all. Likewise, if I were a 20-year seasoned cryptic crossword vet, I don’t know whether the book would feel too simplified to be fully enjoyable, but for where I’m at—relatively new, but training regularly—it hit all the right notes. I’m also very excited to learn that there’s already a second edition (titled MORE MINUTE CRYPTIC) in the works. This book was everything I hoped it would be and I am counting it in my list of books read for the year because I truly did read it cover to cover. I would absolutely recommend checking it out if you have any interest in these puzzles at all.
P.S. Although the book offers plenty of blank “workspace” beneath the puzzles for you to write out your thoughts, I made it a point not to write in the book at all. I wanted it to remain pristine in case I decide to sell it, pass it along to my son when he’s older, or if I ever want to re-attempt the puzzles myself. Already, there were a number of them in my notes that I had forgotten the solution to. I dunno, maybe it’s ridiculous, but I kind of find it a point of pride that I did not write anything in the book—even when it came time to do the “Mega Crossword” puzzle that finishes the book. And speaking of points of pride, I got every single answer in the “Mega Crossword” save one… but even that one, I actually did get the answer because it matched the definition and nothing else fit, but I was confused on how the answer was achieved (turns out I was manipulating the wrong letters… d’oh!). Yes, it’s safe to say that one does feel an increased sense of self-regard for “getting” cryptics, particularly when everybody around you acts like they’re completely inscrutable. It’s a whole subculture and I am into it. 😊
Let me step back for the uninitiated. There are generally three elements to any cryptic crossword clue: the definition, the fodder, and the indicators. The definition is a synonym for the answer, and is usually one or more words found at either the beginning or end of the clue; figuring out which word or words are the definition sometimes is fairly easy just based on what seems most likely, but at other times it requires some trial and error. To take an example from the book—Actor’s outside odd room with world’s foremost director? (5)—the solution is a five-letter word, and the definition is director?, though it could just as easily have been “Actor” or “Actor’s outside”, or “world’s foremost director”. You can feel out what the definition likely is based on the wordplay, which is constructed from the fodder and indicators. The fodder in this puzzle is “actor”, “room”, and “world”. These are the words you’ll manipulate to reach the solution. Again, which elements are fodder isn’t immediately obvious, though it becomes easier to recognize them if you are able to spot the most likely indicators.
Indicators are words which tell you how to manipulate the fodder. Some tell you to anagram letters, some tell you to select and keep or select and delete certain letters, some are positioning indicators telling you to put certain letters next to each other, and so on. Sometimes you must even replace part of the fodder with a synonym before manipulating it further, and there’s no real way to know when do that except that the answer will not work without it. It can get complicated! In the example I gave, the indicators are “outside”, “odd”, and “foremost”. So… first you take actor’s outside, meaning the outside letters of the word “actor”—that gives us A and R. Next, “odd room” means that you take the odd letters of the word room, which gives us R and O. Finally, “world’s foremost” means that you take foremost (i.e. first) letter of world, which is W. Put it all together and you’ve got ARROW, which is another word for “director”.
There is always going to be exactly one correct answer which follows from the “instructions” the clue gives. This is what I love about cryptic crossword puzzles: like sudoku, they’re logic puzzles where the answer necessarily follows if you do the operations correctly. There’s often a good deal of misdirection, with the surface reading having nearly no relation to the ultimate solution—the best cryptics are ones where the surface reads so naturally that it is difficult to read it in a different sense. Most of the time, the solution is kind of a “dad joke”. Take another example from the book—Eccentric old man finally goes nuts (7)—the word “Eccentric” jumps out as an anagram indicator (if something is “eccentric” it is strange, wild, mixed-up). Anagramming “old man” could give us ALMOND, then “finally goes” instructs us to take the last letter of the word “goes”, giving us S, which put together is ALMONDS, another word for “nuts”.
I’ve become slightly obsessed with cryptics since getting into them a few months ago. My wife bought this book for me for Christmas almost immediately after it was published in the U.S., and my grandmother got me a membership to the Minute Cryptic website. That is to say, when I began reading this book I did have a fairly solid handle on how to solve them, though I wouldn’t say that I’m an expert by any stretch. The book is meant as a beginner’s how-to guide; because of my prior familiarity, I don’t know how successful the book would be if I were totally new to the format. I suspect without the benefit of the videos to help visualize the methods, it would be easy to get frustrated and give up. Tiernan and his co-author, clue-setter Liam Runnalls, do their best to simplify the process for readers, though. The book is separated into sections based on different indicator techniques, with a “lucky dip” chapter every so often using multiple types of indicators previously learned. Tiernan and Runnalls also managed to adapt a key feature of their website for their book: hints. If you get stuck on any puzzle, you can turn to the next page and see three hints for each element… a hint about the fodder, a hint about the indicators, a hint about the definition. Or, if you prefer, you can use “checking letters”—these are letter reveals, the sort you might discover if you were doing this in a true crossword grid rather than one puzzle at a time. In an actual crossword, having letters revealed from getting the answer to a different puzzle can help narrow your answer. If you prefer to use that “hint” method, or would like to use it to confirm your suspicions about a solution, they refer you back to previous puzzles. Maybe box 3 on the current puzzle is the same letter as in box 1 on page 172, for instance.
I saw some other reviewers who said they finished the book in a day or two. It took me 3.5 months. The reason for this is that I was very reluctant to take hints, hoping to eventually work all of the puzzles out on my own. Sometimes I would get stuck and put the book down, only returning to it days, or sometimes weeks, later. The book certainly humbled me in that regard! I did end up having to take hints on more than a few, but on the other hand, there were a number for which Tiernan added commentary that it was a particularly difficult puzzle but which I breezed through. One of the times where Tiernan adds commentary, he states, “This is about as hard as any clue will get in this book. Why did I put such a hard clue in the introduction to deletions? My hope is that you’re encouraged by how recognisable some of that logic seems based on your progress. Also, I think it’s reassuring to know that there are hard clues out there. It’d be so disappointing to finish this book and find that every clue was easy. One of my favourite things about cryptic is how often I’m still confused by a clue and elated by solving it.” I find that argument compelling! Incidentally, that puzzle he claimed was one of the hardest, was this: Did butterfly finally flutter away from insect group? (4) The answer relies on finding a substitution for “insect group”, which could be swarm; then, “finally flutter away” instructs you to take the final letter of “flutter” away from the word, leaving you with SWAM. And “swam” is another word for the definition, Did butterfly. I think that’s so clever!
Most of the notes I took are about which puzzles tripped me up and which I got easily even though the text claims it was difficult. I’ve found that, perhaps strangely, the ones with shorter answers (i.e. 3 or 4 letters) are often far more difficult for me than puzzles with longer answers. On the other hand, one of the hardest for me was: Compliments cook about coffee (8). This requires finding two substitutions—the word “fry” in place of cook, because frying is a way to cook something, and the word “latte” in place of coffee. You then put the substitute for cook about (i.e. around) the substitute for coffee, which produces the word FLATTERY, another word for Compliments. Minute Cryptic puzzles tend to lean heavily on an anagram indicators, but I’ve heard it said that full cryptic crossword grids set by others often lean heavily on this kind of synonym-substitution followed by letter manipulation. I definitely still find that part of the process challenging. Getting to “fry” from cook was especially tricky. Another one I struggled with was—Saudi Arabian power couple rents gemstones (9)—which requires abbreviating “Saudi Arabian” to SA, abbreviating “power” to P and doubling it (“couples”), and then substituting the word “rent” for HIRES, which when put together produces SAPPHIRES, another word for “gemstones”. Rather than take a hint from the book, and figuring that the definition as like “gemstones” rather than “Saudi Arabian” or “Saudi Arabian power” (although I did consider it), I saw the word “sapphires” and was able to reverse-engineer it from there. Some people might call this cheating and, truthfully, I do feel a little self-conscious when I get to answers this way, but on a “What to do if you get stuck” page near the start of the book, Tiernan suggests it is appropriate to search online when you are uncertain, and denies there is even such a thing as cheating in cryptics. “I google stuff, and you should too!” he says.
All of this is to say that this is a hugely satisfying book if you are into cryptic crossword puzzles the way that I am. I think it probably is a helpful how-to guide for somebody who is interested in these types of puzzles and maybe has a general grasp of the concept, but I am not certain if it would convert somebody who has no familiarity with them at all. Likewise, if I were a 20-year seasoned cryptic crossword vet, I don’t know whether the book would feel too simplified to be fully enjoyable, but for where I’m at—relatively new, but training regularly—it hit all the right notes. I’m also very excited to learn that there’s already a second edition (titled MORE MINUTE CRYPTIC) in the works. This book was everything I hoped it would be and I am counting it in my list of books read for the year because I truly did read it cover to cover. I would absolutely recommend checking it out if you have any interest in these puzzles at all.
P.S. Although the book offers plenty of blank “workspace” beneath the puzzles for you to write out your thoughts, I made it a point not to write in the book at all. I wanted it to remain pristine in case I decide to sell it, pass it along to my son when he’s older, or if I ever want to re-attempt the puzzles myself. Already, there were a number of them in my notes that I had forgotten the solution to. I dunno, maybe it’s ridiculous, but I kind of find it a point of pride that I did not write anything in the book—even when it came time to do the “Mega Crossword” puzzle that finishes the book. And speaking of points of pride, I got every single answer in the “Mega Crossword” save one… but even that one, I actually did get the answer because it matched the definition and nothing else fit, but I was confused on how the answer was achieved (turns out I was manipulating the wrong letters… d’oh!). Yes, it’s safe to say that one does feel an increased sense of self-regard for “getting” cryptics, particularly when everybody around you acts like they’re completely inscrutable. It’s a whole subculture and I am into it. 😊
March 1, 2026
I'm now a Cryptic Champion 😎
November 9, 2025
I have spent my life thinking cryptic crosswords were for super intelligent people and I could get 1 or 2 of them but that was it. then i stumbled on Minue Cryptic on facebook and I learnt there was tricks you needed to learn. I watched many of those clips, then started solving the daily challenge ...which eventually lead me to wanting more and buying this book.
Which i finished over a weekend and thoroughly enjoyed doing so.
The clues are split into categories so a nice slow intro to each type of clue and really built up my confidence.
Did i solve every clue in this book without any hints? no but i did solve alot without hints and some with a couple of hints and then didnt solve a minority. I even mamaged to do all but 3 clues in the Mega Crossword at the end.
For all the ones i didnt get the answers explained really well how i should have got to the right answer.
the amount of hints are great too, you can use there step by step hints to identify and breakdown the clue, or they give you a couple of letters to help (as youd get in an actual crossword)
Am i a pro now? not yet , this has just taught me a lot of the tricks and things to look out for and now i need to go out and practice.
Id highly reccomend this to those wanting to learn cryptic crosswords . i wouldnt for those already solving them as it will be far too easy for you .
** i did notice one error in the book on page 261, it has 8 boxes and says answer is 8 letters when its actually 7. Threw me for a bit as i was so confident in my answer .
Doesnt take away from the book but a note for publishers tp update for future printing and for those who have purchased just chop off the last box.
Which i finished over a weekend and thoroughly enjoyed doing so.
The clues are split into categories so a nice slow intro to each type of clue and really built up my confidence.
Did i solve every clue in this book without any hints? no but i did solve alot without hints and some with a couple of hints and then didnt solve a minority. I even mamaged to do all but 3 clues in the Mega Crossword at the end.
For all the ones i didnt get the answers explained really well how i should have got to the right answer.
the amount of hints are great too, you can use there step by step hints to identify and breakdown the clue, or they give you a couple of letters to help (as youd get in an actual crossword)
Am i a pro now? not yet , this has just taught me a lot of the tricks and things to look out for and now i need to go out and practice.
Id highly reccomend this to those wanting to learn cryptic crosswords . i wouldnt for those already solving them as it will be far too easy for you .
** i did notice one error in the book on page 261, it has 8 boxes and says answer is 8 letters when its actually 7. Threw me for a bit as i was so confident in my answer .
Doesnt take away from the book but a note for publishers tp update for future printing and for those who have purchased just chop off the last box.
January 8, 2026
Can I add puzzle books to my Goodreads? I did read this cover-to-cover and solve every puzzle, so I think it's fair game.
I discovered Minute Cryptic a couple of months ago, and since then, I have solved the daily clue every single day religiously. Because I play often, I am already pretty familiar with the techniques that the book walks through. However, I think this would be a great resource for a beginner. I really enjoyed solving all the clues, although I wish I had more! I can't wait for the second edition to come out. Hoping that one includes more higher-level techniques, like rebus puzzles (my favorite).
I discovered Minute Cryptic a couple of months ago, and since then, I have solved the daily clue every single day religiously. Because I play often, I am already pretty familiar with the techniques that the book walks through. However, I think this would be a great resource for a beginner. I really enjoyed solving all the clues, although I wish I had more! I can't wait for the second edition to come out. Hoping that one includes more higher-level techniques, like rebus puzzles (my favorite).
January 3, 2026
Initially, guessing randomly eventually achieves triumph. Excellent! (5)
January 5, 2026
I've been following Angas for a while now, and when I heard about the publication of his book I was quite excited, as well as happy for him, Liam, and the other Minute Cryptic contributors!
The book (/manual) is very clear, divided into indicators chapters with examples, while the "hints" section has been physically translated with an interactive section that connects the various games. Step-by-step help is found by turning the page, while the solutions are at the end of each chapter, which is perfect if you don't want to look them up until the end. Great work :)
The book (/manual) is very clear, divided into indicators chapters with examples, while the "hints" section has been physically translated with an interactive section that connects the various games. Step-by-step help is found by turning the page, while the solutions are at the end of each chapter, which is perfect if you don't want to look them up until the end. Great work :)
February 2, 2026
Great book for beginners, have been getting to get the hang of these games for about a year. someone introduced me to the daily videos, and from there I had to get this book. it is one of the simplest explanations of the clues I have had, so feel more confident to take the plunge into the game now. Will definitely not be the last time I read this, am sure of that.
April 24, 2026
Simply amazing! I finally completed a cryptic crossword!
Well laid out, easy to follow along lessons, great challenges.
Minifig#2 was a doozy, and that final mega crossword really made me feel like I now have what it takes to do cryptics.
Well laid out, easy to follow along lessons, great challenges.
Minifig#2 was a doozy, and that final mega crossword really made me feel like I now have what it takes to do cryptics.
April 7, 2026
52 book club challenge prompt 15 - subtitle with a comma
SUCH fun!!!
Highly recommended, makes you feel both like the most intelligent and dimmest person in the room. 🤡
SUCH fun!!!
Highly recommended, makes you feel both like the most intelligent and dimmest person in the room. 🤡
September 28, 2025
If you do the daily Minute Cryptic then this is a must-read. Thanks Angas and Liam for making me a crossword person in my own right! My parents would do the Sunday Times Cryptic each week and it's one of my happy memories of my adolescence that I cleave to after the loss of my mother and home. And I read the whole book in an Aussie accent, so, there's that. I shall photocopy the minis and the mega crossword!
March 7, 2026
I’ve always thought cryptics were like Magic Eye posters - elaborate hoaxes intended to make me feel dumb. This book actually works and I’m now able to scrute these formerly inscrutable clues!
February 2, 2026
Luminescent brain, till scramble! (9)
April 18, 2026
Good beginner resource. Next edition should at least acknowledge double definition, &lit, rebus clues
Read
October 6, 2025A fun collection of cryptic crossword clues, meant as an introduction to cryptics for beginners. But... I'm not sure if I could recommend this book to genuine newbies.
I'm quite Araucarian when it comes to clue-writing - I believe that a degree of freedom and suggestiveness produces better clues than rigid grammaticality. But quite a few of the clues in here set even my teeth on edge. I'm perfectly happy with "redhead" indicating R, but how does "headmistress" indicate M? The cryptic grammar is just stretched too far, and I worry that some of the clues give newbies a misleading idea of how cryptics work. A cryptic clue should be something like a recipe for building a word, not just indicators stacked together. It's a shame, because there are some brilliant clues here too.
The acknowledgements don't mention working with a crossword editor, but a extra pair of eyes on some of the clues might have tightened them up ("Priest is powerless to change ceremonies" doesn't feel grammatical to me, but "Priest powerless to change ceremonies" works without significantly affecting the surface) and caught one or two errors such as incorrect enumerations.
I'm quite Araucarian when it comes to clue-writing - I believe that a degree of freedom and suggestiveness produces better clues than rigid grammaticality. But quite a few of the clues in here set even my teeth on edge. I'm perfectly happy with "redhead" indicating R, but how does "headmistress" indicate M? The cryptic grammar is just stretched too far, and I worry that some of the clues give newbies a misleading idea of how cryptics work. A cryptic clue should be something like a recipe for building a word, not just indicators stacked together. It's a shame, because there are some brilliant clues here too.
The acknowledgements don't mention working with a crossword editor, but a extra pair of eyes on some of the clues might have tightened them up ("Priest is powerless to change ceremonies" doesn't feel grammatical to me, but "Priest powerless to change ceremonies" works without significantly affecting the surface) and caught one or two errors such as incorrect enumerations.
November 3, 2025
This book is a great introduction to the addictive pastime of solving cryptic crosswords. I found that working through this book turned impenetrable clues into fun riddles to be solved with many of the tools I needed to unpick the locks. I'm still a long way from mastering this art, but I am a convert and look forward to each daily clue at https://www.minutecryptic.com/ .
One erratum: Lucky Dip 2, Clue 7 should read "Thief's primary motive for serious crime (7)". The printed (8) and corresponding eighth box stumped me for much longer than it should have!
One erratum: Lucky Dip 2, Clue 7 should read "Thief's primary motive for serious crime (7)". The printed (8) and corresponding eighth box stumped me for much longer than it should have!
February 27, 2026
An awesome introduction into cryptic puzzles. The book knows how to challenge and test you on the material without facing you with a clue you couldn't possibly handle. The commentary by Angas is always fun and often leaves you chuckling to yourself. The pacing of the book, the amount of clues present, and the quality of them really makes the book shine.
January 27, 2026
that was exactly what I had hoped for. It's a lot of pages and most of them are workspace, but this was the gentle introduction to cryptic crosswords that I was looking for. Lots of practice and it was easy to use the hints judiciously.
March 11, 2026
I generally really enjoyed these puzzles, but occasionally some of the clues were so difficult to determine that you would have to be a mind reader to get them.
For example:
"Sadly" as a clue for an anagram??
"Property" as a clue for a hidden word??
For example:
"Sadly" as a clue for an anagram??
"Property" as a clue for a hidden word??
November 20, 2025
Such a warm, understandable guide to doing cryptic crosswords. For puzzles that can seem so daunting to a newbie, this book is the answer!
January 9, 2026
This book is your go-to guide if you've ever looked at a cryptic crossword and thought it looks fun but incomprehensible. Minute Cryptic breaks the clues down in an accessible but still fun way.
January 13, 2026
What a delightful way to build up your cryptic crossword skills!
January 15, 2026
Good way of learning cryptic crosswords.
January 16, 2026
Finished it in like 3 days, so entertaining.
January 23, 2026
my friends and coworkers and i have developed a minute cryptic addiction and i'm in so deep that i have a paid subscription and bought the book
February 1, 2026
So fun
March 2, 2026
So glad to have finally learnt how to do cryptic crosswords!
March 14, 2026
Absolutely loved these puzzles! Excellent help for beginners. I can’t wait for the next book to come out!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews