This is the last part of our journey, and the part where we get to fully express ourselves. We made a series of preliminary decisions in building the theme and the grid - which words we found acceptable, which ones we rejected - but were constrained by mathematical realities in that: we simply didn't have the space for some words we would have loved to feature.
Now, our canvas is tightly framed, and we get to dive into the painting. In 21-Down, do we reference ICE cream, ICE hockey, or an ICE road? What do we want to highlight about Iraq (4-Down), Ghana (11-Across), or Spain (33-Across), and which ANN (35-Down) do we pay homage to? Do we talk about pasta or clothing (31-Across BOWTIE)?
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| A grid ready for cluing! |
This is where we decide what path to take our solvers down, what we want to focus on and how difficult we want to make the solving. This is where each puzzle takes on your personality, develops a feel of its own.
But despite each puzzle being unique, there are some ground rules that solvers expect us to follow (or break with great deliberation) to give them a fair crack at solving the puzzle.
Everything else is up to you - if you're looking to make a puzzle and need help, or would like to have it featured on the Centre website, please don't hesitate to send it to us!
The cardinal rule for your clues:
The clues need to align with the answers. For most cases, this means that the clue could pretty much replace the answer in a real-world context.
The answer for 20-Down is DELETED - a verb in past tense. This means that our clue also has to be a verb in past tense:
- [Erased from existence], rather than [Erase from existence]
15-Across EQUALS could be either a noun (plural) or a verb (present tense, third-person). We can pick either angle to work with in our clue, but in either case, we need to be aligned:
- [Peers], rather than [Peer], for a noun
- [Comes out to], rather than [Cout out to], for the verb
5-Down, CASUAL, is an adjective; therefore, the clue ([Like a T-shirt-and-jeans dress code]) is too.
We also have grammar particles...
- 26-Across ECO, ['Environmentally-friendly' prefix]
- This clue takes the simple route, defining the word and telling solvers it's a prefix.
- 36-Across ULTRA, [___marathon: race beyond even the typical 42 kilometres]
- This is a 'fill-in-the-blank' clue: while it can be used in all circumstances (3-Down, ["It's not rocket ___!"], the fact that there is no space separating the blank from the main word indicates that it is a prefix.
...and acronyms. There are three main ways to let your solver know to be looking for an abbreviation/initialism, depending on whether you're prioritizing clarity or a good-looking clue:
- 2-Down ACL, [Concern in an athlete's knee (abbr.)]
- Our first option is the bluntest, where we append (abbr.) to the clue to let the solver know that they are looking for a three-letter abbreviation, rather than a three-letter word. This is the least ambiguous option, with no room for misinterpretation.
- 8-Down BLT, [Three-ingredient sandwich, for short]
- Our second option remains fairly clear, but is less intrusive in flagging the presence of an acronym. Clauses like for short, initially, briefly have become commonplace in signalling that the answer itself is short, initial, brief - an abbreviation.
- This option begins to create room for misdirection: I was tickled pink with the clue [Shirt, for short] for TYPO - while the crossworder's reading would suggest looking for an abbreviation, the actual clue was set up not for an abbreviation for shirt, but rather based on the relationship between shirt and short on the keyboard.
- 24-Across LLM, [Massive algorithmic database underpinning many AIs]
- This is the option that focuses the most on a 'clean' clue, trying to make the clue read as naturally as possible. Here, the presence of an abbreviation in the clue (AIs) is used to suggest that the answer itself is another abbreviation.
- This style has a higher potential for ambiguity, because the space/character constraints imposed on clues sometimes leads to abbreviations being used for convenience.
- This should be restricted to common-knowledge abbreviations (VIP for Very Important Person, UN for United Nations, CBC for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, etc.), and only where necessary.
Outside of Basic Grammar
These are all the dictionary equivalents - but this is crosswords, and we have more than just dictionary entries to play with.
We have people and places! We have a few places in the grid - 11-Across ACCRA, 33-Across SPAIN - but those are fairly easy to clue (as nouns). People can be harder to clue, so in the case of 35-Down ANN, we've given the solver a fill-in-the-blank bio to complete:
- [Great Canadian Baking Show co-host ___ Pornel]
- ["Gesundheit!"], for "BLESS YOU"
We can also - within reason - draw from foreign languages: MIIGWECH, CA VA?, ADIOS. (There aren't any of these in our grid.) These should only reference the most basic phrases and words, to avoid leaving a solver with no chance of knowing the answer.
- These clues can be flagged with an explicit reference to the language, or to a place that speaks that language: [Christmas, in Quebec City] could clue NOEL; or [French toast?] could clue TCHIN-TCHIN.
Getting Tricksy
The [French toast?] (TCHIN-TCHIN) clue is a tough one: it flips a phrase on its head, twisting a word out of its usual meaning. For that reason, it gets a question mark, warning the reader to question their assumptions about what the clue is actually saying. This good-faith wink-wink-nudge-nudge means the solver is more likely to 'get' and appreciate the wordplay, rather than be frustrated at the misdirection.
You can also decide to eschew the question mark and let them puzzle it out fully by themselves, but remember - your goal isn't to leave your solvers abandoning the puzzle out of frustration, incapable of deciphering the enigmas you've placed before them; it's to give them a surmountable challenge. It's up to you to know your audience, and which level of difficulty is most appropriate.
Another place where we're being tricksy - not enough to require a question mark, but enough to bring a smile to the face of those in the know - is 23-Across, ORC. The clue is [Horde member, in Lord of the Rings or World of Warcraft]. That's a lengthy clue, and could easily be trimmed - but it's that long for a reason. The Lord of the Rings reference is the main one that people will get: the hordes of orcs streaming across the plains, breaking into the cities, wreaking death and destruction.
By making 'Horde' the first word in the clue, the fact that it has an upper-case H is camouflaged, and that's where World of Warcraft comes in. It's a cornerstone of online gaming, where players are divided into one of two sides: the Alliance, led by humans; or the Horde, led by orcs. A member of the Horde, then, could be an ORC.