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I love playing minute cryptic

minute cryptic

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By oiu890
12 min read

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Hi

If you cant tell, I love playing minute cryptic :)
Here are some cryptics that I’ve made! 😯😝😃
And if you don’t know what a minute cryptic is, do try out minute cryptic!!

Essentially Minute Cryptic is a daily puzzle game that breaks cryptic crosswords into single-clue challenges.
The goal is to figure out the right word using the clue
A rough rundown would be:

  • you’re given a sentence
  • this sentence can contain the fodder (words/letters that you manipulate to get the answer), indicators (these tell you how to transform/use the fodder) and the definition (which is the definition of the word)
  • sometimes there could even be only definitions, only wordplay etc!

It takes some practice to be able to start spotting all the indicators and figuring out how to manipulate them, so don’t be discouraged!!!! (please)
It is actually really fun 😎😎😎👍👍👍👍
I hope you enjoy these :)

“text for real before pulling that antic, I was worried! (7)”

Show Indicator The indicators for this clue are text and before one of them is a replacement indicator, telling us to replace some fodder with how it would be written in text, and the other being a positional indicator, telling us where to place certain fodder.
Show fodder This clue's fodder is for real and antic
Show Definition The definition is I was worried
Show Answer/Explanation The word is FRANTIC.
"for real" is usually typed as "fr" in text.
You follow these 2 letters with "antic" and you get "frantic", which means extremely worried.
author note I thought this clue was a nice way to use a 'text' replacement :)

“first read off your amazing letters, your highness (5)”

Show Indicator The indicator is First, a selection indicator.
Show Fodder The fodders is Read off your amazing letters
Show Definition The definition is your highness
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is ROYAL.
The indicator "First" means to take the fist letter of the neighbouring fodder. That would give you "ROYAL" from 'R'ead, 'O'ff, 'Y'our, 'A'mazing, 'L' etters".
A king is a royal, often referred to as "your highness".
author note This was the first cryptic I ever made hahaha 😝😝

“Hacker heard X had scrambled pilot (7)”

Show Indicator The indicators are heard and scrambled, one of which is a homophone indicator, meaning we need to find a replacement for a word based on what it sounds like. The other is an anagram indicator.
Show Fodder The clue's fodders are X and pilot
Show Definition The definition is hacker or more specifically, it has something to do with a hacker
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is EXPLOIT.
If you say "X" out loud, it sounds like the letters "EX".
The "scrambled" indicator tells us to anagram "pilot" which gives us "ploit".
Combining the two you get the word "Exploit", which is what hackers do.
author note If you look at the other posts here you should be able to tell that I like tech/coding 🤓

“Oh returned to borderless arizona, its so far away! (7)”

Show Indicator The indicators are returned and borderless, one of which is a reversal indicator, and the other is a deletion indicator.
Show Fodder The fodders of this clue are Oh and arizona
Show Definition The definition is its so far away
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is HORIZON.
"returned" is our reversal indicator. We will reverse our fodder "Oh" to get "Ho".
The "borderless" indicator tells us to remove the literal "borders" of our neighbouring fodder "arizona". Thus we are left with "rizon".
Combining the 2 gives you "horizon", which is something that you see from far away.
author note This word was requested by a friend (though I doubt he will ever read this blog).

“Remote got scrambled by outerspace object (6)”

Show Indicator The indicator is scrambled, an anagram indicator
Show Fodder The fodder is Remote
Show Definition The definition is outerspace object
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is METEOR
The "scrambled" indicator tells us to anagram our fodder, "remote".
This gives us "meteor" which is an outerspace object.
author note Just trying out simple anagram clues

“Its very hard to get through this burning wall (8)”

Show Definition 1 This clue is a double definition, we have 2 definitions for the same word, our answer is going to be one that fits both. The first definition is Its very hard to get through
Show Definition 2 Our second definition is burning wall
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is FIREWALL
A wall made out of fire is literally a burining wall, and it is obviously hard to get through.
A firewall is a network security system that is typically hard to bypass.
author note I saw double definitions on minute cryptic and thought they were really cool and fun!!!

“In discoveries, I find what has been hidden (5)”

Show Indicator The indicator is In, a containing indicator. Our answer will be contained inside some fodder.
Show Fodder The fodder is discoveries
Show Definition The definition is hidden
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is COVER
Our answer is literally "in" the word dis"cover"ies.
To cover something is to hide it.
author note Trying out simple containing indicator hints lol

“I dont need a lecture in managing! (3)”

Show Indicator The indicator is In, a containing indicator. Our answer will be contained inside some fodder.
Show Fodder The fodder is managing
Show Definition The definition is lecture
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is NAG
Our answer "nag" is in the word ma"nag"ing.
Usually when youre being nagged at, a lecture is also involved as well.
author note Another easy containing indicator hint

“Hes so shy, he mixed up limited without the French (5)”

Show Indicator The indicators are mixed up, without, and French one of them is an anagram indicator, one is a deletion indicator and one is a replacement indicator. We will need to replace
Show Fodder The fodder is limited and the
Show Definition The definition is shy
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is TIMID
"the" in French is "le".
Our fodder "limited" without "le" is "imitd".
Rearranging it or "mixing it up" we get "timid", meaning shy
author note I saw this replacement in a few cryptics before (where you use another language) and thought I would give it a try too!

“Uno, Dos, Tres turmoil after one Sierra becomes Delta. I got it? (10)”

Show Indicator The indicators are turmoil,one, and becomes one of them is an anagram indicator, one is a replacement indicator, and the one is a selection indicator. We will need to find suitable substitues for some fodder, which will replace something in another fodder.
Show Fodder The fodder is Uno, Dos, Tres, Sierra and Delta
Show Definition The definition is I got it.
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is UNDERSTOOD
"Sierra" and "Delta" refer to "S" and "D" in the phonetic alphabet respectively.
So our clue becomes "... after ONE S becomes D".
As such, one of the "S"'s in "UNO, DOS, TRES" will be replaced with a "D". Our "Turmoil" tells us to anagram this fodder, giving us "UNDERSTOOD".
When you "get" something, you have understood it.
author note I was just trying to come up with cool anagrams/cryptic ideas and IDK HOW but I wrote down the word understood, played with the letters and I realised it cld be arranged as "uno dos tres" (with 1 letter difference!!)
The hard part was figuring out how to craft it in a nice way to replace that letter lol, it took quite a few tries/changes before I settled on this one (with the help of one of my friends).

“Within the sisterhood lies the crux of my stand (6)”

Show Indicator The indicator is within. It is a containing indicator, so our answer will lie within some fodder.
Show Fodder The fodder is the sisterhood
Show Definition The definition is crux of my stand.
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is THESIS
"Thesis" literally lies within "THE SIS"terhood.
Your thesis is the central argument or stand of your paper/essay.
author note Felt inspired during one of my GP lessons about essay writing haha

“Misheard idol stayed still (4)”

Show Indicator The indicator is misheard. It is a homophone indicator, try saying the fodder out loud.
Show Fodder The fodder is idol
Show Definition The definition is stayed still.
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is IDLE
If you say "idol" out loud, it also sounds like "idle", which means to stay still.
author note This one is so cool cus the clue is so short but at the same time its so elegant

“Betis, Coventry, Juventus, Everton start a 5-3-1-1? Thats messed up, where are the goals? (10)”

Show Indicator The indicators are start a 5-3-1-1 and messed up. One of them is an anagram indicator and the other is a selection indiacator telling us to pick certain parts of our fodder.
Show Fodder The fodder is Betis, Coventry, Juventus, Everton. We will use this fodder with the help of our indicators to give us our answer.
Show Definition The definition is goals.
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is OBJECTIVES
Our indicator "start" and "5-3-1-1" tells us to take the first 'X' letters from our fodders.
That would be "Betis", "Cov"entry, "J"uventus, "E"verton.
"messing it up" and anagramming these letters gives you "objectives", which refer to goals/targets that have been set.
author note I am an avid enjoyer of football (both playing and watching it) 😄
I really like how I came up with the selection and how its literally a very messed up football formation aka parking the bus HAHAHAA. This kind of very defensive tactic usually results in few goals being scored as well.
All together quite a nicely put together clue :).

“Pointer to triple headed array? I heard someone got hurt (5)”

Show Indicator This clue's indicators are triple headed and heard. One of them is a selection indicator, and the other is I guess a homophone indicator? (though this might be stretchy... good luck).
Show Fodder This clue's fodder are array and someone got hurt. We will need to find a suitable replacement for one of them, with the help of our indicators.
Show Definition The definition is Pointer. Our answer will be something that is a pointer.
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is ARROW
The "Triple headed" indicator tells us to take the first 3 letters from the start of "array", that is "arr".
When you "hear someone get hurt" you would think of the sound "ow".
Thus, combining the 2 gives you "arrow" which you can use to point to things.
author note The replacement here was quite stretchy, but I guess I thought it was pretty cool and interesting?
Anyways I get baited by a lot of funky replacements in minute cryptic as well hahah

“Lin and Terence take lines 2 and 3, Lucy take no Ls and swap you with the first act, now read! (8)”

Show Indicator This clue's indicators are take , lines 2 and 3 , no , swap, and first two of them are selection indicators, telling us to use certain parts of our fodder, one is a deletion indicator, telling us to remove certain parts of our fodder, and one is a replacement indicator, telling us to exchange certain parts of our fodder with something else.
Show Fodder This clue's fodders are Lin and Terence, Lucy , L's, and act
Show Definition The definition is read
Show Answer/Explanation The answer is LITERACY>
Taking this clue very literally, "take lines 2 and 3" means you take the first 2 letters from "Lin" and first 3 letters from "Terence", "LITER".
"Lucy" without the L is "ucy".
Replacing "you" with the letter "U", and swapping this letter u in "ucy" with the first letter from "act" which is "A" gives us "acy".
Combining the 2 parts gives you "literacy", which is the ability to read/write.
author note TBH I put this as the last one cus I feel like this is a very "awkward" clue.
It is one of the first few clues I made so I was kinda just throwing random selection words and techniques to get an answer haha.
not very elegant I suppose 😐, though it does work out nicely in the end
cryptic, puzzle
cryptic puzzle
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