Cryptic anagram clues

8 worked anagram examples from this practice bank.

What it is

In a cryptic anagram, one stretch of the clue supplies letters (the fodder) and another word tells you to rearrange them. The straight definition sits at the start or the end and must mean the finished word.

Minute Cryptic-style boards use the same grammar as a newspaper cryptic, but you solve one clue at a time. Anagrams are the most common device in this practice bank, so learning the flags pays off quickly on today, unlimited, and the archive.

A fair anagram spends every letter of the fodder. If letters are left over, or if you need letters that are not in the fodder, the parse is wrong even when a synonym looks tempting.

Setters love anagrams because the surface can look calm while the wordplay says chaos. Chaperone shredded corset defines ESCORT and shreds CORSET; the pottery story in Keep a broken vase does the same job for SAVE.

Indirect anagrams, where you must solve a synonym before rearranging, are rare in modern fair cryptics and unused in this bank. Here the fodder letters appear in the clue itself.

When you check an anagram on this trainer, both gates still apply: the finished word must mean the definition, and every fodder letter must appear exactly once in the answer.

How to spot it

Look for disorder words next to a concrete noun or short phrase that could be the letter supply: mixed, broken, wild, badly, shredded, slipped, burst, dancing, wrecked, about (as an anagrind), or changed.

Count the fodder letters against the enumeration in brackets. Keep a broken vase (4) only works because VASE has four letters.

Ignore the surface story until you have a candidate. Broken vase sounds like pottery; cryptically it means remix VASE.

Try writing the fodder in a scribble grid or the board's notepad. Crossing out used letters stops you from inventing an eighth letter for a seven-letter enumeration.

If two stretches could be fodder, pick the one whose length matches the answer count, then test the leftover edge as the definition.

Question marks can sit on playful definitions even when the anagram itself is strict. The remix stays exact; only the straight reading may joke.

Common indicators

• mixed
• broken
• wild
• badly
• shredded
• slipped
• burst
• dancing
• wrecked
• changed
• about
• twisted

Solving tips

Treat the anagram indicator as a verb aimed at the fodder. Mixed maps does not mean the maps are mixed in the surface world; it means rearrange MAPS. That mental pause between surface and cryptic reading is the whole skill.

Scribble space on this board exists for anagrams. Write the fodder once, then build candidates that keep the letter budget honest. When a candidate appears, read the definition edge again before you press check.

Compound fodder appears when two short words supply letters together. Count every letter, including those inside a teaching example written as separate words in the clue.

Anagrams pair well with other devices in full grids, but this bank keeps most anagrams pure so you can drill the flag. Once the flag is automatic, newspaper hybrids feel less noisy.

If you are teaching someone else, start with Keep a broken vase and Lap dancing friend. Both show how a calm surface hides a remix instruction next to a short noun.

Golf scoring still applies: an anagram solved cold scores 1. A definition hint then a letter costs more than spotting mixed on your own.

Compare two anagrams side by side in unlimited mode. The surface changes; the operation does not. That repetition is how flags become automatic.

Worked examples

These 8 anagram clues come from this site's practice bank. Read the definition edge, then the construction, then why both sides agree.

Common mistakes

Practice this device

Open unlimited for another clue from the same bank, browse the full puzzles list, or return to all wordplay guides. For the solve order that sits above every device, read how to play.