How to play Minute Cryptic
One cryptic clue. Two readings. A letter count in brackets. You type an answer, spend hints only if you want, and score it like golf.
Minute Cryptic is not a full crossword grid. You get one clue, usually solvable in a few minutes, with optional hints and a written explanation. The skill you practice is the same skill used in newspaper cryptics: split the clue into a straight definition and a construction.
Every clue has two parts
The surface sentence is a decoy. Under it sit a definition (a regular crossword clue for the answer) and wordplay (instructions that build the same answer from letters). The definition almost always sits at the start or the end, never in the middle.
The number in parentheses is the enumeration. (4) means four letters. (3,4) would mean two words. Count first. If your candidate is the wrong length, it is wrong.
Wordplay types you will meet
Anagrams remix a set of letters (the fodder) after an indicator such as mixed, broken, wild, or badly. Hidden words sit in consecutive letters of later words, flagged by in, found in, or some. Reversals spell a word backwards after back, returning, or going back.
Charades stack abbreviations and synonyms in order. Containers put one string inside another (in, around, wearing). Deletions drop a first or last letter (headless, endless). Homophones use we hear or reportedly. Double definitions give two straight meanings and no extra gadget.
Selection clues take first or last letters. Initially very old Tory effort, for example, builds VOTE. Fodder is the raw material those operations act on. If you cannot name the fodder, you do not yet have a parse.
How this board works
Click a cell or start typing. The on-screen keyboard matches a physical QWERTY layout. Check stays off until every cell is filled. A wrong check paints mismatch letters in the accent color. A right check locks the board and shows the explanation.
Hints are ordered. First hint names the definition. Second names the mechanism. Third reveals a letter. Each text hint adds 1 to the score. Each revealed letter adds 2. Solving without help scores 1. Par is the expected spend for that clue, shown as a hollow dot on the meter.
Scribble space is a notepad for anagrams. It does not affect scoring. Stats for the daily clue live in localStorage on this device. There is no account gate.
A working example
Clue: Keep a broken vase (4). Keep is the definition. Broken is an anagram flag. Vase is fodder. VASE rearranges to SAVE. Both sides agree, so SAVE is fair. If only the definition fits, keep looking. Cryptic answers must satisfy both readings.
What a question mark means
A question mark on a Minute Cryptic clue usually warns that the definition is playful, a homophone is loose, or a double meaning is stretched. It does not cancel fairness. It tells you to allow a joke in the definition.
Continue with the glossary, the worked examples, or jump into unlimited practice.