UNDERSTANDING CRYPTIC CLUES – CLUE TYPE “E” (CE series)

I’ve scripted this topic in the form of a conversation between you, the reader and me, the author. Your part of the conversation is mentioned in blue.

Me: Here is a clue

Permit building of wall around a circle (5)

You: On reading this clue, what should we do?

Me: Think of an answer. There are a few ground rules to be followed for getting the answer.

        Answer is always a word or phrase. (For now, let’s consider it as a single word)

           No. of letters comprising the answer is always mentioned in parenthesis at the end of the                            clue. (In this case, it is a 5 letter word) 

        Answer is always a meaning or synonym of a part of the clue.

You: Meaning or synonym of “a part of the clue” How do I identify this part?

Me:  Let us name this part of the clue as “Question”. The challenge lies in identifying the Question. Generally,         it is either at the beginning or end of the clue. It can be a single word or a string of words. But for now,         let us consider it ‘to be learnt with experience’.

You: What is the purpose of the remaining part of the clue?

Me: Remaining part of the clue is used to get the answer. It also helps in pinning down that          specific word in case of more than one possible answer.

        Let me name this part of the clue as “Help”. We need to use “Help” to get the answer.

        Let us recall the clue “Permit building of wall around a circle (5)”

        Let us assume that the word “Permit” is the Question. We now know that the Answer is a Word, it has 5 letters and it is a synonym of “Permit”. Think of 5 lettered synonyms for “Permit”

You: 5 lettered synonyms for Permit can be GRANT, ALLOW.

Me: You are right. But, only one of these two words can be the answer. This can be decided by taking the help of remaining part of the clue and get the answer.  At this point, let us reread the clue keeping the above two words in mind. In this clue “Permit building of wall around a circle (5)” look hard at the words ‘Wall’ and ‘Circle’ and try relating it to the word “ALLOW”.

You: Yes, I can see the connection. The word ‘Wall’ is found in the word “ALLOW” but its letters are jumbled. The word ‘Circle’ is replaced by the letter “O”. “Wall” and “O” are anagrammed to get the word “ALLOW” which means “PERMIT”. So ALLOW is the answer…I got it!

Me: Absolutely correct! Here, the letter “O” representing the word “Circle” is used as Code. In Cryptic Clues, codes can be Abbreviations, Acronyms or Single letter synonyms of a word.

RECAP

Summary of General Ground Rules for Cryptic Clue Type “E”

Answer is always a word or phrase.

No. of letters comprising the answer is always mentioned in parenthesis at the end of the clue.

Answer is always the meaning / synonym of a part of the clue.

Answer is derived by using whole or part of one or more words from the remaining part of the clue.

“Part of the clue” can either be a single word or more.

Hint for Clue Type “E”: Answer is a combination of code and anagram.

(Note: In order to check if assumption of the word “Permit” as Question is correct, you can try assuming other words in the clue as “Question” take the help of rest of the clue and adopt the same method of Code-Anagram combination to get the answer)

Would you like to try solving these type of Clues? Please visit CE 1 to CE 5

Also view in this blog: Understanding Cryptic Clues Type "A" Understanding Cryptic Clues Type "B"  Understanding Cryptic Clues Type "C" and Understanding Cryptic Clues Type 'D"

Cryptic Clues Type "A"
Cryptic Clues Type 'B"
Cryptic Clues Type "C"
Cryptic Clues Type "D"

Cryptic Clues and Crossword Puzzles posted here are a part of "Play with Words" section in this blog.