The Clue Clinic

all about cryptic crossword clues

The Clue Clinic

Welcome to The Clue Clinic – where people interested in solving or setting cryptic crosswords come to learn, sharpen their skills, and get expert guidance from experienced setters.

If this is your first visit, we would recommend visiting the About This Site page to get some ideas about the areas of the site which may be of particular interest to you and the ways in which you can interact with Clinic staff and other readers.

What’s New

The PDF of the latest Gemelo puzzle is available at this link: Gemelo 53
The PDF of the latest Azed puzzle is available at this link: Azed 2,785
In the October Digest, we discuss classic comedy, competition vs cooperation, and not one but two new clue-writing contests for you to enter

Latest Posts

Latest Comments

Latest Forum Topics/Posts

  1. Hi Iain I can confirm that the full text search returns (inter alia) ‘a/b’ for ‘Airborne’. Setters are allowed to…

  2. Doc, could you kindly do a full-text Ch. search on ‘airborne’ (2d)?  I’ve been doubtful about AB as its abbreviation. …

  3. To get from ‘pales’ to ‘Wales’ requires only the ‘p’ to be misprinted as a ‘W’; ‘waves’ requires both the…

  4. I do not see how ‘pales’ would be acceptable whereas ‘waves’ would not; what am I missing?

  5. Hi Alex The rule with gimmicks which are applied directly to the text, such as misprinted letter, extra letter and…

  6. Hi Doctors, what are the rules/conventions regarding the addition or retention of apostrophes in barred puzzle clues when using misprint…

  7. I can highly recommend the iOS and Android versions. They make it much easier to find words like the entry…

  8. Thanks, it doesn’t happen often but I really should upgrade or go digital I suppose, I’m fed up waiting for…

  9. Yes. It looks as though the life-saver first appeared in the 11th edition (2008), and the pud didn’t debut until…

  10. Two entries don’t seem to be in my 2003 Chambers (15a and 22d). Are they in later editions?