Cryptic Crossword Clues Quiz for Experts | Cryptics

Answer: dryad

The definition is "nymph." A dryad is a wood and tree sprit. The wordplay goes like this: "not wet" = DRY; "in modern times" = A.D., or Anno Domini. DRY + A.D. = DRYAD!

Answer: Bananas

Meaning: "(the) fruits." Wordplay: "chiefs" of "army" and "navy" are A and N (chiefs meaning the first letters of each). "Playing leapfrog" means alternating, and they do this between "bull sessions" (B.S.). B. (A,N,A,N,A) S. = BANANAS

Answer: Controller

Meaning: "a mouse?" (A kind of controller). Wordplay: "against" = CON (as in the opposite of pro), "monster" = TROLL, "uh..." = ER (the British usage / spelling).

Answer: Fagin

Meaning: "villain." Fagin was the cruel thief in Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist." Worldplay: "Note" = FA (as in do, re, mi...); "hard alcohol" = GIN. "Makes a" is used here as filler, but meaningful filler: the wordplay "makes" the answer.

Answer: forge

Meaning: "fake" (as a verb: to fake = to forge). Wordplay: this is an example of a "hidden" cryptic. That is, the definition is found within the words of the clue itself: Search FOR GEm..." The word "amid" is the tag that should indicate that the answer is hidden in the words.

Answer: vanilla

Meaning: "plain." (A figurative, but common and accepted use of "vanilla.") Wordplay: "bus" = VAN, "sick" = ILL, "one" = A. This is a straightforward part by part cryptic.

Answer: go west

Meaning: "leave to seek your fortune!" (After Horace Greeley's famous advice, "Go West, young man," to encourage settlement of government land in the west when the country was young.) Wordplay: "Headless" means take the first letter off whatever follows. "Mixture" is one of many tag words indicating you should make an anagram. So you get the letters "ogstew" and rearrange them. Seeing that the answer is two words of two and four letter respectively, you should then get nothing but GO WEST.

Answer: apartheid

Meaning: "Bigotry." Wordplay: "Aside, I'd take him" = APART (HE) I'D. "Aside" = APART and "I'd" remains I'D. These words "take" (surround) "him," which is another word for HE. Got it? Good.

Answer: Cannibal

Meaning: "Primitive guy." Wordplay: "Boyhood home of Mark Twain" = HANNIBAL (Missouri, where he apprenticed as a printer). "...has not one hospital" --- since "hospital" is abbreviated H, this indicates that you remove the H from the previous. "...instead, it has a hundred" --- this indicates that you put a C (the Roman symbol for 100) in place of the H you were instructed to remove. Result? C + (h)ANNIBAL = CANNIBAL.

Answer: Needs salt

Meaning: "Rather bland." Wordplay: "Cooked" is one of many tags used to indicate an anagram. So you rearrange the letters of "Ned T.'s seal" and you get NEEDS SALT. I hope you enjoyed this quiz; cryptics are very hard for the novice, and they're especially hard without a crossord puzzle frame to get a few letters first. Still, the play's the thing, eh?