A Note on Crossword Conventions
We try to make our crossword clues straightforward (with some exceptions, when we want to purposefully be tricky). There are a few crossword cluing conventions that might be helpful for you to know, as these cluing conventions can drop hints to the solver towards the answer.
This post provides a very quick overview of the simplest cluing conventions so that you can jump right into your first APIHMini — but for a more comprehensive intro to crossword conventions, we highly recommend Puzzmo’s Tutorial Minis by brooke husic. If you’re interested in venturing into the world of crossword construction, you may also want to check out the Glossary of Crosswords by Quiara Vasquez.
Plurals
If a clue speaks in plurals (e.g. “Abbott and Costello”, “Funny people”, or something along those lines), the answer is likely in plural form as well (i.e. COMEDIANS, not COMEDIAN) and therefore the last letter of the answer will be “S”. Not all plurals end in an “s”, though, so keep in mind that there may be exceptions.
Subject-Verb Agreements
Answers in a puzzle must always be written in the same tense that its clue was written in. For example, if a clue is written in the past tense (e.g. “Had a crush on”), then the answer must also be in the past tense (i.e. LIKED).
Relatedly, if the clue uses the word “Like” (e.g. “Like a summer day in Jakarta”), it’s usually cluing an adjective (i.e. HOT).
Qualifiers
Some clues end in qualifiers to indicate that the answer doesn’t always apply to the clue in real life (e.g. “Fish in fish and chips, sometimes” for COD, because some fish and chips dishes may use other species of fish than cod.
Question Marks
If a clue ends with a ?, it usually hints at wordplay or a misdirect that means you shouldn’t take the clue literally. For example, “Drag to court?” could be SUE without the question mark… but in this case by Erik Agard and Paolo Pasco, the answer was SWIPE RIGHT. Might take seeing a few to get used to them, but we promise they are fun!
Rebuses
This one is not a cluing convention, but is helpful to know in the world of crosswords! Sometimes, as part of a crossword’s theme, one square may contain more than one letter (or sometimes, an entire word). If you think you’ve encountered a rebus in a crossword, you can click “rebus” next to the clue to fill out that square as a rebus. For example, a crossword by Malaika Handa had the theme STEMCELLS with certain squares containing the word STEM.