But that’s concealed by the wordplay involving three different words that don’t mean what you’d think. You see, there are THREE legs on the coat of arms for the Isle of Man. (Similarly, clue 62 - Number of lines taken by bar staff - is a reference to the FIVE lines that make up a staff in sheet music.)Ĭlue 34 - Top score in Scrabble - is a bit more devious, requiring you to know that T is worth 1 point, O is worth 1 point, and P is worth 3 points, making the correct answer FIVE.Ĭlue 48 - Man’s arms’ legs’ digit - feels like a clue you’d see at the Indie 500 or Lollapuzzoola, because it’s initially baffling, but then reveals itself as merely clever and challenging. In clue 27 - UFO demolished third of Parliament Square - the letter R (“third of Parliament”) gets mixed up with UFO to make FOUR, a square.īut other clues would be familiar to crossword solvers in America.Ĭlue 29 - Number of Romans in the New Testament? - is simple wordplay for 6, since Romans is the SIXth book. There is a similar game in clue 67 - With only seconds remaining, Officer Columbo outwits crook - which has the second digits of “Officer Columbo outwits crook” spelling out FOUR. In clue 22 - Scenes in X-Men Origins reveal how many claws Wolverine has! - the phrase “origins reveal” points towards the first letters of the words that precede it proving the answer, meaning that SIX is the number of claws Wolverine has (three on each hand). In clue 8 - Prime cut from sloth reeks - the answer hides in plain sight, as a prime number (three) reads out in slo TH REEks (and can be cut out of it). In clue 6 - Axis revolves without beginning to accelerate - we revolve (aka reverse) axis to spell SIXA, and then drop the A (“without beginning to accelerate”) to spell SIX. In terms of traditional cryptic cluing gimmickry, we see hidden words, anagrams, homophones, word reversals, and more. Now, we’re going to be discussing specific clues and answers from this puzzle, so this is your spoiler warning. That being said, you’ll find lots of traditional cryptic cluing tricks at play here. (Plus, not all of the clues adhere to the standard cryptic cluing mechanic of having both a definition AND a wordplay clue included.)

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Even when you consider that there are only nine possible answers for each clue, it’s still a challenge. These clues run the gamut of slyly clever to almost baffling. Once you’ve unraveled a clue and placed a number in the grid, standard Sudoku rules apply: that number will only appear once in a row, column, or 3×3 square.īut that’s easier said than done. Instead, you have 81 clues, one for every cell in the grid, utilizing cryptic-style cluing to hint toward which of the nine numbers goes in a given cell.

But unlike Sudoku, there are no set letters.

Like Sudoku, Cluedoku involves placing the digits 1 through 9 into each row, column, and 3×3 square in the grid. It’s called Cluedoku, and it was created by cryptic constructor Charlie Methven, better known in solving circles as Chameleon, a contributor to British puzzle outlets like The Guardian. Today, we’re taking a look at a puzzle that combines Sudoku with cryptic crosswords (aka British-style crosswords). Wholly original ideas are rare, to be sure, but even a single twist on an old classic can be enjoyable if executed well. getting the gist of the puzzle from a glance), visual aesthetics, and more.Īs a puzzler, it’s always exciting to try out a new puzzle. Whether a puzzle is destined for superstardom or not depends on a lot of factors: difficulty, the type of solving it involves, how intuitive the solving is (i.e. Our friends at Penny Dell Puzzles, for instance, have a popular puzzle called Anagram Magic Square, which combines crossword-style cluing, anagrams, and the mathematical element of a magic square to create an engaging puzzle experience you can solve from several angles. Other times, it’s a combination of different puzzle types that yields something special. That’s what happened with Sudoku, a puzzle that had been around since the late ’70s, but only rose to prominence decades later. Sometimes, it’s an old idea that gets repackaged and catches fire. The hunt is always on for the next big puzzle idea.

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