Clue:
Nag and a ram reordered Word . (7).
Solution: ANAGRAM.
And that is what this post is going to be
about.
It all started with a few email exchanges
between my brothers and sisters – youtube links to some old (they have to be,
because we are all over 50!) family favourites like Mustafa and House of
Bamboo.
Which prompted my sister Gowri to come out
with a crossword clue :
Clan is got into knots reliving past? (9)
We worked out that it is an anagram and got
the answer NOSTALGIC.
All of us at home are crossword puzzle
solvers, in varying degrees of competence/incompetence. My father enjoyed doing
them, and he encouraged my mother and us to try them. We picked up the habit,
and enjoy working on the puzzles - the more cryptic the clues the greater the
pleasure. Regardless of cracking the clue my joy in racking my brains over a
puzzle is great. And the delight of
getting a particularly tough one is just
unbeatable.
The simplest clues are the anagrams – but
you have to find out which words in the clue form the anagrams.
I just checked with my family over their
favourite anagrams, and I got these
Lives and Levis
Severely Slip, Sleepy Silver, for Elvis
Presley
Mr Mojo Risin for Jim Morrison from his song L. A. Woman
Old West Action- Clint Eastwood
Maiji remembered my father’s favourite - Webs
Ran Hard! - Bernard Shaw.
And Gowri made anagrams of the names of
some of us:
Gowri - I Grow
Mohan - Oh, man!! (her husband)
Bala - A Lab
Raji - I jar!
If you work on them long enough you usually
get the anagrams. A crossword clue tells you what the anagram is going to be.
For instance Elvis could be: Singer in crumpled Levis
An example from a crossword in the
Guardian:
As direction, I fancy reference books
(12).
With this you have to find the anagram to
form a word of 12 letters to mean a word or words in the clue. (Answer at
bottom).
 |
| Can you see the underlined clue which is an anagram, and the answer is boxed in |
Constant practice, and your eyes zoom down
on the words which form the anagram. And it becomes a fairly easy occupation to
juggle the letters around and find the word.
Nobody I know is as good as my brother Raja
at this – he is the ace crossword solver too. But all that is a preamble to
this - Taking Gowri’s clue at the top, he formed
this jingle using the words ‘Clan is got’
clan is got
cat logs in
got in lacs
it can slog
go sit clan
act is long
lags in cot
cot nil sag
con lit gas
sang i clot
cats lingo
o! it clangs
losing act
last in cog
aligns cot
at closing
lo! casting
o! castling
l'coasting
l'agnostic
logicstan
nostalgic
ALL anagrams of NOSTALGIC!
ALL anagrams of NOSTALGIC!
Howzzat!
Answer to the Guardian clue: DICTIONARIES
'reference books' is the definition.(dictionary is a kind of reference book).
'as direction i fancy' is the subsidiary
indication.
'fancy' indicates an anagram.
'as'+'direction'+'i'='asdirectioni'
'asdirectioni' anagrammed gives
'dictionaries'.
12 comments:
Of course there is that popular internet application called "I, rearrangement servant" an anagram of Internet anagram server!
awesome! I was taught this by a relative in my cousin's wedding. He is an ace with hindu crosswords.
A delightful piece to read. I was till some time ago an avid crossword puzzle solver. And it all started in college. I remember running up to Gowri in the college lawns and taking her help with some of the clues. Wish those days could come back to me. Anyway, both you sisters are so witty with words.
Life is a cruel joke: Yes, but I find it more fun to work it out myself. And by the way, my brother, though he was impressed by "I, rearrangement servant" as an anagram of Internet anagram server, did not use it to form all those anagrams. :)
Asha: Thank you
Sun Ray: nice of you to visit and comment
Lovely piece.
I see many solving crosswords on Mumbai local trains, an escape from the crush.
Thanks, Anil. I value your compliment.
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Interesting point of view. I'am curious to think what type of impact this would have globally?
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