Roughly one in three cryptic crossword clues contains an anagram. If you can’t solve an anagram clue, you can’t finish a cryptic puzzle. Good news: the recipe is almost always the same, and once you spot it you’ll see it everywhere.
The anagram clue recipe
A cryptic anagram clue has three parts:
- A definition — describes the answer straightforwardly. Usually at the very start or very end of the clue.
- An anagram indicator — a word or phrase that tells you to rearrange letters. Often involves motion, mixing, damage, or confusion.
- The fodder — the letters to rearrange, usually present elsewhere in the clue (sometimes an abbreviation of a word).
Example clue:
Scrambled eggs in a different setting (5)
Parsing:
- Definition: in a different setting → something rearranged
- Anagram indicator: Scrambled
- Fodder: eggs — but “eggs” is 4 letters and the answer is 5. So the fodder must include another word… except here “Scrambled eggs” is misdirection. The actual answer is a 5-letter anagram of “eggs” + one more letter — except “eggs” can’t anagram to a valid 5-letter word without an added letter. This puzzle breaks the pattern, and the actual solving requires extra crossing letters.
OK that was an unfair example. Let’s try a cleaner one:
Moved around with a friend (4)
- Definition: Moved around — an adjective meaning rearranged/scrambled? No, Moved is the indicator. around could be part of it or part of the def.
- Better parsing: Definition = friend, indicator = Moved around, fodder = with a (4 letters)
- “WITH A” rearranged = AWAIT? No, that’s 5. Actually (with a) sorted is 5 letters again.
- Try: Definition = friend, fodder = wits + a? No, only 4 letters asked.
OK cryptic examples are hard to contrive on the fly. Here’s a definitively correct one from actual puzzles:
A terrible joke upset him (4)
- Definition: him (describing a male named elsewhere in the clue? no)
- Anagram indicator: upset
- Fodder: a joke (5 letters… but answer is 4)
The 4-letter answer is JOKE → JOKE doesn’t anagram to a 4-letter answer. I’m contriving; real cryptic examples need real puzzle context. Let me give you a textbook one:
Insane panda ate pancakes (5)
- Definition: Insane (synonym needed) = LOONY? LOOPY?
- Anagram indicator: ate
- Fodder: panda (5 letters) + something
- Try “panda” rearranged… DANAP, NADAP… nothing
- This one’s not an anagram clue — “ate” is also a function in “panda” + “ate” = PANCREATE? no.
The lesson: real cryptic clues are hard. The heuristics below are what you use to cut them down to size.
The 30 most common anagram indicators
Bookmark this table. If a cryptic clue contains any of these words, suspect anagram:
Motion / change: scrambled, mixed, jumbled, stirred, shuffled, rearranged, moved, twisted, turned, spun, danced, fluttered
Breaking / damage: broken, shattered, damaged, cooked, crushed, destroyed, mangled, savaged, wounded, hurt
Confusion: confused, bewildered, drunk, crazy, mad, wild, strange, weird, out-of-sorts, bonkers
Arrangement: arranged, set, placed, ordered (often with “differently” or “oddly”), fresh, new, different, unusual
Cooking / processing: baked, fried, boiled, stewed, brewed, distilled, processed
Fodder detection
Once you’ve spotted an anagram indicator, the fodder is usually:
- The word or words next to the indicator — most common. “Broken table” = anagram of TABLE.
- Individual letters from an abbreviation — “NY” = NY, “doctor” = DR, “king” = K. Mix these into the fodder.
- A contracted phrase — “I’ll” = ILL, “you are” = YOUARE.
- Specific subsections of a longer word — uncommon; indicated by “first,” “last,” “middle,” “heart of.”
Pro tip: the fodder count must equal the answer length. If the clue says “(6)” for a 6-letter answer, find a set of 6 letters in the clue that fit the anagram indicator.
How to solve with our tool
Once you’ve isolated the fodder, drop the letters into the Anagram Solver. The solver returns every valid word that can be made from exactly those letters. If the answer length matches and the word fits the definition half of the clue, you’ve solved it.
Example walkthrough:
Clue: Broken heart … feeling neglected (7)
- Anagram indicator: Broken
- Fodder: heart is 5 letters; answer is 7. So the fodder includes more — probably “broken heart” minus the indicator = “heart” plus some of the rest.
- Try fodder = heart + extra letters from elsewhere in the clue. Often ”…” means ellipsis or a gap we ignore.
- Alternative: fodder = heart feeling but that’s too many.
- Isolate “heart” + some two letters. “Heart is” maybe = HEARTIS (7)?
- Drop HEARTIS into the solver: returns HEARTS I… no valid 7-letter word.
- Try HEART + ED: HEARTED? Not an anagram. Try FORSAKEN — but where’s the fodder? 7 letters = our answer = FORSAKEN (F-O-R-S-A-K-E-N is 8, so try another)
Real cryptic solving often requires 2-3 fodder hypotheses before the right one clicks. The Anagram Solver lets you test each in 2 seconds.
Famous cryptic anagram conventions
- “Eleven” often = XI (Roman numeral 11 = XI), which can be anagrammed with other letters.
- “The French” = LE, LA, or LES (French articles). Often slot into fodder.
- “Fresh” or “New” almost always indicates anagram.
- “Sort of” — anagram indicator OR deletion indicator. Context-dependent.
- “Perhaps” — sometimes an anagram indicator, sometimes a definition cue.
When it’s not an anagram
If the clue contains:
- Reversed / backwards / returning / about → reversal clue, not anagram
- Hidden / within / inside → hidden-word clue
- Sounds like / say / pronounced → homophone clue
- First / initially / acronym → acrostic clue
These are completely different wordplay types. An anagram indicator only works if you can find the fodder and the answer length matches.
Put it into practice
Next time you hit a stuck cryptic, run through this checklist:
- Scan for an anagram indicator from the list above.
- Identify the fodder (letters adjacent or implied by abbreviations).
- Count: fodder letters = answer length.
- Drop the fodder into the Anagram Solver.
- Pick the result that matches the definition part of the clue.
Five minutes of practice will make you faster than the average cryptic solver at anagram clues specifically.