Puns & Anagrams #5 - PUZ | PDF | PDF (Grayscale) | Solution (PDF)
Back with another Puns & Anagrams puzzle! I hadn't realized it has been so long since I've posted one of these -- three and a half years to be exact. For a quick refresher on P&As:
1) Puns & Anagrams feature a fully interlocking grid, and each answer is an acceptable entry in a standard crossword. Unlike standard block cryptics, where roughly 50% of the squares are checked by crossing entries, P&A grids qualify as standard themeless crossword grids, with a max of 72 entries in the grid. Every square is a part of an across and down entry. This affords solvers many more opportunities to solve an entry than a cryptic does, which helps explain some of the looseness of P&A clues.
2) Anagram clues (which comprise about half of the clues in a P&A) do not include anagram indicators, which are required for cryptics. In addition, homophones of letters (or groups of letters) included in the anagram are fair game. So, the word "sea" could signal a C to be included in the anagram; the word "seize" could signal multiple Cs to be included in the anagram; and "seedy" could signal the letters CD to be included in the anagram. The best anagram clues incorporate an anagram into a natural-reading definitional hint for the entry.
3) While anagram clues will include a definitional hint to the entry, non-anagram clues do not require a definitional hint. Non-anagram clues will include cryptic tropes such as hidden words, reversals, and homophones, as well as more P&A-typical conventions as visual rebuses, puns, and fill-in-the-blanks.
One principle I keep top of mind while writing P&A clues is that no clue in a P&A could be a legitimate clue in a cryptic crossword. I get annoyed when I hear P&As described as "watered-down" or "lesser" cryptics. While certainly as a format Puns & Anagrams is indebted to the cryptic, it stands alone and does its own thing.
Happy solving!
