In this thread, we got distracted into a clue-writing challenge. I promised to start a new thread dedicated to the fine art of writing clues, and here it is.
First, some general tips and guidelines on clue-writing:
Use matching parts of speech:
It is absolutely essential that the solver be able to tell the part of speech of the answer word by the phrasing of the clue.
- For synonyms, use nouns to clue nouns, verbs to clue verbs, etc. When in doubt, use the word-substitution test: think of a sentence using the word to be clued, then substitute your clue in to see if it works or not. (For instance, if you clue DOGMATIC with “Express oneself arrogantly,” then try the sample sentence, “Fred is really __,” you’ll see that the clue doesn’t work.)
- If you’re using examples, make sure the part of speech is indicated by the phrasing. For instance, you can clue an adjective by saying “Like a [whatever],” or an adverb by saying “How a [whatever] [does whatever].”
*Make sure you’ve got the right number, tense, etc., when you do have the right part of speech: This includes things like singular vs. plural nouns; present tense vs. past tense verbs; regular vs. comparative or superlative forms of adjectives, etc.
Indicate when the answer word is an abbreviation or short version of a word:
- “Vet” is short for “Veterinarian,” so you can indicate that either by shortening a word in the clue (“Dog’s doc”) or by actually saying so (“Fido’s physician, for short”).
- Use an abbreviation in the clue to indicate that there’s an abbreviation in the answer, or add “abbr.” Note: If the abbreviation is part of a standard title (“Mr. Ed,” “Dr. No”), this isn’t necessary.
- Do not use abbreviations or other shortenings in the clue if there is none in the answer. (“Neighbor of Pennsylvania [not ‘PA’ or ‘Penna.’]” for OHIO; “__ Claire, Wisconsin [not ‘WI’ or ‘Wisc.’]” for EAU.
Clues should read as coherent bits of English:
- In general, do not use an article at the beginning of a clue, but do within a clue. For instance, clue ELM as “Shade tree,” not “A shade tree” – because the clue “A shade tree” would lead to the answer “An elm.” (You’ll catch this if you do the sentence substitution test mentioned above.) On the other hand, do use articles within clues, because they will ordinarily go there. For instance, another possible clue for elm would be “Tree found in an arboretum,” not “Tree found in arboretum.”
- For verbs: although the RH definition starts with “to,” do not use the “to” in the clue. (For ENTER: RH reads “to come or go in,” but clues would be “Come in” or “Go in.”)
Provide some sort of context for a word or phrase if you’re doing a “fill-in-the-blank” clue:
- If you’re doing a quote of some sort, provide enough of the quote for the solver to recognize it (“Over __ and through the trees,” not just “Over __”). Note: Do not use the final period within the quotes even if you’re quoting a full sentence.
- Check the original source to make sure you’re quoting correctly, including possible variant spellings, etc. (It’s “Ol’ Man River,” not “Old Man River”; “That’s all, folks!” needs the comma, etc.)
- If it’s a two-word phrase or title, add some parenthetical info to narrow things down a little. For instance, “ ‘Star __’ ” is way too wide open; make it “ ‘Star __’ (‘60s TV series)” or “ ‘Star __’ (1977 film)” or something like that.
- Remember that if the blank starts the clue, that is considered the first word, so the word following the blank doesn’t get the “start of clue” capitalization (“__ table” for COFFEE, not “__ Table”).
- You may not break compound words for fill-in-the blanks (“Brief__” for CASE is not okay), but you can use the component parts in a mix-or-match fashion (“Word after brief or suit,” for CASE).
- Do a fill-in-the-blank even when there’s only one word aside from the answer word, unless the single word is “A,” “An,” or “The.” Thus: “On __” for BROADWAY; “My __” for SHARONA, etc., but, “Dustin Hoffman movie, with ‘The’” for GRADUATE.
Be sensitive to the difference between general categories and specific examples:
Don’t clue a specific item by naming its category. For instance, you can’t clue “Mascara” by saying “Makeup”; you need to say “Type of makeup,” “Type of eye makeup,” “Cosmetics counter purchase,” or the like. Again – sentence substitution will help you catch these. (By the way, “Makeup” would be an okay clue for “Cosmetics,” since they’re at the same level of generality.)
(Note: “RH” in the above refers to Random House, the unabridged dictionary we use at the puzzle factory)
This is intro to intro to cluing – but it should be enough to get you started on phrasing conventions, etc.
On easy, medium, hard clues:
An easy clue should indicate the answer in a virtually Pavlovian fashion – well-known titles, most famous people with a particular name, etc. A good easy clue is actually really hard to write – if it’s that straight-forward as to be obvious, it’s probably already been done to death.
A medium clue should require a few seconds of thought, but should be solvable by a reasonably savvy individual. Pop culture and current events references are often good for these.
A hard clue either calls for less-common knowlege, or it is phrased in a misleading way. (Most obvious example – using “Nice” in clues for French words, like “Nice summer” for “ete.”) It should leave the solver challenged and feeling good about him-/herself when s/he gets it, not pissed off at its obscurity. This can be a very fine line to walk.
Okay – ready?
Here’s the challange:
Write three to five clues at each difficulty level for STARE.
Here’s the procedure:
Read this OP carefully, and feel free to post any questions you have – but don’t read other people’s posts before posting your own clues. You don’t have to worry about repeating what someone else has done, just work on your own clues.
I’ll keep an eye on things and critique entries as they’re done.
Ladies and gentlemen, sharpen your pencils!