# Crossword Puzzle Anagram **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231 "2015-06-23T12:47:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/1 "2015-06-23T12:47:03Z")
Today’s crossword puzzle contains this clue: “Up-and-comers, and what the circled squares contain.” The solution is “rising stars,” but the circled letters are: l, e, g, i. r, b, e, n, e, d, a, g, e, and v. Those look like an anagram, but I cannot figure out what it is an anagram for. Perhaps the names of stars? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/2 "2015-06-23T13:20:21Z")
Pretty easy, to my eye…yes, it’s an anagram of star names. Vega, Deneb, and Rigel. Not even a strong anagram, just reversed. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/3 "2015-06-23T13:29:52Z")
And they’re reversed because they’re rising: You need to read them from the bottom to the top. It’s not an anagram at all (or rather, only in the trivial sense that every word is its own anagram). ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/4 "2015-06-23T16:51:47Z")
Thanks. Not an anagram but the stars are spelled out in reverse. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/5 "2015-06-23T18:09:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > And they’re reversed because they’re rising: You need to read them from the bottom to the top. How did you figure that they’re going from bottom to top? In the OP, they’re going right-to-left. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/6 "2015-06-23T18:33:30Z")
shouldn’t it be: riatla bened agev ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/7 "2015-06-23T19:46:16Z")
The groups in the three words, solving the clues, are: “legir.” “bened,” and “agev” nicely spelling the names of the stars rigel, deneb and vega when read in reverse order of the letters. I don’t know what K364 is driving at with “riatia”? Is aitair a name of a star above deneb in the heavens? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/8 "2015-06-23T19:49:44Z")
(ETA: WARNING. Link contains spoiler, i.e. complete solve, of today’s LA Times crossword puzzle.) [Here’s what the actual layout looks like](http://www.laxcrossword.com/2015/06/la-times-crossword-answers-23-jun-15.html), if anyone is interested. There are three vertical groupings of circles. From top-to-bottom, they are LEGIR, BENED, and AGEV. So each star is its own vertical grouping of circles, and each star is spelled from bottom-to-top (so, backwards and hence “rising.”) ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/9 "2015-06-23T20:12:27Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > The groups in the three words, solving the clues, are: “legir.” “bened,” and “agev” nicely spelling the names of the stars rigel, deneb and vega when read in reverse order of the letters. I don’t know what K364 is driving at with “riatia”? Is aitair a name of a star above deneb in the heavens? It’s Altair. Vega, Deneb, and Altair form the Summer Triangle. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/10 "2015-06-23T21:02:12Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > It’s Altair. Vega, Deneb, and Altair form the Summer Triangle. Thanks. I misread the post. That would have been a better solution than the one given, but crossword puzzle makers have their limitations. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/11 "2015-06-23T23:35:53Z")
I was going to ask where you were from, since standard American style puzzles don’t do anagrams, but cryptics do. However they do have tricks like the answers rising, so the answer is in keeping with standard clues. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/12 "2015-06-24T19:10:04Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I was going to ask where you were from, since standard American style puzzles don’t do anagrams, but cryptics do. However they do have tricks like the answers rising, so the answer is in keeping with standard clues. I’ve seen hidden words (such as in that puzzle) that contain anagrams in the puzzles syndicated by the NY Times. Thus, my mindset was to look for anagrams. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzle-anagram/723231/13 "2015-06-24T19:30:12Z")
> [@barbitu8](#): > > I’ve seen hidden words (such as in that puzzle) that contain > anagrams in the puzzles syndicated by the NY Times. Thus, my mindset was to look for anagrams. Yeah, I’ve seen it too in that type of puzzle. Anagrams are not normally used in the English style for regular clues, but they do appear sometimes as part of a larger thematic puzzle, like the offbeat Thursday New York Times puzzles.