# Non-English cryptic crosswords? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 18, 2002, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520 "2002-12-18T11:05:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/1 "2002-12-18T11:05:44Z")
Do non-English newspapers or magazines publish cryptic crosswords (i.e. like those in the _Times/Telegraph/Atlantic Monthly_ etc.)? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/2 "2002-12-18T11:15:43Z")
1,4,5,2 One doubts that an idiot changes and ponders needlework. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/3 "2002-12-18T11:28:28Z")
Do you mean non-english-language? Or just non-UK? [_The Globe & Mail_](http://ad.ca.doubleclick.net/adi/www.theglobeandmail.com/crosswords;ed=pe;section=crosswords;adpg=crosswords;loc=hub;kw=;sz=468x60;ord=20021218112543?), Canada’s only reasonably respectable paper, prints a [Cryptic Crossword](http://www.globeandmail.com/crosswords/) every day which will generally take me about three days to complete. How perverse of them. (If the link takes you to a regular crossword, you’ll find a link at the bottom to change it up for the cryptic version – it may be cookie-dependant, I’m not sure.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/4 "2002-12-18T11:42:17Z")
**jjimm** : 5,2,5,3,5 – A county in Southeast England will test you incorrectly. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/5 "2002-12-18T11:46:18Z")
Actually, that’s _too_ cryptic. (I fudged the first word so badly as to make it insoluble.) “Sorry to prove you wrong.” ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/6 "2002-12-18T11:48:28Z")
Yes, I meant non-English-language. I suspect **jjimm** is right. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/7 "2002-12-18T11:55:50Z")
(Mild embarrassment…) Actually, according to [this page](http://www.bollands.demon.co.uk/gbq/GBQ59qs.htm), there is such an animal as a french cryptic crossword: > [@](#): > > Bearing in mind that this appeared in a French cryptic crossword, can you discover the answer to the clue: _Niche de chien!_ (9) Unless they just made it up themselves, which is possible, I guess. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/8 "2002-12-18T11:59:01Z")
I don’t think my clue was very good either. Hey, I only do 'em, and badly at that. I never knew that they had them in France. Anyone know the answer? ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/9 "2002-12-18T14:58:55Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*Anyone know the answer? \*\* To your clue? How about I DON’T THINK SO? 4,4,2,3,3,3 For career advice, ring loses turn before th’ guy Dave pie cook book ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/10 "2002-12-18T15:18:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > **To your clue? How about I DON’T THINK SO?** No, the answer to the French question. > [@](#): > > \*\*4,4,2,3,3,3 For career advice, ring loses turn before th’ guy Dave pie cook book \*\* Cheeky sod! ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/11 "2002-12-18T22:05:51Z")
The answer is on the site **Larry** linked to. An English version of the clue might be A pint of paint? (7) which is what I felt like drinking after reading some of the excruciating clues here. I reckon they made that clue up themselves, though - I’m not sure that the way they’ve worded it would make sense to a French speaker, and I can’t find any other evidence of French-language cryptic crosswords. ---
**Author:** ![Iteki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/eada6e/32.png) [@Iteki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iteki)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2002, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/12 "2002-12-18T22:13:12Z")
They have them in Swedish, they don’t look like english crosswords though, no black spots/pattern. Solid letter grid usually. Can’t really give an example since I can’t solve them with my Swedish. ---
**Author:** ![Popup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@Popup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Popup)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/13 "2002-12-19T08:24:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Iteki \* > \*\*They have them in Swedish, they don’t look like english crosswords though, no black spots/pattern. Solid letter grid usually. Can’t really give an example since I can’t solve them with my Swedish. \*\* It’s true that there are crosswords in sweden, but they are not what youd call a ‘classic English cryptic crossword’. As said, they don’t have the pattern of black boxes. Instead the clues are written inside the unused squares. Which means that the clues have to be **very** short. For a rather typical example, look at [korsord.se](http://www.korsord.se/kryss.asp?kryssid=314) ---
**Author:** ![micilin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@micilin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/micilin)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/14 "2002-12-19T13:32:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > \*\*4,4,2,3,3,3 For career advice, ring loses turn before th’ guy Dave pie cook book \*\* AAAARRRGGHHH!!! WHAT? WTF? What is it? Its bugging the crap out of me. micilin (who used to do cryptic crosswords, but is over it now.) ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/15 "2002-12-19T13:48:24Z")
Well since it gives me a chance to apologise to **jjimm** at the same time, the answer’s DON’T GIVE UP THE DAY JOB (donut loses U, anagram of “th’ guy Dave pie”, Book of Job). Not one of my best. ---
**Author:** ![Omphaloskeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bcef8e/32.png) [@Omphaloskeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omphaloskeptic)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2002, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-english-cryptic-crosswords/143520/16 "2002-12-19T23:22:44Z")
I’ve seen a Latin cryptic, but I doubt that they are very common outside of classical-studies colleges. _sex Romani et unus Britannicus te vehunt ab altero loco ad alterum._