@callumross6920 For that to work, you'd need either an insertion or anagram indicator - clues won't have you rearranging the letters of the answer components without telling you to do so. "In" would be an obvious insertion indicator, but it can't be both that _and_ wordplay fodder (as in the parts being combined to make an h). As for the idea of making an h from i and n: it's a novel and creative idea! Cryptic setters will sometimes do something a little unusual like that (I still remember my dad's friend being furious when an answer was "2000", with the zeros counting as Os in crossing words), but a) I think it's probably unlikely in Minute Cryptic, and b) I think in general anything that depends on lowercase letters would probably be avoided, since when filling actual crosswords, solvers tend to use ALL-CAPS to avoid any inconsistencies caused by the capitals in Title Case words crossing the middle of other words (though Minute Cryptic does use lowercase text for the solution). Regarding "chat" as a potential answer aside from that: it almost works as a double definition, since "chat" is the French for "cat", but I don't think a non-naturalized foreign word would be used without some sort of indicator. Maybe something like "Talk to foreign cat".
Same here. I thought joins was indicating that I had to join them up somehow. Even when I got that cat was the definition, I was trying to think what else cat could mean outside of types of cat. My brain was not working today and I did not go to big cat 😂
Ah, who knew ‘in conversation’ was a homophone indicator?! This is why you are the first person ever to get me understanding the black art of the cryptic crossword. Magnificent.
My first instinct was "chat", but couldn't work out where I could get a letter 'h'. It took me a while to start thinking of different types of cats, but I could only manage "lion", "puma", "Manx" with the right number of letters. Even when I had broken down the clue correctly, I still struggled to find the right word.
Really tough one. I haven’t used a hint for over a month now, had to use 2 today. Didn’t even think of ‘in conversation’ as a homophone indicator. And I normally pick up on 99% of them. Good clue.
Wow, this was quite a challenge! At first, I was fixated on “Chat,” but that didn’t work, then I tried “talk” and other options. Finally, it hit me to think of four-letter animals, and “Lynx” came in at number three, though somewhat reluctantly as I didn’t have much to go on. But here I am, understanding the reasoning of the crossword clue. Such a brilliant clue again!
This one did me over real good. Totally missed conversation as a homophone indicator. Just spent ages trying to work out how I could find a word for “join” that could go inside a word for “conversation”; or somehow find a word linked to “join” in the word “conversation”. Unsuccessfully! Toughie
I was everywhere on this: lion, puss, chat… I even went for a different take on “cat” with dude, chap! Had to find synonyms for joins… then I got it. Tough but very satisfying
I was convinced it was chat! Joining the i an n of in to an h. This one really had me stumped! Needed the hint and the letter to get it, and the explanation to GET it! I usually score under par, not on this one. Nice job! Unlocked a new flag for wordplay 😄
From their own website: Definition: one or more words that have a direct synonym which is the answer. The definition always appears at the beginning or end of the clue. Direct synonym. Lynx isn’t a synonym for cat.
Synonyms of joins was the key for me. Hadn’t figured out that conversation was a homophone indicator but when I mentally got to lynx I realised it couldn’t be anything else.
I'm adding 'in conversation' to the growing list of other rules I had no idea about which might have helped solve this. No idea with this one (chat, etc), especially when you play without knowing one of the major rules!
Pretty new to this. Confused because I thought we had to use certain letter from the clue. Often it is explained but here the fodder was not explained. Anyone?
Yeah, that exact sequence for me, too. "Lion" is an obvious choice as the archetypal bug cat, and for a moment I thought the homophone was "lyin'", because maybe that had something to do with conversation, but a) that's spurious, and b) I was forgetting that "conversation" was part of the indicator and therefore nothing to do with the definition. Then I think my mind looked for something physically similar - "tiger" doesn't fit, "puma" does, but it doesn't sound like anything. Then I got it.
First ever clue with a homophone signpost I've been able to play in minute cryptic! I've seen it mentioned only in the tutorial on the site, so I'm happy to have encountered it in an actual clue. 1 over par though, but with experience and more of these, I can definitely recognize it in the future.
Yes, it's really all about experience. In part because you'll see literally the exact same indicators used again, but also because you start to learn the language of cryptics. You start to get a sense for the kinds of things that can be indicators, and you also start to get a sense for the shape of a clue, which can help you narrow down the potential ways of breaking it up into its component parts. Which isn't to say that they won't continue to frequently stump you! At least, they do stump me, and I've been doing them for a good few years now.
@@TheJamesM Exactly! I've been doing these for around 3 months so far and my intuition with the game is only getting better. My specialty is recognizing anagram indicators cus' they're the most fun signposts for me hehe
My biggest struggle seems to be knowing when to play with the word fodder as given or look for a synonym. Cuz here I am trying to find cat breeds that rhyme with joins.
The answer for this could easily be ‘chat’, which what I thought it was. In this answer ‘conversation’ is the definition, taking ‘cat’ and visually joining the letters ‘I’ and ‘n’ to get the letter ‘h’ which is then joined with ‘cat’ to get ‘chat’. Would have never got lynx.
Obvious in hindsight, but I'm not yet at the point where I can think of all the different word play indicators and go 'hey, "in conversation" could be a homophone indicator', so this was one over par! I did try going through cats, but after lion and tiger I'd somehow run out of cat ideas, even though I even know the Latin name for Lynx lynx.
Been doing crosswords since the pandemic. Got this by just listing words I thought might fit the definition. Even if I was unsure what the definition was. Not pressed play yet. This will be interesting.
A very tricky one…. I was fixed on finding a four letter the word for conversation by trying to join ‘cat’ and ‘in’ with no luck…. Chat/talk/tete all failed until i tried in for a kind of cat…got1 under par, but explanation totally got me… a very tough nut nut to crack😇
Completely missed the homophone Indicator and was looking at synonyms for conversation. I had to take a letter for this one. Got it eventually but that was a toughie!
Lovely clue! My first thought was "chat" though it immediately struck me it wouldn't work for this clue and would need to be something like 'French cat in conversation', and then tried a bunch till I got to lynx!
Didn't get "in conversation" as a homophone indicator right away (though in retrospect, it's totally fair play), but for this I just had to run through ever 4-letter cat name... and then thought, I need something that either ends, or *sounds* like it ends, with an "s" to mirror how "joins" ends (I'd figured "joins" wasn't an indicator at that point.) And the two that fit the bill were "manx" and "lynx"... and then I checked to see if either of those worked as something that sounds like a synonym for "joins," which made me realize what "in conversation" was getting at.
I was convinced the definition was Conversation and the Wordplay was Cat joins in. Hint, showed me otherwise and I had to Google types of cats cause after Lion and Puss I was out. Head in hands after watching the explanation 😂
Went over my head and bounced off the wall. Only got lynx because it fitted with the revealed letters. Didn't get why until watching this, not my finest day!
I feel like this is one of those clues that feels a lot harder if you're less experienced. Of course, they're all probably easier with a bit of experience, but I think it's particularly the case with something like this. After having seen enough clues, "in conversation" becomes one of those phrases that quite quickly leaps out at you as a potential wordplay indicator, and from there it's just a matter of trying a few synonyms for the definition (though it's always tricky if you draw a blank on synonyms - somtimes the brain just won't co-operate!). But without that experience, I can see how this could be really baffling. My message for people who found this particularly difficult: keep at it! Eventually you'll develop a familiarity for all this kind of thing, and whole categoried of clue will become much easier for you.
Other than watching the videos on this channel (which are great), is there a book or some other method you would recommend to get better at solving cryptic clues?
There are sites where amateurs post mini cryptics (5x5, etc.) Those can help. If you can't solve, then press the autosolve and examine each answer and work backwords.
I'm new to this and I don't fully understand the "rules". I got CHAT. The H comes from IN, homophone for INN as in Hotel which abbreviates to H. And then CAT joins H -> CHAT, which is a synonym for conversation.
I got stuck on “lash” for a while since lashing things together is joining them, and a cat [o’ ninetails] is a type of lash. Some might say that’s a valid alternative solution, but homophone indicators in crosswords usually require the words be spelled differently which wouldn’t be the case for lash.
I was convinced it was chat, and didnt believe when it told me no! Then guessed different cats and had a double take when it told me lynx was correct. Took me a slightly embarrasingly long time to work out how it met the clue...
completely missed the homophone indicator, not bad at all if you see it but i was completely stumped, even having solved it, until i watched the explanation. i also feel validated that lion and puma were the two cats you thought of first as well because lynx didnt come to me until i revealed a letter
Gotta call bullshit on this one. They’re almost always synonyms, no? Isn’t the rule to find a synonym for the definition? Lynx is a type of cat not a synonym for cat. And who other than a woodsman or zookeeper would think of lynx. Bad construction here.
I did not pick up on the homophone indicator at all. I thought I had to try to join cat and in together to make a word for conversation which obviously didn't work so I then after using the hint just put random 4 letter cat breeds until got lynx and came here for explanation
This one stumped me. Adding "in conversation" to the toolbox. Forgetting to look for anagram indicators and homophone indicators is still my most common downfall.
I think CHAT is as good an answer. You could argue that for "chat" something should be added to the clue to suggest French, but I found the homophone indicator here for "lynx" to be so oblique as to be practically nonexistent.
liked this one even though it was hard. "joins" seems so much like wordplay I couldn't get off it. thought "In" could have been stretch wordplay for an "h" (it looks like an h) giving "cat" joined with "in" for chat. also this sense of the word "join" was far from mind. nice one!
Absolutely no idea on this one.
Chat? French for cat!
@@kapa4163thats what I did lol
@@kapa4163my dad did that haha
And me
Glad I wasn’t the only one without a clue!
I was SO confident that the word was "chat". Then just had to go through 4-letter cats. Had no idea why it was the answer until I watched the video 😅
my girlfriend thought so too: getting the h from joining “In” as in connecting the two letters to make an “h” then adding cat
Me also! Was so sure it was chat. When it wasn't, was completely stumped 😞
Tried it over and over in case it was glitching.😅
same, i needed a hint and started guessing cats that could fit
@callumross6920 For that to work, you'd need either an insertion or anagram indicator - clues won't have you rearranging the letters of the answer components without telling you to do so. "In" would be an obvious insertion indicator, but it can't be both that _and_ wordplay fodder (as in the parts being combined to make an h).
As for the idea of making an h from i and n: it's a novel and creative idea! Cryptic setters will sometimes do something a little unusual like that (I still remember my dad's friend being furious when an answer was "2000", with the zeros counting as Os in crossing words), but a) I think it's probably unlikely in Minute Cryptic, and b) I think in general anything that depends on lowercase letters would probably be avoided, since when filling actual crosswords, solvers tend to use ALL-CAPS to avoid any inconsistencies caused by the capitals in Title Case words crossing the middle of other words (though Minute Cryptic does use lowercase text for the solution).
Regarding "chat" as a potential answer aside from that: it almost works as a double definition, since "chat" is the French for "cat", but I don't think a non-naturalized foreign word would be used without some sort of indicator. Maybe something like "Talk to foreign cat".
think this might be harder than the "absolutely brutal" one
Fr 😂😂😂😂 I failed both though lol
I agree. Got this from guessing.
Facts.
the 'absolutely brutal' one made more sense to me than this honestly
Absolutely agree!
“If you don’t know what you’re doing…” - he’s talking about me!
I was completely stumped by this one . Convinced myself that "cat joins in" was the wordplay
Same here. I thought joins was indicating that I had to join them up somehow. Even when I got that cat was the definition, I was trying to think what else cat could mean outside of types of cat. My brain was not working today and I did not go to big cat 😂
Ah, who knew ‘in conversation’ was a homophone indicator?! This is why you are the first person ever to get me understanding the black art of the cryptic crossword. Magnificent.
@@alisonhudson4269 that one is a real test of one’s experience to the crosswords..😵💫
Oh, I just thought MEOW and thought I'd nailed it
My first instinct was "chat", but couldn't work out where I could get a letter 'h'. It took me a while to start thinking of different types of cats, but I could only manage "lion", "puma", "Manx" with the right number of letters. Even when I had broken down the clue correctly, I still struggled to find the right word.
I thought "joins" might be a reference to how H looks visually
Me too 😊
omg having “in conversation” as a homophone indicator was so sneaky!!! i swear the eureka moment will always be unmatched - 2 under par woo!!
Really tough one. I haven’t used a hint for over a month now, had to use 2 today. Didn’t even think of ‘in conversation’ as a homophone indicator. And I normally pick up on 99% of them. Good clue.
Wow, this was quite a challenge! At first, I was fixated on “Chat,” but that didn’t work, then I tried “talk” and other options. Finally, it hit me to think of four-letter animals, and “Lynx” came in at number three, though somewhat reluctantly as I didn’t have much to go on. But here I am, understanding the reasoning of the crossword clue. Such a brilliant clue again!
Exactly the same path as you!!!
Lion, puma being 1 and 2😂
We all did the same thing!
This one did me over real good. Totally missed conversation as a homophone indicator. Just spent ages trying to work out how I could find a word for “join” that could go inside a word for “conversation”; or somehow find a word linked to “join” in the word “conversation”. Unsuccessfully! Toughie
Personally this was so much harder than yesterdays, but once I got it (with too many hints) ... yeah, nah, this was way harder than yesterday's for me
Learning all the time. Thanks
This was the hardest so far - used the hint and letters. Tried Chat or lion
I tried chat! I feel like it would have been very satisfying, working on a few levels
Sometimes the short answers are the toughest. This is one of those cases.
i was thinking yarn, like spin up a conversation and cats like yarn … 🙃
This one was really tricky! Didn't even consider 'conversation' to be a homophone indicator, I should know better by now 😅
I was everywhere on this: lion, puss, chat… I even went for a different take on “cat” with dude, chap! Had to find synonyms for joins… then I got it.
Tough but very satisfying
I was convinced it was chat! Joining the i an n of in to an h. This one really had me stumped! Needed the hint and the letter to get it, and the explanation to GET it! I usually score under par, not on this one. Nice job! Unlocked a new flag for wordplay 😄
From their own website: Definition: one or more words that have a direct synonym which is the answer. The definition always appears at the beginning or end of the clue.
Direct synonym. Lynx isn’t a synonym for cat.
this was the first I was able to solve! with a few letter reveals but I figured it out with the phrase and not trial and error :D
Synonyms of joins was the key for me. Hadn’t figured out that conversation was a homophone indicator but when I mentally got to lynx I realised it couldn’t be anything else.
I'm adding 'in conversation' to the growing list of other rules I had no idea about which might have helped solve this. No idea with this one (chat, etc), especially when you play without knowing one of the major rules!
chat definitely would've been more satisfying, being a three in one
Pretty new to this. Confused because I thought we had to use certain letter from the clue. Often it is explained but here the fodder was not explained. Anyone?
I was convinced this was chat with the J in Joins In linking up with H - HIJ.
I was convinced it would be chat - French for cat and a conversation
LOL
Are you reading my mind? I literally thought Lion, then Puma and finally Lynx
Yeah, that exact sequence for me, too. "Lion" is an obvious choice as the archetypal bug cat, and for a moment I thought the homophone was "lyin'", because maybe that had something to do with conversation, but a) that's spurious, and b) I was forgetting that "conversation" was part of the indicator and therefore nothing to do with the definition. Then I think my mind looked for something physically similar - "tiger" doesn't fit, "puma" does, but it doesn't sound like anything. Then I got it.
Lion > Puma > Lynx. The exact order of guesses I made when solving this. 😂
First ever clue with a homophone signpost I've been able to play in minute cryptic! I've seen it mentioned only in the tutorial on the site, so I'm happy to have encountered it in an actual clue. 1 over par though, but with experience and more of these, I can definitely recognize it in the future.
Yes, it's really all about experience. In part because you'll see literally the exact same indicators used again, but also because you start to learn the language of cryptics. You start to get a sense for the kinds of things that can be indicators, and you also start to get a sense for the shape of a clue, which can help you narrow down the potential ways of breaking it up into its component parts.
Which isn't to say that they won't continue to frequently stump you! At least, they do stump me, and I've been doing them for a good few years now.
@@TheJamesM Exactly! I've been doing these for around 3 months so far and my intuition with the game is only getting better. My specialty is recognizing anagram indicators cus' they're the most fun signposts for me hehe
@@Sispyhi Haha yeah, I definitely went through a phase where pretty much anything was a potential anagram indicator (because a great many things are!)
My biggest struggle seems to be knowing when to play with the word fodder as given or look for a synonym. Cuz here I am trying to find cat breeds that rhyme with joins.
I could have sworn it's TALE.
cats have Tails. Joined onto them! When you have a conversation you may tell a tale. And it's a homophone!
That would've been a good one
Chat was my first guess but finally remembered settled on links/lynx because I remembered the "in conversation" bit
The answer for this could easily be ‘chat’, which what I thought it was. In this answer ‘conversation’ is the definition, taking ‘cat’ and visually joining the letters ‘I’ and ‘n’ to get the letter ‘h’ which is then joined with ‘cat’ to get ‘chat’. Would have never got lynx.
I knew it was joins in conversation, i even said links a 100 times. No frickin idea i was naming cats. The win here is that I did get the clue.
I was trying to make “CHAT” (synonym for conversation and contains the word CAT) work for the longest time.
Wrote down links and didn’t see it! Needed two letters…
I also guessed lion and puma first.
Glad it was lynx, I was running out of 4 letter cats! 😅
Puss?
Obvious in hindsight, but I'm not yet at the point where I can think of all the different word play indicators and go 'hey, "in conversation" could be a homophone indicator', so this was one over par! I did try going through cats, but after lion and tiger I'd somehow run out of cat ideas, even though I even know the Latin name for Lynx lynx.
Took me longer than I hoped - I didn’t peg cat as the definition at first. Once I clocked that, it solved itself pretty quickly
I got even par but never figured out the wordplay. Somehow missed "in conversation" as an indicator
Oh my god I’m never going to be able to do a whole cryptic crossword! I thought conversation was the definition 😫
I have the WNBA to thank for my knowledge of this specific breed of cat.
Been playing for several months now. Had no idea on this one. Needed two letters and still couldn’t find the wordplay
Ow! This one was tough. 4 letter cat words got me there and then I groaned 😅
This was a brutal clue that I got completely wrong
Took two letters and a clue for this one. Tough stuff!
Been doing crosswords since the pandemic. Got this by just listing words I thought might fit the definition. Even if I was unsure what the definition was. Not pressed play yet. This will be interesting.
Urgh, homophones. The worst kind of crossword clue.
A very tricky one…. I was fixed on finding a four letter the word for conversation by trying to join ‘cat’ and ‘in’ with no luck…. Chat/talk/tete all failed until i tried in for a kind of cat…got1 under par, but explanation totally got me… a very tough nut nut to crack😇
I immediately got “chat” which very nearly works
3 mins! No clues needed! 23 hours 57 mins to wait for the next
Brilliant clue, so few words, so many meanings/options... I also tried lion and puma... As well as ChAT
Completely missed the homophone Indicator and was looking at synonyms for conversation. I had to take a letter for this one. Got it eventually but that was a toughie!
Got this one in a few minutes, redeemed myself somewhat after yesterday’s melt down.😊
Lovely clue! My first thought was "chat" though it immediately struck me it wouldn't work for this clue and would need to be something like 'French cat in conversation', and then tried a bunch till I got to lynx!
Yes! The French twist seemed so compelling.
Didn't get "in conversation" as a homophone indicator right away (though in retrospect, it's totally fair play), but for this I just had to run through ever 4-letter cat name... and then thought, I need something that either ends, or *sounds* like it ends, with an "s" to mirror how "joins" ends (I'd figured "joins" wasn't an indicator at that point.) And the two that fit the bill were "manx" and "lynx"... and then I checked to see if either of those worked as something that sounds like a synonym for "joins," which made me realize what "in conversation" was getting at.
been doing these for a bit, but this one made me feel like I've never done one before😅
I thought of ChAT and I was so happy
I needed to watch the majority of this video to catch on and solve it lmao
I continue to struggle! Got it based on types of cat, with a letter. Had to listen to the explanation.
I was convinced the definition was Conversation and the Wordplay was Cat joins in.
Hint, showed me otherwise and I had to Google types of cats cause after Lion and Puss I was out.
Head in hands after watching the explanation 😂
Even after showing all letters I couldn't figure it out. Guess I'll have to try again tomorrow
And I was confident it was going to be meow
Went over my head and bounced off the wall. Only got lynx because it fitted with the revealed letters. Didn't get why until watching this, not my finest day!
I feel like this is one of those clues that feels a lot harder if you're less experienced. Of course, they're all probably easier with a bit of experience, but I think it's particularly the case with something like this. After having seen enough clues, "in conversation" becomes one of those phrases that quite quickly leaps out at you as a potential wordplay indicator, and from there it's just a matter of trying a few synonyms for the definition (though it's always tricky if you draw a blank on synonyms - somtimes the brain just won't co-operate!). But without that experience, I can see how this could be really baffling.
My message for people who found this particularly difficult: keep at it! Eventually you'll develop a familiarity for all this kind of thing, and whole categoried of clue will become much easier for you.
Other than watching the videos on this channel (which are great), is there a book or some other method you would recommend to get better at solving cryptic clues?
There are sites where amateurs post mini cryptics (5x5, etc.) Those can help. If you can't solve, then press the autosolve and examine each answer and work backwords.
@@TerryBrennan-d8m thanks.
I'm continually confounded by how opposite I am to the crowd with these, I really liked this one but yesterdays was a disaster
i guessed link but couldn’t piece that cat was the definition or that in conversation was an an homophone indicator
WTH
there’s so much to learn!!!! 😅
I'm new to this and I don't fully understand the "rules". I got CHAT. The H comes from IN, homophone for INN as in Hotel which abbreviates to H. And then CAT joins H -> CHAT, which is a synonym for conversation.
I got stuck on “lash” for a while since lashing things together is joining them, and a cat [o’ ninetails] is a type of lash. Some might say that’s a valid alternative solution, but homophone indicators in crosswords usually require the words be spelled differently which wouldn’t be the case for lash.
I immediately thought of Chat (French word for Cat). Then got Lynx / Links after being prompted.
I also got definition and word play backwards. Got it finally with a hint and letter. 😢
I was convinced it was chat, and didnt believe when it told me no! Then guessed different cats and had a double take when it told me lynx was correct. Took me a slightly embarrasingly long time to work out how it met the clue...
Don’t get where conversation comes into this?
Guessed lynx not expecting it to actually be the answer lol. 2 under 👍
Brute forced my way through this. Then tried to figure out why it worked.
I was convinced the website was down when it wouldn't accept CHAT
I guessed alot and got lucky..
I was trying desperately to find a h so I could make chat from cat, assuming conversation was the definition. 😂
completely missed the homophone indicator, not bad at all if you see it but i was completely stumped, even having solved it, until i watched the explanation. i also feel validated that lion and puma were the two cats you thought of first as well because lynx didnt come to me until i revealed a letter
Used 2 letter hints and the thesaurus. Really difficult
I thought conversation was the definition so went with ‘chat’, the French word for cat 😂
What about those of us who are familiar with cryptic crosswords AND don't know what we're doing? 😭🙋♀️
I’m thinking lash.
Ok yeah lynx. Got it. Fair enough
Was thinking
Cat’o’nine tales-lash
Join together-lash
Is there a list of wordplay indicators somewhere? I would never ever think that in conversation is a homophone one?
Google "cryptic homophone indicators"
Or "cryptic anagram indicators" etc.
Gotta call bullshit on this one. They’re almost always synonyms, no? Isn’t the rule to find a synonym for the definition? Lynx is a type of cat not a synonym for cat. And who other than a woodsman or zookeeper would think of lynx. Bad construction here.
I did not pick up on the homophone indicator at all. I thought I had to try to join cat and in together to make a word for conversation which obviously didn't work so I then after using the hint just put random 4 letter cat breeds until got lynx and came here for explanation
Should have been a par 3. Nice one today. That's a win streak of 60. Never thought I'd get so into these. Keep em coming.
The hardest one to date!
This one stumped me. Adding "in conversation" to the toolbox. Forgetting to look for anagram indicators and homophone indicators is still my most common downfall.
I got it but didn't know how until I saw this explanation
Yikes! First time I’ve gone over par. Very clever clue.
Wow, that's an obscure homophone indicator
This is a dad joke-level clue.
Thought it was a double definition for 'chat', which is French?
I think CHAT is as good an answer. You could argue that for "chat" something should be added to the clue to suggest French, but I found the homophone indicator here for "lynx" to be so oblique as to be practically nonexistent.
oh COME ON
liked this one even though it was hard. "joins" seems so much like wordplay I couldn't get off it. thought "In" could have been stretch wordplay for an "h" (it looks like an h) giving "cat" joined with "in" for chat. also this sense of the word "join" was far from mind. nice one!
I got Linx from cat and joins but the 'in conversation' part stumped me until I watched this video.