Letters on the move
Anagrams
An anagrind (mixed, broken, wild, novel…) sits beside letters you must rearrange. The definition is elsewhere in the clue.
Anagrams reward a quick count. If the fodder’s letter count matches the enumeration, start shuffling before you chase rarer devices.
Good surfaces hide the anagrind in ordinary English (“novel”, “broken”, “drunk”, “strange”), so you are looking for a word that means disorder, not a crossword neon sign.
Common anagrinds
Any word that suggests disorder, change, or cooking can rearrange neighbouring letters. A short sample:
| Indicator | Flavour |
|---|---|
| novel / unusual / strange / odd | Something new or unexpected |
| broken / smashed / wrecked / damaged | Physical disorder |
| mixed / jumbled / muddled / scrambled | Letters stirred |
| drunk / tipsy / wild / mad / crazy | Out of sorts |
| cooked / stewed / mashed / ground | Kitchen chaos |
| arranged / organised / reformed | Deliberate reordering |
| badly / awry / out of order | Gone wrong |
Things to watch
- Enumerate first: fodder letters must equal the answer length.
- Write the fodder in a circle; it beats staring at a straight line.
- Anagrinds can sit before or after the fodder.
Worked example
Novel idea for a helper (4)