How to Solve a Multi-Layered Cryptic Clue

The Clue

Some of the most satisfying cryptic clues are the ones that layer several wordplay techniques into a single, smooth-reading sentence. They look impossible at first, but once you peel back each layer, the answer clicks into place beautifully.

Here is a real clue that does exactly that:

Reading this clue naturally, you might picture someone losing confidence in a UFO conspiracy story. That vivid surface reading is exactly what the setter wants you to see. Underneath it, four different wordplay devices are working together to spell out the answer. Let's break them down one at a time.

Step-by-Step Breakdown

Step 1 — Spot the Definition: "hoax"

In almost every cryptic clue, the straight definition sits at the very beginning or the very end. Here the last word, "hoax", is the definition. A bluff is a deceptive act — another word for a hoax. That gives us our target answer: BLUFF.

Once you have a candidate answer, the job is to confirm it by showing that the wordplay produces the same five letters. Let's work through the rest of the clue from right to left.

Step 2 — "UFO crop circle" (Deletion)

This fragment contains a neat deletion. The word "crop" is a deletion indicator — to crop something is to cut it away. What are we cropping? The word "circle", which is being cropped from "UFO".

In cryptic crosswords, the letter O is a classic stand-in for "circle" because an O is circular. So "crop circle from UFO" means: remove the letter O from UFO.

UFO − O = UF

Step 3 — "starts to lose faith" (Initial Letters)

The phrase "starts to" is an initial-letters indicator. It tells you to take the first letter of each word that follows. The words that follow are "lose faith":

• Lose → L
• Faith → F

This gives us the letters LF.

Step 4 — "about" (Container)

The word "about" is a container indicator. It tells you that one piece of the wordplay wraps around another. In this clue, the letters from Step 3 (LF) go about — that is, around — the letters from Step 2 (UF):

L(UF)F → LUFF

The L and F sit on the outside, with UF tucked inside. This gives us LUFF.

Step 5 — "A follower" (Alphabet Trick)

We have LUFF so far, and we need a five-letter word. The remaining fragment is "A follower" at the very start of the clue.

This is not about a person who follows something. Read it literally: A follower means "the letter that follows A" in the alphabet. The letter after A is B.

Place B in front of LUFF:

B + LUFF = BLUFF

Techniques Used in This Clue

This single clue packs four distinct wordplay devices into just ten words. Here's a quick reference for each one.

Tips for Tackling Complex Clues

1. Start from the edges. The straight definition is almost always the first or last word (or phrase) in the clue. Identify it first to give yourself a target answer — or at least a category to work with.
2. Scan for indicator words. Words like "about", "broken", "starts to", "crop", and "back" are signposts. Each one points to a specific operation. The more indicators you can spot, the clearer the clue's structure becomes.
3. Work in chunks. Don't try to parse the entire clue at once. Isolate small fragments, figure out what letters each one contributes, and then assemble them. Multi-layered clues are puzzles within puzzles — solve the small pieces first.
4. Reverse-engineer when stuck. If you have a strong guess for the answer (from the definition and the letter count), work backwards. Can you see how the answer's letters could be built from the wordplay? Sometimes confirming an answer is easier than constructing it from scratch.

Frequently Asked Questions