![]() Solving the Puzzle of Expertise Research.Thinking flexibly is key to crossword solving.‘Rewording the brain‘ – review of David Astle’s book about the cognitive benefits of solving cryptics.Links to other blogs on cryptic crosswords: ![]() You can also click on the ‘cryptic crossword’ category in the right hand panel of the home page. If you’ve enjoyed learning more about cryptic crosswords in this blog article, do dip into any of the other articles we have written before – see links below. From this, it follows that the more the setter can blind-side the unwary solver, the more effective, rewarding and popular their clues will be. Added to this, studies of jokes and humour have found that laughter is associated with the release of endorphins, creating a sense of well-being, pleasure and satisfaction. (Indeed some researchers have suggested that this makes cryptic crosswords ‘better than sex‘!). We have already noted elsewhere that solving a clue to a puzzle can trigger a highly rewarding ‘Aha!’ (or ‘Eureka!’) insight moment, which releases dopamine into the brain. So misdirection is a key ingredient in setting cryptic crossword clues that really pack a punch. The setter can maximise this ‘representational change’ by using ambiguous phonetic, syntactic or semantic forms (for example a noun masquerading as a verb), whimsical definitions and misleading surface readings to send the solver initially off along completely the wrong path. The linguists talk about this moment in terms of ‘ incongruity resolution‘ but here in psychology we talk about ‘representational change‘, as the solver is suddenly forced to reappraise their whole understanding of how the clue works. What does this mean for crossword setting? As with jokes, this results in a satisfying ‘pay-off’, leading to surprise, laughter and the delight of the Penny Drop Moment. This approach leads initially to nagging puzzlement, which is only resolved when alternative explanations are explored. The solver is sucked into a readily available, but false reading of the clue based on some sort of linguistic ambiguity. ![]() ’Įxactly the same mechanism is at work in the cryptic crossword. ‘So, I bought some animal crackers, and the box said: The listener is led down the garden path, following the deliberately laid trap, before the punchline reveals the unexpected, ‘true’ meaning. In fact, jokes and puns share a common mechanism with cryptic crossword clues, since they are all examples of ‘insight puzzles’: a form of mental challenge which briefly exasperates the would-be solver, before suddenly resolving itself in a gloriously satisfying “Aha!” moment.įor example, a punning joke is usually based on two alternative interpretations of a scripted feed-line, one more ‘obvious’ than the other.
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