Lesson 1 of 8
Anagrams
Shuffle the letters.
An anagram clue has three parts: the fodder (the letters you shuffle), the indicator (the word telling you to shuffle them), and the definition. The fodder always has exactly as many letters as the answer, so count first.
Indicators are words that suggest disorder, movement or change. Anything broken, mixed, wild, drunk, odd, new, out, off or rearranged is a candidate. With practice you stop reading the surface and start spotting them instantly.
Once you have the fodder, write the letters in a circle or a rough grid rather than in a line. Your eye finds new words far faster when the original order is gone.
Words that give it away
- broken
- mixed
- wild
- oddly
- rearranged
- out
- confused
- drunk
- scrambled
- new
Worked examples
Notes rearranged for a rock (5)
- 01“A rock” sits at the end, so try it as the definition: a five-letter word for a rock.
- 02“Rearranged” is an anagram indicator, and it points at NOTES, which has five letters, so that looks promising.
- 03Shuffle N, O, T, E and S and you get STONE, which is a rock, so both halves of the clue agree.
STONE
Planet with a broken heart (5)
- 01“Planet” at the start is the definition.
- 02“Broken” indicates an anagram of HEART, five letters.
- 03E, A, R, T and H rearrange to EARTH, which is a planet.
EARTH
Try one Bunny slope
Lame rearranged for food (4)