Lesson 6 of 8
Reversals
Read it backwards.
A reversal clue gives you a word, tells you to turn it around, and defines the result. The indicator is any word about going backwards: back, returning, sent back, reversed, in retreat, in retrospect. In a down clue it can also be up, rising or climbing.
As with homophones, the word you reverse is usually clued rather than written. “Pot sent back for a snooze” never shows you PAN; you find it from “pot”, then send it back to get NAP.
Reversals love short words, because far more of them read as something else backwards: pots and stop, lager and regal, live and evil, loot and tool. When a clue feels like it has only two parts and one of them means backwards, you are probably looking at one.
Words that give it away
- back
- returning
- sent back
- reversed
- over
- up
- in retreat
- in retrospect
- poured back
Worked examples
Pot sent back for a snooze (3)
- 01“Sent back” is the indicator, so the word before it gets reversed.
- 02“Pot” is PAN, and PAN backwards is NAP.
- 03“A snooze” is a NAP, so the definition sits at the end.
NAP
Beer poured back is royal (5)
- 01“Poured back” fits the beer in the surface and signals the reversal at the same time.
- 02“Beer” is LAGER, and LAGER reversed is REGAL.
- 03“Royal” defines REGAL, and “is” is just a link.
REGAL
Try one Bunny slope
Animals coming back for a stride (4)