Anagram Indicators

The typical anagram clue in a cryptic crossword consists of three parts: a definition, an anagram indicator, and the anagram fodder (the letters to be shuffled).

For example:

Do legal owners free birds? (4-5,4)

Anagram fodder: Do legal owners
Anagram indicator: free
Definition: birds

The ability to recognise anagram indicators - FREE, FRESH, NOVEL, RESORT, NUTS, IN A WHIRL, AT SEA, etc. - is one of the essential skills of a cryptic crossworder.

The list of anagram indicators presented here is by no means intended to be exhaustive, but it should provide information about almost all the anagram indicators that you are likely to encounter in a cryptic crossword.

Clicking on a letter in the grid below will take you to a list of anagram indicators beginning with that letter. All the anagram indicators listed are hyperlinked, and clicking on them will take you to a page illustrating their use.