Editing Cryptic crossword (section)

== Regional variation ==

=== British and North American differences ===
There are notable differences between British and North American (including Canadian) cryptics. American cryptics are thought of as holding to a more rigid set of construction rules than British ones. American cryptics usually require all words in a clue to be used in service of the wordplay or definition, whereas British ones allow for more extraneous or supporting words. In American cryptics, a clue is only allowed to have one subsidiary indication, but in British cryptics the occasional clue may have more than one; e.g., a ''triple definition'' clue would be considered an amusing variation in the UK but unsound in the US.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}{{Dubious|date=April 2022}}

=== Other languages ===
[[File:תשבץ ברוך שפתרנו 224.jpg|thumb|Hebrew cryptic crossword]]
For the most part, cryptic crosswords are an [[English-language]] phenomenon, although similar puzzles are popular in a [[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] form in [[Israel]] (where they are called ''tashbetsey higayon'' (תשבצי הגיון) "Logic crosswords")<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.zuckermann.org/cryptic.html|title=One of Dr Ghil'ad Zuckermann's Cryptic Crosswords|access-date=6 September 2008|archive-date=16 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081216114248/http://www.zuckermann.org/cryptic.html|url-status=live}}</ref> and (as ''Cryptogram'')  in [[Dutch language|Dutch]]. In Poland similar crosswords are called "[[Hetman]] crosswords". 'Hetman', a senior commander, and also the name for a [[queen (chess)|queen]] in [[Chess]], emphasises their importance over other crosswords. In [[Finnish language|Finnish]], this type of crossword puzzle is known as ''piilosana'' (literally "hidden word"), while ''krypto'' refers to a crossword puzzle where the letters have been coded as numbers. The [[Germany|German]] ''ZEITmagazin'' has a weekly cryptic crossword called ''Um die Ecke gedacht'' and the ''SZ Magazin'' features ''das Kreuz mit den Worten''.

In India the [[Telugu Language|Telugu]] publication [[Sakshi (newspaper)|Sakshi]] carries a "Tenglish" (Telugu-English, bilingual) cryptic crossword;<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2012/09/how-kishore-solved-tenglish-crossword.html|title=Tenglish crossword|publisher=Crossword Unclued, 29 September 2012.|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=24 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121224220450/http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2012/09/how-kishore-solved-tenglish-crossword.html|url-status=live}}</ref> the [[Prajavani]] and [[Vijaya Karnataka]] crossword ([[Kannada Language|Kannada]]) also employs cryptic wordplay.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2012/08/kannada-crosswords.html|title=Kannada crosswords: Prajavani, Udayavani, Kannada Prabha|publisher=Crossword Unclued, 22 August 2012.|access-date=2 November 2012|archive-date=13 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121213043407/http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2012/08/kannada-crosswords.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Enthusiasts have also created cryptic crosswords in Hindi.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2014/08/prize-hindi-puzzle-winner.html|title=Prize Hindi Puzzle: Here's Our Winner|access-date=16 July 2015|archive-date=16 July 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150716205048/http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2014/08/prize-hindi-puzzle-winner.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Since 1994, ''enigmista'' [[w:it:Ennio Peres|Ennio Peres]] has challenged Italians annually with ''Il cruciverba più difficile del mondo'' (The World's Most Difficult Crossword), which has many features in common with English-style cryptics.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2015/07/22/il-cruciverba-piu-difficile-del-mondo/1893519/|title=Il cruciverba più difficile del mondo|author=Dario De Toffoli|work=Il Fatto Quotidiano|date=22 July 2015|access-date=26 August 2015|archive-date=25 August 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150825075111/http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2015/07/22/il-cruciverba-piu-difficile-del-mondo/1893519/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In Chinese something similar is the [[riddle]] of Chinese characters, where partial characters instead of substrings are clued and combined.