Lowdown Cryptic

Makes us feel like "he may be better at solving the stuffy London Sunday Times crossword, but I'm actually better than him at Minute Cryptic!"

I know, the whole thing makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time!

YouTube video by Cracking The Cryptic MinuteCryptic in a Minute - 7th February 2026

For anyone wanting to feel better about their #MinuteCryptic skills, here's Simon from the distinguished "Cracking the Cryptic" channel being completely baffled by yesterday's clue for 5 minutes! 😀

Friends, thank you for all the lovely constructive feedback you've given to my little cryptic clue side project.

I'm happy to announce that it has now 'graduated' out of a subpath of my blog into a life of its own.

Say hello ... to Cryptick! ✅

cryptick.wildvale.co.uk

Solved! Lots of good stuff in there. I knew there was a theme but I couldn’t spot what it was so I revealed that at the end. Well done!

Yes, letter bank clues started in the US and are mainly found in North American cryptics, but awareness has been growing (the way it does from ANSWER!)

There's a Kiwi guy who picked them up from me years ago on Twitter, but he's not on Bluesky

I'm hoping to get one featured on Minute Cryptic...

Letter Bank clues are well-known in North American cryptics but not so much elsewhere (I've been "spreading the word!")

Start by reading my thread below, incl. the part about "expanding" and "collapsing" LB clues ↔️ (btw, "raw material" was just my own term for fodder)

"Like" the clues you solve!

Well done! Is that the first Letter Bank cryptic clue you've seen/solved? You can find many more of mine with the #LowdownLetterBank hashtag 😎

I don't think it matters between those options in terms of trustworthiness. For something non-commercial, and to appeal outside the UK, I like the feel of .net (but .com is still the most "impressive"-sounding). Really, any of those would be fine!

A very tricky #letterbank #crypticclue for #GroundhogDay:

Put away "Season's Greetings" letters, but toss "Groundhog Day" letters in the recycling? (2,7)

Get a hint and reveals letters here:
www.wildvale.co.uk/guess/index....

Solve it, and create your own!

Iran rally in Toronto with Persian flags

Iran rally in Toronto with display showing 43,000 people killed in Iran during recent protests

Iran rally in Toronto with Persian flags and an Israeli flag

Iran rally in Toronto with Persian and Canadian flags

Huge rally in downtown #Toronto today against oppression in Iran

A sea of Persian flags, with some Canadian and Israeli flags mixed in

#IranProtests #IranRevolution2026

Nice! But when you click "Share this clue" it should display a little message like "Clue details copied to clipboard"

And in the copied clue details, add a promo line below the clue saying "Solve it and create your own!"

I solved a clue on Guess The Clue!

Giant firing a gun at Gran (10)

Solve it and create your own!

www.wildvale.co.uk/guess/#R2lhb...

Illustration of "How a Zamboni works", with labelled components and brief descriptions

Here's a good illustration of the water-spraying, axial, ice-resurfacing components – including the squeegee:

Photo of a Zamboni driving on an ice rink, with text below: The Zamboni Frank J. Zamboni invented the eponymous, oval-doing, water-spraying, axial ice resurfacer Built it with a good old squeegee Scrabblegram (100 tiles) Blanks: G, N

With the #WinterOlympics starting next week, enjoy my #Zamboni #Scrabblegram from 3 years ago ⛸️

It was invented in California by an Italian-American (born in Eureka, Utah!) but it feels Canadian to me, since we have the most ice rinks of any country 🇨🇦

#Scrabble #Skating #Hockey
#MilanoCortina2026

This was the final clue from Lowdown Letter Banks (LLB), my series of 650 #letterbank #crypticclue #puzzles 😎

Starting hint: a-- -- -- --- -- f----

View clue thread for the answer ⬇️

Keep coming back for more! I repost LLB clues certain Thursdays, and many other cryptic or similar things...

Author would be good, but don't really need much more with the clue. Another feature could be a 'Share' button after solving. It would give you something like "I solved this cryptic clue on Guess The Clue! [clue URL] Give it a try and create your own!" with a 'Copy to clipboard' for easy posting.

Cool! Nice to see the "hint" and "reveal letter" features now. I'm already thinking about what the next iteration should have!

Extra S there, but “Trump namesake” would work

Here's the penultimate #letterbank #crypticclue from my series of 650, tweeted as Lowdown Letter Banks starting 5 years ago this week 😀

Keep drawing from the "bank" word in the clue below to get the answer 💡

Starting hint: i-------------

View clue thread for another hint and the breakdown ⬇️

Below is the antepenultimate LLB clue and it's *unique* amongst the 5 clues reposted this week for LLB's 5th anniversary 🙃 #letterbank #crypticclue

The "bank" isn't in the clue this time – it's the answer! 😉

Starting hint: h--------

View clue thread for another hint and the breakdown ⬇️

Enum is wrong, but what’s more of an issue is the last 3 letters being the final word

Revisiting the 5 final LLB clues for LLB's 5th anniversary 🥳 (btw, "revisiting" is a good LB indicator!)
#letterbank #crypticclue

Find the "bank" word/phrase in the clue below and "overuse" those letters 🤔

Starting hint: r------------

View clue thread for another hint and the breakdown ⬇️

Reposting the 5 final LLB clues this week for LLB's 5th anniversary 🎉

Each is a #letterbank #crypticclue - in this one (as with most), find the "bank" word/phrase in the clue and use/reuse those letters 🤓

Starting hint: g------- -- s-----

View clue thread for another hint and the breakdown ⬇️

Music from #Uppbeat (free for creators):
uppbeat.io/track/soundr...
License code: SYOZLNUPT7QELLWY

To celebrate the 5th anniversary of Lowdown Letter Banks today, let's rock out to my LLB scroll video! 😎🔠🤘
#LowdownLetterBank

645 clues from my old Twitter account – last year I closed it out with 5 final LLB clues, which I'll repost this week
#letterbank #crypticclue #wordplay #puzzles

Music from #Uppbeat (free for creators):
uppbeat.io/track/soundr...
License code: SYOZLNUPT7QELLWY

Today's the 5-year anniversary of Lowdown Letter Banks (LLB)! 5️⃣🥳🔠

On Jan 25, 2021, I started tweeting a daily #letterbank #crypticclue for 500 days 📆 and eventually reached 650

- Read my original thread below ⬇️
- I'll post an LLB scroll video today 🎞️
- I'll repost the last 5 LLB clues this week 😎

Yes please!