Charade cryptic clue
Stick two or three synonyms together, end to end, to build the answer.
How it works
Two or three shorter pieces are stacked end-to-end to build the answer — synonyms, abbreviations, or single letters. There is no indicator; the clue simply describes each piece in order.
Charades read like a tiny story. Parse the surface meaning, then re-read each noun as its synonym and see what the concatenation spells.
Worked example
Two simple words, glued in order, build a seven-letter adjective.
Hearing organ followed by a nest — deeply serious (7)
AnswerEARNEST
- Definition: serious — EARNEST means sincere and serious.
- Hearing organ = EAR; a nest = NEST; "followed by" fixes the order.
- EAR + NEST = EARNEST (7). Both halves agree.
Spotting it in the wild
- No indicator — silence is the signature of a charade.
- Watch for cryptic abbreviations: RE (about), CE (church), NI (island).
- The pieces always join left to right, in the order the clue gives them.