How to Solve Puns & Anagrams

The Puns and Anagrams puzzle resembles a crossword but works on a reader's cognitive skills rather than vocabulary

The New York Times offers word puzzles -- other than their legendary crossword puzzle -- that have an affectionate and loyal following. One of the most popular is the Puns and Anagrams puzzle, affectionately known among its followers as the PandA puzzle or Puns. Mastering the PandA can prove to be rather difficult and takes a lot of practice, but here are a few pointers that will help you narrow down the solutions.

Instructions

1. Realize that vocabulary does not come into play with anagrams and puns like it does with crosswords. Puns and Anagrams are solved by deductive reasoning and the ability to decipher coded material. The clue contains the letters for the answers in anagrams, and the clue describes the answer for the pun.

2. Read the anagram clue. Whatever the clue says, such as "They cover the sash" is a description of the answer but also contains the answer itself. In this case, the two last words, rearranged, spell "sheath," which is a covering for a sash. Anagrams are easier than the puns for the most part, but still take a bit of deductive thinking and the ability to decode the words for the answer.

3. Solve all the anagrams you can first to help you cross-reference the puns. Remember that with the puns the clue describes the answer as opposed to being a definition for the answer. A good example of this is the clue "the difference between a Barron and a baron." The answer is "one r."

4. Ask a friend for help if you're not seeing the answer. This is the advice of experience PandA solvers. You can also listen to Will Shortz anagram and puns selections on NPR's Sunday Morning Edition where the puzzle master himself will walk you through the process. It is enormously helpful to hear the process step-by-step with both the host and a call-in contestant attempting to solve the puzzle.

Tips & Warnings

• If you get stuck on the anagrams, try using an anagram server on the Internet. An anagram server automatically rearranges words. Enter a few words of the clue at a time and see what the server comes up with -- it can help you more easily see the possibility of word combinations and provides you with good practice for your future games.

References

• Everest KC: Puns and Anagrams
• NY Times Wordplay Blog; Puns and Anagrams
• Donald's Web Blog; Solving the P and A

Resources

• NY Times Word Play; Puns and Anagrams
• Wordsmith.org; Internet Anagram Server
• NPR; Sunday Puzzle with Will Shortz