The Grounded Expertise Components Approach in the Novel Area of Cryptic Crossword Solving
ORIGINAL RESEARCH published: 03 May 2016 doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00567 The Grounded Expertise Components Approach in the Novel Area of Cryptic Crossword Solving Kathryn J. Friedlander * and Philip A. Fine Department of Psychology, University of Buckingham, Buckingham, UK This paper presents a relatively unexplored area of expertise research which focuses on the solving of British-style cryptic crossword puzzles. Unlike its American “straight-definition” counterparts, which are primarily semantically-cued retrieval tasks, the British cryptic crossword is an exercise in code-cracking detection work. Solvers learn to ignore the superficial “surface reading” of the clue, which is phrased to be deliberately misleading, and look instead for a grammatical set of coded instructions which, if executed precisely, will lead to the correct (and only) answer. Sample clues are set out to illustrate the task requirements and demands. Hypothesized aptitudes for the field might include high fluid intelligence, skill at quasi-algebraic puzzles, pattern matching, visuospatial manipulation, divergent thinking and breaking frame abilities. These skills are additional to the crystallized knowledge and word-retrieval demands which are also a feature of American crossword puzzles. The authors present results Edited by: from an exploratory survey intended to identify the characteristics of the cryptic Roger Lister Kneebone, Imperial College London, UK crossword solving population, and outline the impact of these results on the direction Reviewed by: of their subsequent research. Survey results were strongly supportive of a number of Natasha Sigala, hypothesized skill-sets and guided the selection of appropriate test content and research University of Sussex, UK David Zachary Hambrick, paradigms which formed the basis of an extensive research program to be reported Michigan State University, USA elsewhere.
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