In this post, we shall look at acrostics. Acrostics are word puzzles in which a word is formed from certain letters in each word of a phrase or sentence. ‘Acrostic’ comes from Greek: akron (end) + stikhos (row). For example, CATS can be formed from the first letter of each word in “cuddly, acrobatic, tenacious and soft”. Clues of this type are usually the easiest in cryptic crosswwords. It contains a definition and the answer is right there in the clue. The acrostic wordplay is indicated by words like ‘primarily’, ‘for starters’, ‘initially’, ‘front of’ or even ‘at last’. ‘Oddly’ may be a hint for us to look at the 1st, 3rd, 5th letters and so on.

Let us see a few example to understand this clue:
a) Primarily, text orthodox rabbi always honours? (5)
As you can readily see, the answer is TORAH, the book of Jewish teachings & law. Incidentally, this clue could just as well be an &lit clue!
b) Somewhere you don’t necessarily expect Yukonese, at first? (6)
‘At first’ and ‘6’ tell us to seek the first letter in six words, which gets us SYDNEY, which isn’t a place you’d expect to run into a Yukonese!
c) Indulge oddly in such gossip, maybe (4)
The answer is a kind of gossip. And we get the answer from the odd letters of indulge, namely IDLE.
Setters can complicate matters by combining the acrostic cluing device with others you have seen so far. Here’s one that isn’t very easy:
d) Face protection racket or swindle in village: heads must roll! (5)
Here the definition is ‘face protection’ and the acrostic indicator is ‘heads’. So we have the letters R-O-S-I-V and if you roll them backwards, you will get VISOR.

Here are a few acrostic-type clues to try on your own:
1) Black and white lamb starts to cry (4)
2) Not even shallots can be used as seasoning (4)
3) Brief script, yet evenly read (6)
4) Those fronting extremely vicious acts don’t easily escape (5)
5) Filth seems moderate under Tories for starters (4)
6) Good, long, gripping utensil, initially awkward (6)
I saved the hardest for last. Note that the answer is 6 letters long. And that utensil, initially is U.

All the best!!