Cryptmanteaux

I recently learned through Wikipedia and Wiktionary that the word electrocution is a portmanteau of electro- and execution¹. This makes sense in hindsight, but it never clicked before that the -cution part of electrocution comes from execution. As I like short word puzzles (like Minute Cryptic and Connections), I wondered if there were any similar word games that use portmanteaux as their main mechanic.

In cryptic crosswords, you find words based on clues which themselves are kind of word puzzles consisting of a definition (typically at the start or end of a clue) and the wordplay (giving instructions on how to get the answer based on the clue). As an easy example clue, which I found online:

Error concealed by city police (4)

Here, “error” is the definition: we’re looking for an alternative word for “error”. The words “concealed by” indicate that the four-letter word we’re looking for is hidden inside the words “city police”. Other possible types of wordplay include anagrams, double definitions, homophones, and more (as seen on the Minute Cryptic guide.)

Combining portmanteaux, cryptic crosswords, and Connections gives us a word game where you need to find two related portmanteaux through four cryptic clues that describe four base words. By correctly matching pairs of base words, you find the two hidden portmanteaux. Try it out, and check the walkthrough afterwards!

Coming up with a name for this game, I found the made-up portmanteau of cryptic and portmanteau to be appropriate: “cryptmanteau”. I guess all ideas really are second-hand, as Googling this name returns a PDF file dating back to 2015, containing a game where you are given two cryptic clues for two words that form a portmanteau when combined.

The PDF linked above has some fun examples of the concept, like the one quoted below:

1. cerebrum puzzled Nabir (5)
2. fan in man I acknowledge (6)

The clues state that the first base word is a five-letter word related to “cerebrum”, and that it is an anagram (hinted at by “puzzled”) of the word “Nabir”, and the second word is a six-letter word related to “fan” that we can find “in” "man I acknowledge". Combining “brain” and “maniac” gives us the portmanteau “brainiac”.

Walkthrough

In the interactive example above, we are looking for two related portmanteaux of length 9 and 13, and we are given four cryptic clues for their base words:

1. Fast brake ruined morning meal. (9)
2. Dairy product makes one grin! (6)
3. Noon activity sounds like lunging. (8)
4. Sandwiches for German citizens. (10)

• Solving these cryptic clues gives us:

1. Breakfast (morning meal that is an anagram of “fast brake”)
2. Cheese (exclamation when smiling for picture, also dairy product)
3. Lunching (noon activity that is a homophone of lunging)
4. Hamburgers (double definition: citizens of Hamburg, Germany + meat sandwiches)

• Connecting the right base words gives us the two portmanteaux:

• Breakfast + Lunching → Brunching (9)
• Cheese + Hamburgers → Cheeseburgers (13)

Part of the fun is that you might not need to find all four base words from scratch; maybe one from each pair combined with the other clue and figuring out the common theme could be enough to connect the dots.

I’ll certainly be trying to come up with more cryptmanteaux in the future and posting them on my website; send me a message if you come up with some yourself!