From the clue, you guess that the answer probably contains an “m” (the last letter of William) and “err” (make mistake), but that’s as far as you’ve got. In the fields above, you enter “8” for the number of letters, and “ERR”,M into the “containing letters field. The site searches for words containing the phrase “err”, as well as the letter “m”.
How are letter positions indicated in cryptic clues?
Letter position is sometimes indicated in these clues (first, middle, last, half, etc). This is a common cryptic device, and can be used in conjunction with other devices. Reversals are a cryptic device where one word, or a part of a word, is reversed to get to the answer.
