There are several types of clues that might be asked in Astraware Acrostics - these are all clue styles which are typically found in quick-style crosswords
They might include
- A synonym (another word or phrase with the same meaning as the answer) - Rascal (9) – SCOUNDREL;
- A piece of general knowledge: Zodiac sign (3) – LEO;
- An anagram, which uses (anag) in the clue : Several (anag) (7) – REVEALS.
Extra items
- If you see a dash ‘-’ in the clue, that means the clue contains two separate clues, either of which would lead you to the right answer.
- A question mark ‘?’ at the end of a clue suggests that the clue is subtle, or perhaps a pun.
- An exclamation mark ‘!’ means that the answer is something that you might say, “OH NO”!
- The number in brackets shows the number of letters in the answer.
You might feel that a clue could have several possible answers - for instance 'Zodiac sign' could be Aries, Capricorn, Gemini, Leo (etc). The length of the answer will usually narrow this down!
If there are still more than one possibility, you can try entering them both. Only the correct one will 'stick' and will sparkle (and change to thicker darker letters) to show you it has been accepted.
The extra game hints will also help you - the cells are shaded differently depending on whether the letter in that square is a vowel or consonant.
Finally, if you can get any of the letters in the answer from the target word (or as a side-effect of the magic reveal) then that will help you to narrow it down further!