Juxtaposition Indicators

Juxtaposition indicators tell the solver that an element produced by one part of the wordplay should be placed either before or after another element. So in the clue “Bog plant succeeded at front of border” for SEDGE, ‘at front of’ simply tells the solver that the S (‘succeeded’) is followed by EDGE (‘border’), while in “Running behind Chinese distance champion” for LION the ON (‘Running’) is to be placed after the LI (‘Chinese distance’).

Purists will generally try to avoid juxtaposition indicators which tell the solver that element 1 is to be placed before element 2 as these represent superfluous text, but sometimes the surface reading will demand the inclusion of a ‘no action required’ indicator (such as the ‘at front of’ in the first example above).

Although ‘has’ (or its abbreviation, apostrophe-s) is often seen as a ‘before’ indicator, I can’t find a meaning of the verb ‘have’ which justifies this and therefore I have excluded it from the list, along with similar terms such as ‘gets’ and ‘receives’; however, many setters do use these verbs to indicate juxtaposition, and therefore solvers should be prepared to encounter them.

When using verbal juxtaposition indicators in the present tense, such as ‘introduces’ or ‘follows’, setters should take particular care that the cryptic reading of the clue is syntactically valid. “Sweden introduces European tax returns for staff” for STAVE – S (‘Sweden’) followed by E VAT (‘European tax’) reversed (‘returns’) – contains two main verbs;  ‘returned’ or ‘returning’ would be fine.

The list below can be sorted alphabetically on Indicator (default), Before/After, or Across/Down, in either ascending (default) or descending sequence. The Search box allows full and partial searching of the first two columns in the list.

Date last modified: 01/05/24
Recent changes: (01/05/24) added at end of, tailing/tails, tipping/tips, tipped by/tipped with.

Indicator	Alternative form(s)	Before or After	Across or Down	Type
above		Before	Down	Standard
accompanying	accompanies	Either	Either	Standard
added to		Either	Either	Standard
adjacent to		Either	Either	Standard
adjoining	adjoins	Either	Either	Standard
after		After	Either	Standard
against		Either	Either	Standard
ahead of		Before	Either	Standard
alongside		Either	Across	Standard
and		Before	Either	Standard
at end of		After	Either	Standard
backing	backs	After	Across	Standard
bearing	bears	After	Down	Standard
before		Before	Either	Standard
behind		After	Either	Standard
below		After	Down	Standard
beneath		After	Down	Standard
beside		Either	Across	Standard
beyond		After	Either	Standard
bolstered by		Before	Down	Standard
bolstering	bolsters	After	Down	Standard
bordering	borders	Either	Either	Standard
borne by		Before	Down	Standard
by	joined by	Either	Across	Standard
capped by		After	Down	Standard
capping	caps	Before	Down	Standard
close on		After	Either	Advanced
close to	close by	Either	Either	Standard
covered with	covered by	After	Down	Standard
covering	covers	Before	Down	Standard
crowned by		After	Down	Standard
crowning	crowns	Before	Down	Standard
followed by		Before	Either	Standard
following	follows	After	Either	Standard
fronting	fronts/in front of	Before	Across	Standard
given		Before	Either	Standard
headed by		After	Either	Standard
heading	heads	Before	Either	Standard
held up by		Before	Down	Standard
heralded by		After	Either	Standard
heralding	heralds	Before	Either	Standard
holding up	holds up	After	Down	Standard
inferior to		After	Down	Standard
introducing	introduces	Before	Either	Standard
leading	leads	Before	Either	Standard
led by		After	Either	Standard
near		Either	Either	Standard
neighbouring		Either	Across	Standard
next to		Either	Either	Standard
on		Either	Either	Standard
over		Before	Down	Standard
past		After	Either	Standard
plus		Before	Either	Standard
preceding	precedes	Before	Either	Standard
prior to		Before	Either	Standard
superior to		Before	Down	Standard
supported by		Before	Down	Standard
supporting	supports	After	Down	Standard
tailing	tails	After	Either	Standard
tipped with	tipped by	Before	Either	Standard
tipping	tips	After	Either	Standard
to		Either	Either	Standard
topped with	topped by	After	Down	Standard
topping	tops	Before	Down	Standard
under	underneath	After	Down	Standard
underpinned by		Before	Down	Standard
underpinning	underpins	After	Down	Standard
upon	on top of	Before	Down	Standard
ushered in by		After	Either	Standard
ushering in	ushers in	Before	Either	Standard
with	together with	Either	Either	Standard