Why can some people see the solutions to anagrams instantly? I stare at them for some time and cannot work them out, while I have friends who can solve them immediately. Annie Wilshere, St Asaph

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Readers reply

For simple anagrams, dyslexia helps. Words are a muddle of letters anyway, so seeing the solution is just an extension of reading sometimes. WoollyAphid

I’m not dyslexic, but I have always been good at them. I just look at the letters arranged in a grid or a circle and usually the word leaps out at me in seconds. I think I have a linguistic brain, though, as I speak multiple languages, whereas I have no sense of direction at all – I could get lost in a cathedral. Some people’s brains are just wired differently. My partner is a polymath, but he has struggled to learn a foreign language. When we go abroad, it’s a good combination: I can do the talking and they can do the directions. FolieA2

I write the anagram in a circle and am able to see the word almost immediately. 67589959

Doesn’t everyone write down the letters of an anagram in a circle? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t. Watch any episode of Countdown and you’ll see that’s what virtually every competitor does. Troy_McClure

I write the vowels and consonants on separate lines, sometimes rearranging the consonants to break up common pairs. The most important thing is to break the pattern of letters in the original. ravenrider

My dad was good at crosswords and anagrams and taught me to look for an ending first, eg “ion”, “ing”, “ent”. That way, there were fewer letters to make up the rest of the word. I find it works sometimes, but not always. CazKat

If you find them difficult, anagrams make your head hurt, don’t they? I hate them. I was trying to do a crossword on a steam train once and was stuck with one, so I asked the man in a pinstripe and bowler hat sitting opposite me in the compartment. But he was no help whatsoever. I said: “Excuse me, sir, but I wonder if you can help? I’m stuck for an anagram for ‘flaneur’ here and the tremultimate letter is R.” He replied: “That’s your funeral, then,” and went straight back to reading his FT. Well, I mean, really. ThereisnoOwl

If you’re ever challenged to find an anagram of “new door”, bear in mind that it’s one word. EddieChorepost

I’ve found that an anagram is best solved by the sea with a glass of armagnac. bricklayersoption