Pretended courage is a term typically used to describe an individual or group displaying false or illusory bravery that covers up underlying fear. The phrase is often used to describe fake bravery designed to mask one’s lack of real courage in the face of something difficult or daunting. Similarly, in a crossword puzzle, pretested courage is often used to describe a clue that's easy to solve and presents little challenge to the solver, no matter their experience level. In some cases, a puzzle solver may be able to recognize a pretested courage clue and attempt to solve it faster than the other challenges.