The Complete Crossword Glossary: 40+ Terms Every Solver Needs

Acrostic noun

A word puzzle related to, but different from, a crossword. You answer a list of clues, then transfer each answer's letters into numbered squares in a grid, where they spell out a quotation. The first letters of the clue answers, read in order, spell the quotation's author and source. The New York Times has run an acrostic puzzle for decades.

Across noun / adjective

Entries that read horizontally from left to right. Clue lists are split into Across and Down sections, and each clue is referred to by its number and direction, as in "17-Across."

Answer / Entry noun

The word or phrase that fills a run of white squares. Solvers usually say "answer"; constructors often say "entry." Multi-word entries are written without spaces, so ICE CREAM appears in the grid as ICECREAM. If you're stuck on one, our crossword solver finds words that match a pattern of known letters.

Barred Grid noun

A grid that separates entries with thick lines ("bars") between squares instead of black squares. Barred grids are common in advanced British cryptics such as The Listener Crossword. A grid that uses black squares is called a "blocked" grid.

Black Square noun

A shaded square that separates entries from each other, also called a "block." American crosswords usually have 180-degree rotational symmetry, meaning the pattern of black squares looks the same when the grid is turned upside down.

Constructors control black squares indirectly through word count: the New York Times normally caps themed weekday puzzles at 78 entries and themeless puzzles at 72.

Checked Square noun

A white square that belongs to both an Across and a Down entry, so you can confirm its letter from either direction. In American crosswords essentially every white square is checked. In British cryptic grids, many squares are unchecked (see Unch).

Cheater Square noun

A black square that doesn't change the puzzle's word count. It usually sits at the corner of a black-square shape or at the start or end of an entry, and constructors add it to make a tricky section easier to fill. Too many cheaters can make a grid look choppy, but a few are normal. Some people call them "helper squares."

Clue noun

The hint that points to an answer. A clue in an American crossword is usually a short definition, synonym or bit of wordplay. A cryptic clue combines a definition with a wordplay route to the same answer. You can look up how a clue has been answered before in our clue database.

Constructor noun

The person who creates a crossword, a term used mainly in the US. Most puzzles in major American outlets come from freelance constructors who submit them to an editor. In Britain the equivalent is setter.

Crosswordese noun

Words that turn up often in crosswords but rarely in everyday speech. They tend to be short, with friendly letter patterns and plenty of vowels. Classic examples include ETUI (a small ornamental case for needles), ESNE (an Anglo-Saxon laborer), ERNE (a sea eagle), ALEE (on the side away from the wind) and OLIO (a hodgepodge). Modern editors try to avoid the most obscure ones, but many still appear.

Example: Given "Sheltered, at sea" for a four-letter answer, an experienced solver writes ALEE straight away.

Cruciverbalist noun

Someone who constructs or avidly solves crossword puzzles. The word comes from Latin crux (cross) and verbum (word).

Cryptic Crossword noun

A style of crossword, dominant in the UK and much of the Commonwealth, in which each clue is a small puzzle. It contains a straight definition plus wordplay (an anagram, a hidden word, a reversal and so on) that leads to the same answer. Our guide to cryptic clue types walks through each kind, and you can practise on our cryptic crosswords.

Debut noun

A constructor's first published puzzle in a given outlet, or the first appearance of a particular entry in that outlet's puzzles. Crossword databases such as XWord Info track debut entries for the New York Times crossword.

Down noun / adjective

Entries that read vertically from top to bottom. Each Down entry starts in a numbered square that has a black square or the grid edge directly above it.

Dupe (Duplicate) noun

The same word, or a significant part of it, appearing twice in one grid or in both an answer and its clue. For example, having both ONE and ONE-ON-ONE in a grid counts as a dupe. Editors generally treat dupes as a flaw.

Editor noun

The person at a publication who chooses puzzles, checks them for accuracy and fairness, and often rewrites clues. The New York Times crossword has had only a few editors: Margaret Farrar (1942–1969), Will Weng (1969–1977), Eugene T. Maleska (1977–1993) and Will Shortz, who took over in 1993.

Enumeration noun

The letter count in brackets after a clue, standard in British and cryptic crosswords. Multi-word answers show each word, so "(3,5)" means a three-letter word followed by a five-letter word. American crosswords leave it out, and you count the squares instead.

Example: "Capital of France (5)" = PARIS.

Fill noun / verb

As a noun, all the non-theme answers in a grid. "Clean fill" means lively, familiar words with little crosswordese. As a verb, to enter answers into the grid: "I filled the top half quickly."

Fill-in-the-Blank (FITB) noun

A clue built around a missing word, marked with a blank, such as "___ Lanka" (SRI). These are usually the easiest clues in a puzzle, which makes them good places to start.

Grid noun

The pattern of white and black squares that makes up the puzzle. The standard American daily is 15×15, and the New York Times Sunday puzzle is 21×21. Mini crosswords are much smaller.

Grid-Spanner noun

An entry that runs the full width or height of the grid, so a 15-letter answer in a 15×15 puzzle. Themed puzzles often use grid-spanners as theme entries.

Indicator noun

In a cryptic clue, a word that signals what kind of wordplay is involved. "Confused," "broken" or "wild" often mark an anagram. "Some" or "in" can mark a hidden word, and "back" or "returned" a reversal. If you think a clue contains an anagram, our anagram solver can check the letters.

Malapop noun

A term coined on the Rex Parker crossword blog. It describes a wrong answer you enter in one place that turns out to be the correct answer somewhere else in the same grid.

Mini noun

A small crossword, usually 5×5, that takes a minute or two to solve. The format took off with The New York Times Mini, launched in 2014. Try ours on the Mini Crossword page.

Misdirection noun

A clue written to push you toward the wrong reading. "Flower in Paris" might be the SEINE (a river, since a river is something that "flows") rather than a bloom. A question mark at the end of an American clue often warns you that misdirection or a pun is involved.

Natick noun / verb

A square where two obscure entries, usually proper nouns, cross, so a reasonably well-informed solver can only guess the shared letter. The term comes from a July 2008 New York Times puzzle in which NATICK (a Massachusetts town on the Boston Marathon route) crossed N.C. WYETH (the illustrator of a 1911 edition of Treasure Island). Blogger Rex Parker named the problem and proposed the "Natick Principle": obscure proper nouns should be crossed with common words.

Example: "I got naticked in the southwest corner" means one crossing letter was impossible to work out.

Number noun

The small figure in the corner of any square that starts an Across or Down entry. Numbering runs left to right, top to bottom, and one number can start both an Across and a Down entry.

Pangram noun / adjective

A grid that uses every letter of the alphabet at least once. Some solvers find pangrams impressive. Others point out that forcing in a Q, X and Z can hurt the quality of the fill.

Partial noun

An entry that is only a fragment of a longer phrase, usually clued as a fill-in-the-blank. For example, UPONA from "Once ___ time." Editors tend to limit partials because they feel like filler.

Rebus noun

A trick where one square holds more than one letter, a whole word or a symbol. Rebus puzzles appear most often on Thursdays in The New York Times. Digital apps let you type several letters into one square (often with the Esc or Insert key).

Example: If one square holds STAR, the Across entry through it might be RE[STAR]T (RESTART) and the Down entry might be [STAR]TER (STARTER).

Revealer noun

In a themed puzzle, the entry that explains what the theme answers have in common. It often sits near the bottom of the grid. Solving it early can help you crack the other theme entries.

Rotational Symmetry noun

The standard layout rule for American crosswords: turn the grid 180 degrees and the black squares land in the same places. Editors occasionally accept left-right (mirror) symmetry or other layouts when a theme needs it.

Seed Entry noun

An answer the constructor wants in the grid from the start, often a fresh phrase or a theme entry. The rest of the grid is built around it.

Setter noun

The British word for a crossword constructor. Many British papers credit their setters under pseudonyms, such as Araucaria in The Guardian.

Stacks noun

Long entries placed in consecutive rows or columns with no black squares between them. A "triple stack" is three long entries stacked together. Stacks are prized in themeless puzzles but hard to build, because every crossing entry must also be a real word.

Surface Reading noun

In a cryptic clue, the literal meaning of the clue as an ordinary sentence. Good setters write clues whose surface reads naturally while the cryptic reading, the wordplay, leads somewhere entirely different.

Theme noun

The idea that links a puzzle's longest answers, whether a pun, a hidden word, a rebus or a shared category. In The New York Times, Monday-to-Thursday and Sunday puzzles are themed, while Friday and Saturday puzzles are usually themeless.

Themeless noun / adjective

A puzzle with no theme. It has fewer, longer entries and relies on tough clues and wide-open grids for its challenge.

Unch (Unchecked Square) noun

A white square that belongs to only one entry. Unches are standard in British cryptic grids, where many answers have roughly every other letter checked, so you must get the missing letters from the clue alone. They are very rare in American puzzles.

Word Count noun

The total number of entries in a grid. A lower word count means longer answers and a harder build. Publications set maximum word counts to keep grids from filling up with short, stale entries.

Wordplay noun

In a cryptic clue, the part that builds the answer mechanically (anagram, reversal, hidden word, charade and so on), as opposed to the definition. In American puzzles, the word covers puns, double meanings and misleading phrasing in general.