CROSSWORDS: Terminology & Types

Summary | Definitions | Squares | Grid Size | Grid Shape, Style | Difficulty |
Clues | Themes | Publishing | Other Word Puzzles | Glossaries

ukrainian
Ukrainian crossword by Mykola Vasylechko CC BY-SA 3.0
via Wikimedia Commons

Summary

  • Crosswords vary widely:
  • by shape, size and difficulty
  • by grid / style: free-form, themed, themeless, cryptic, rebus, barred,
    cipher, diagramless, fill-in, etc.
  • by language, types of clues, themes
  • by constructors, editors, publishers.
A puzzle is fun
  (as opposed to everyday "problems")
and has a right answer
  (as opposed to a game (no answer)
  or a toy (no goal))

Definitions

Squares

  • answer squares/cells (or whites, lights)
  • checked, crossed or keyed: A answer square that is part of two entries (both Across and Down) -- typical US puzzles;
    one that is part of only one entry is called unchecked, uncrossed or unkeyed, e.g., free-form, cryptics
  • blocks (or darks, blanks, black squares)
  • American puzzles have conventions about number/proportion of blocks in themed (~1/6) and themeless puzzles
  • grid: the pattern of answer squares &amp. blocks -- often symmetric
  • entries or answers: rows (Across) and columns (Down) of empty squares into which answers are written

Grid Size

  • Most English-language puzzles are square by convention -- sometimes rectangular; some typical sizes:
  • miniMini: 5 x 5, 7 x 7 (Sat); e.g., NYT: A Mini History of Our Mini Crossword
  • Midi: 7 x 7, 9 x 9
  • Weekday: usually 15 x 15
  • Sunday: 21 x 21, 23 x 23, 25 x 25; Six special "Millennium" puzzles celebrated the 20th Century
  • Jumbo: 27 x 27; Bicentennial NYT puzzle
  • mug
    “With a crossword we're challenging ourselves
    to create order out of chaos.” ~Will Shortz;
    from: crosswordmug.com

    crosswordmug.com: 29 x 11;
    slogan: "Don't Just Do the Puzzle OVER a Cup of Coffee -- Do It ON Your Cup of Coffee";
    .pdf (to avoid writing on/erasing mug...)

  • 'Holiday': sometimes larger-than-usual puzzles at year-end, e.g., 'mammoth' Christmas
    43 x 49; Cleveland Plain Dealer; .pdf; not fully crossed; many 2-letters; 12/25/2020
  • Super Mega NYT Puzzle Mania paper insert; or order: store.nytimes.com;
    50 x 50 (728 clues): 12/18/2016; 53 x 53: 12/17/2017; 50 x 50: 12/2018, 12/15/2019;
    50 x 51: 12/2020; 50 x 50: 12/2021; 67 x 41 (782 clues): 12/2022
  • "The 'Super Mega Crossword' was the center of attention for much...
  • Steve solving SuperMega"This seventh edition of Puzzle Mania, published Sunday, Dec. 18, 2022, is the annual section
    of the NYT that entertains long past its cover date. This year you’ll need extra time to solve the
    “Super Mega” crossword, by Joel Fagliano, which is larger than ever before, at a whopping
    782 entries where the grid alone takes up three newspaper pages.
    Accompanying the crossword are seven mini puzzles by composer and quizzicist Greg Pliska.
    Together the crossword and mini puzzles are like a treasure hunt or escape room in newspaper form.
    Solve everything, then follow the directions to get a 'meta-answer.' Elsewhere in this issue are
    seven other variety puzzles and a “Super Seven Search” by Will Shortz on the front page."
  • for articles & puzzles, see History: 2016-2019, 2020-
  • Even larger puzzles -- some world records (Wikipedia)
  • Best World's Biggest Crossword 209 x 209; free; 2017
  • Ubercross Abecedaria 116,370 clue-answer pairs in its 25 interlinked parts; awaiting Guiness certification .pdf; free
  • 1949: 111 x 111; 2,007 clues across, 2,008 down; Robert M. Stilgenbauer;
    twenty-seven years later, no one had finished it
  • 1976: 82,951 squares; 12,489 clues across; 13,125 clues down; Robert Turcot
  • wall
    "166/366 Crossword XL" by geinography
    is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

    1996: 303 x 303; 28,000 clues; from Herbko toy manufacturer,
    advertised in the SkyMall catalog on airplanes;
    7' x 7'; 100-page clue book; World's Largest Crossword Puzzle

  • 2007: 132,020 squares; 12,842 clues across;
    13,128 clues down; 15 Fascinating Facts About Crosswords: #13
  • 2008: 400 x 400; 160,000 squares; 30,711 clues across;
    30,690 clues down; 112 m2
  • 2008: 320,500 squares;
    book of clues for the puzzle is 800,720 words long;
    Yemeni man submits puzzle to Guinness:
    "Finding ballpoint pen ink wasn't clear enough on
    his paper, Qasem filled his pens with a medicine meant for
    curing simple burns. Despite this effort, his once 'very good'
    eyesight has weakened, forcing him to wear glasses. His back
    also hurts from the experience, and any quick movement hurts
    him to the extent that he is bedridden for the next two days."
  • 2009: 19 x 34; 80 clues; 100' tall; Giant Crossword of Lviv (var. Lvov), Ukraine:
    "interactive art work aimed at bolstering critical thinking and urban exploration.
    Similar to a scavenger hunt, clues are scattered throughout the city’s major landmarks.
    Visitors must explore popular attractions, such as historic monuments, museums or parks,
    before they’re able to solve the building’s brainteaser. To further tantalize visitors, the
    answers are displayed in fluorescent lettering that can only be viewed when lit up at night.
    Each nightfall, tourists can be seen crosschecking their results outside the towerblock."
  • 2012: 160,650 squares; 32,252 clues across; 32,656 clues down;
    Guinness record: largest online
  • 2014: 93,769 clues; 300 m long; current Guinness record: unpublished
  • 2016: 244,971 squares; 33,018 clues across; 33,648 clues down;
    Nikoli Co., Ltd. (Japan); ~12 m2 (~130 ft2); current Guinness record: published;
    "The cost of a limited-edition copy is 250,000 yen (almost $2,000)."
    ~NYT Puzzle Mania, p. 11; 12/17/2017
  • 2020: 103 x 103 (10,069 squares); 1,284 clues;
    The Big Crossword app -- world's biggest crossword puzzle
    only 'the biggest' published in an app -- not paper? 2/7/2020
American grid
American-style grid by Michael J.,
Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported
via Wikimedia Commons

Grid Shape, Style

  • shapes: rectangular: foreign; custom, e.g., maps, tree, heart, etc.
  • American-style (US) grid: solid areas of answer squares; every letter checked;
    rotational symmetry (identical if turned 180-degrees) usually; horizontal/vertical (flipped) sometimes
  • Wikipedia: New York Times (NYT)
  • Why are crossword puzzles symmetric?
  • British grid
    British-style grid by MeekMark,
    public domain
    via Wikimedia Commons

    British-style (UK) grid: lattice-like structure; more shaded and unchecked squares;
    symmetry (180-degree rotational)

  • Wikipedia: Cryptic
  • France, Italy: crosswords are smaller than English-language crosswords, and not necessarily square
  • they need not be symmetric and two-letter words are allowed
  • Italian crosswords are usually oblong and larger than French ones
  • Japanese grid
    Japanese grid by MeekMark,
    Public domain
    via Wikimedia Commons

    Japan: shaded cells may not share a side; no blocks in corners

  • one syllable (typically katakana) rather than one letter is entered into each answer cell
  • olli SWfree-form, vocabulary or criss-cross: simple, non symmetric designs.
  • Grids forming shapes other than squares are also occasionally used.
  • quadrupuzzle: essentially four small puzzles joined in the center by a few letters.
  • Each quadrant needs to be solved separately. example
  • Specialty Crosswords: Exploring Unique Variations and the Evolution of an Intellectual Art Form
    Cryptic, Diagramless, Acrostic, Rebus, Barred, 3-D; TheWeek; 9/9/2023
  • circular: answers entered either radially or in concentric circles
  • two-for-one crossword: 2 grids, 1 set of clues (NYT Variety)
  • petal puzzle: 'Clockwise, Counterclockwise'
    "Enter each clue’s answer in the diagram in a curve,
    starting with the correspondingly numbered space
    and ending near the flower’s center. Each numbered
    space begins two answers, one to be entered clockwise,
    and the other counterclockwise."; example
  • spiral puzzle: 'Inward', 'Outward'
    "Spiral puzzles consist of a grid of letters that corkscrews toward the center.
    Every space in the grid is used exactly twice, once in each direction."; example
  • Follow The Yellow Brick Road
  • Will Shortz Explains How a Spiral Puzzle Comes Around 12/16/2017
  • marching bands: 'Rows', 'Bands'
    "The words in this puzzle march around the grid in two ways. In one formation ('Rows'),
    words march 3 across -- two words for each numbered line, reading consecutively
    from left to right. The dividing point between these answers is for you to determine,
    except in Row 7, where the words are separated by a block. In the second formation
    ('Bands'), words march around each of the six shaded and unshaded bands starting
    at the lettered squares (A, B, C, D, E and F) and proceeding in a clockwise 5 direction,
    one word after another. For example, Band A will consist of seven consecutive answers
    (a through g) starting in Square A and reading around the perimeter of the grid.
    Again, the dividing point 6 between these answers is for you to determine.
    All clues are given in order. When the puzzle is completed, each square in the grid
    will have been used once in a Row word and once in a Band word."; example
  • split decisions: figure out pairs of words that share letter strings; examples: NYT, Piscop
  • In addition to Spiral, Marching Bands and Split Decisions,
    NYT Variety ($) features many crossword-like word puzzles,
    esp. in the weekly "Little Variety", e.g., Two-for-One Crossword:
    each clue has two answers. One goes in the grid on the left, the other
    in the grid on the right. Whirlpool, Snake Charmer, Double or Nothing,
    For Starters, Crazy Eights, etc.
  • barred
    Barred Grid Crossword
    by Ross Beresford
    Creative Commons Attribution
    2.0 Generic license
    via Wikimedia Commons

    barred crosswords: bold lines between squares separate answers
    (instead of shaded squares)

  • Azed: barred cryptic
  • diagramless, skeleton: "the grid offers overall dimensions, but
    the locations of most of the clue numbers and shaded squares are unspecified.
  • A solver must deduce not only the answers to individual clues,
    but how to fit together partially built-up clumps of answers
    into larger clumps with properly-set shaded squares." examples
  • codewordcipher crosswords, codewords:
    "clues for each answer cell of the grid - an integer from 1 to 26 inclusive is printed
    in the corner of each. The objective, as any other crossword, is to determine
    the proper letter for each cell; in a cipher crossword, the 26 numbers serve
    as a cipher for those letters: cells that share matching numbers are filled
    with matching letters, and no two numbers stand for the same letter.
    All resultant entries must be valid words. Usually, at least one number's letter
    is given at the outset. English-language cipher crosswords are nearly
    always pangrammatic." examples
  • crusadexfill-in, wordfill, crusadex:
    "a grid and the full list of words to be entered in that grid, but does not give explicit clues for
    where each word goes. The challenge is figuring out how to integrate the list of words together
    within the grid so that all intersections of words are valid."
  • Double or Nothing: every square in the puzzle either contains two or zero letters;
    use logic in order to place answers into the grid correctly.
    samples: thegriddle, Berry, Aries; spreadsheet tool

Difficulty

Clues

  • FITB: Fill In The ___
  • gimme: an answer that any player will get easily, e.g., 'Lincoln's nickname' in three letters
  • crosswordese: "words frequently found in crossword puzzles but seldom found in everyday conversation"
  • e.g., SERE, OLIO, OMOO, ULEE, ETUI, ANOA, YSER, ERN, ERNE, NENE; fewer in 'better' puzzles;
    more lists under Solving: Vocabulary
  • straight or quick: usually 'simple' definitions (like most US puzzles, in contrast to cryptic clues in UK-style)
  • to be described more later: Solving Strategies:Choose Appropriate Difficulty
  • British grid
    British-style grid by MeekMark,
    public domain
    via Wikimedia Commons

    cryptic: typically, a cryptic grid isn't 'fully crossed'; a cryptic clue has two parts:
    straight definition; other part may signal an anagram, pun, reversal, etc.
    common in Great Britain and Commonwealth countries.

  • "clues are puzzles in themselves. A typical clue contains both a definition at the beginning
    or end of the clue and wordplay, which provides a way to manufacture the word indicated
    by the definition, and which may not parse logically. Cryptics usually give the length of
    their answers in parentheses after the clue, which is especially useful with multi-word
    answers. Certain signs indicate different forms of wordplay."
  • two other differences: cryptics are often themeless; constructors ('setters') often use pseudonyms
  • NYT Puns & Anagrams are an easier form: fully crossed grid, with only a few cryptic clue types

Themes

  • themed: several entries share some relationship, type of pun, or other element in common,
    e.g., category, quotation, rebus, commemorative event; hints to theme are often found in puzzle title,
    and in marked clues (e.g., *, ?, CAPS) or special clues (e.g., 'the theme is'; 'marked clues share');
    see Solving: Discover the Theme
  • Theme entries are typically the longest entries in American puzzles,
    and are most commonly found in symmetric Across rows, but sometimes in Down columns.
  • The theme is "explained" by a title (if present)
    and/or a "reveal" -- typically the bottom or center entry.
  • There are conventions about the number of theme entries and theme letters in different size puzzles.
  • rebus: type of puzzle in which a square can be filled in with a sequence of letters, or a digit or picture/symbol
  • examples in section Solving: Discover the Theme
  • themeless puzzles may often just consist of unrelated (longer) words,
    e.g., NYT Fri & Sat; Newsday "Saturday Stumper"
  • Schrödinger (or 'quantum') crossword: simultaneously has 2 states,
    i.e., 2 possible, equally valid solutions. examples
  • famous Election Day crossword prediction before polls opened; NYT Tue, 11/5/1996
  • April Fools NYT; 4/1/2014
  • Schrödinger puzzle by Ben Tausig; NYT Thu Slate; 9/1/2016
  • Election Day Heaney; 11/2016
  • Star Wars or Star Trek? NYT; Sun, Feb 5, 2022
  • Atlantic; 10 x 9 3/10/2023
  • And the Winner Is... Slate; 11/3/2024
  • AmuseLabs Schrödinger examples
  • "meta" has been around a long time before FaceBook discovered and co-opted the term.
    e..g, metapuzzle: "after the player has correctly solved the crossword puzzle
    in the usual fashion, the solution forms the basis of a second puzzle"
  • The NYT Super Mega crossword often includes another level to solve (though not a 2nd crossword)
  • "Secret Agents" (WaPo; 8/28/2022; .puz) has a metapuzzle that comes in two parts:
    1) main 21×21 crossword; 2) a mysterious, secret dossier you have to unlock online.
    Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to complete the main crossword,
    decode a 4-digit password to infiltrate The Washington Post’s website,
    solve the dossier (an 11x11 crossword), and uncover the two-word phrase
    that serves as the puzzle’s final meta answer. spoiler alert: puzzle explained
  • vowel play: best of 'split decisions' and 'Schrödinger puzzles';
    example: puzzle (pdf); WordPlay discussion 1/7/2018
  • holoalphabetic: denoting a grid in which all of the letters of the alphabet appear.
    Sometimes pangram is used synonymously -- though this may be incorrect.
    "A holoalphabetic crossword without an ulterior purpose is like a can of Campbell's alphabet soup
    ('oh, let me see if they are all there'). It is not a 'pangram' -- an overused misnomer of crossword bloggers.
    A pangram is a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet. A holoalphabetic crossword allows the
    construction of a pangram." ~NYT Crossword in Gothic

NYTPublishing

  • NYT: acronym for The New York Times, the newspaper that has, arguably
    more than any other, set the standards for American-style crosswords.
    Other respected crosswords: LAT = Los Angeles Times;
    WSJ = Wall Street Journal; WaPo = Washington Post
  • syndication: offering reprint rights and granting permissions to other parties
    for republishing content -- on paper and/or digitally.
  • NYT is syndicated to many other newspapers and journals.
    There is usually a time lag before 'current' NYT puzzle appears in other papers --
    Oregonian: daily =+5 weeks?; former Mail Tribune: Sun =+1 week;
    6 weeks for some online sites; longer for printed puzzle books and calendars.
  • "Advertisers pay The Chicago Tribune to have their commercial names and slogans put
    in its crossword. It is believed that the newspaper earned almost a million dollars
    last year from doing this." ~NYT Puzzle Mania, p. 11; 12/17/2017
  • authors; US: constructors; UK: setters, compilers
  • New York Times Crossword Contributors to See Pay Raise After Jan. 1 (2019) NYT;
    1993: $40(weekday)/$150(Sun);
    2018: $300-450/$1000-1200;
    2019: $500-750/$1500-2250; higher rates for more frequent/reliable contributors;
    specifications; NYT; 12/18/2018
  • editor: responsible for selecting and editing crossword puzzles
    -- and moderating the clues to match the desired degree of difficulty for that day of the week
    --this can involve significant changes to words or grid
  • .puz: Across Lite file format created by Literate Software
    aka LitSoft; puzzle file contains the title, author, grid, clues, guesses, solution, notes
  • .puz files provided by some newspaper sites (NYT in 1996), opened by applications
    such as Across Lite; Crosswords
  • "Litz": to convert a crossword puzzle into the Across Lite (.puz) format,
    so it can be solved on a computer (after "Litsoft")
cubes
"Crossword Cubes" by Maggie T
is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Other Word Puzzles

Glossaries