Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A puzzle in which an arrangement of numbered squares is to be filled with words running both across and down in answer to correspondingly numbered clues. Also called crossword puzzle.
Wiktionary
- n. games, puzzles A word puzzle in which interlocking words are entered usually horizontally and vertically into a grid based on clues given for each word.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a puzzle in which words corresponding to numbered clues are to be found and written in to squares in the puzzle
Etymologies
- cross + word (Wiktionary)
Examples
“A good crossword is easy to understand, much harder to create.”
“We must think of a continuum, rather than a dichotomy; if a crossword is 100% puzzle, Zork is 90% puzzle and 10% game.”
“The Observer crossword is the best puzzle available in a local paper.”
“For what it’s worth, Evan Bayh turns up in crossword puzzles a lot, as does his dad Birch.”
“Sorry, so spending 30 minutes on a crossword is OK but eight minutes on Twitter isn’t?!”
Going to the toilet puts UK economy down the toilet « pwcom 2.0
“She really hated how I’d take the crossword from the morning paper into the john and then drop it in the trash when I finished it.”
365 tomorrows » 2009 » January : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day
“Was it A, an enormous book of a new fad from Britain called crossword puzzles; B, an exhaustive biography of Pope Leo XII; or C, a catalog of the insects of the American South?”
“My fave fact is that the hardest position in a crossword is the lower righthand corner.”
“Some puzzles are obviously so; no one would call a crossword a "game.”
“The crossword was a nice distraction for a few minutes every few hours as we wait for meetings to start, need a break from the computer, etc.," said one reader who asked not to be named.”
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Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘crossword’.
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Beautiful Compound Words
aftermath, afterthought, butterfly, campfire, colorblind, backhand, crossword, cupcake, dollhouse, drawbridge, dreadlock, dreamscape and 73 more...
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Buttery
Words that make me feel cozy
Noodle, Nugget, Butter, Soft, Snug, Feather, Socks, Knit, Mug, Curl, Billow, Lounge and 315 more...
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Cross My Heart
words and phrases containing cross
crosswise, crisscross, crosscut, across, crossword, crossbreed, cross-pollinate, double cross, crossroads, cross off, crosstown, sign of the cross and 93 more...
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Tuesday words
just the next words that come along
nasality, transignification, lapsarian, disciple, slanguage, atwitter, avast, ahoy, asleep, awake, hymnody, glissade and 573 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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Let's Play
Classic Children's Toys and Games and Amusements
colorforms, jacks, hopscotch, louisville slugger, duncan imperial, flexible flyer, radio flyer, troll doll, dam doll, pick-up sticks, silly putty, marbles and 155 more...
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kevinl's Words
indefatigable, dabble, befuddle, fin, infinity, might, futile, squirm, bookish, feint, liquidity, belt and 126 more...
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ashbless's Words
robust, apocalyptic, plinth, wyvern, ophidian, amphipolis, dichotomy, chinook, wench, blintz, scintilla, bloviate and 39 more...
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Games and Puzzles
Games and Puzzles / Juegos y Puzzles
sudoku, hanjie, taba, canicas, trivial, crossword, crucigrama, origami, poker, solitario, ouija
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massagemom's Words
Tweets
Looking for tweets for crossword.
yaybob GRIDLOCK seems to have disappeared in the last post Jan 23, 2009
yaybob No,not a ton of links. Just these two, because these are remarkable puzzles.
WIDE OPEN SPACES, both .PDF files
GRIDLOCK features three adjacent horizontal 21-letter entries spanning the entire width of the grid in the three middle rows of the puzzle (rows 10, 11 and 12) which intersect with three similar adjacent 21-letter vertical entries running up and down the three middle columns of the grid. For good measure, there are two more 21-letter horizontal entries in the puzzle. Each of these is a string of automobile model names (the clues are the corresponding makes). The puzzle was conceived as the intersection of two three-lane highways with traffic in gridlock.
WIDE OPEN SPACES is remarkable for its paucity of black squares, its many long entries, and its short word list. The limit would be a 21 x 21 grid with no black squares made of 21 across entries and 21 down entries, or only 42 words. WOS contains only 51 black squares (11%) and 112 words, about 75% of which are 8 or more letters long. Reagle does take some liberties with the language, so allow for that.
Answers are unavailable on the Internet to my knowledge, but I've finished the puzzles - they are not impossibly difficult - and can help if there are any nagging problems. Jan 23, 2009
seanahan As long as you don't make a habit of posting a ton of links, I think it's appropriate. I myself am a fan of crosswords, although I'm a bit out of practice. I got a crossword a day calendar for Christmas, so I'm hoping to hone my skills. Jan 22, 2009
yarb If they're cryptic, please do! I'm not interested in the other kind, though. Jan 22, 2009
bilby I don't think friends should exchange cross words. Jan 22, 2009
yaybob I have URLs for two great crossword puzzles. Would it be inappropriate for me to post those here on Wordie? It's not our mission or purpose, but it is word related, and there may be a few crossword puzzle fans like me among us. Jan 22, 2009