Word clues for crossword puzzles

Once you’ve learned some of the shorter answers and how they are clued, you can almost be sure you’ll see them again. The brain works in weird and wonderful ways, and when you start solving crosswords consistently, you will feel really good when you can say, “Hey, I know that one!”

“Do more puzzles. The more you solve, the better you’ll get. It’s also useful to read Wordplay and other puzzle blogs, which helped me internalize the tricks and tropes of crossword clues while I was learning the ropes.”  — Dan Feyer, seven-time champion of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

And don’t worry if you make a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes. That’s what erasers and the backspace key are for. It even happens to advanced solvers, so don’t let it get you down if you don’t know something or need to change an answer. 

“Try to solve as much as you can in each puzzle, and don’t stress when you can’t finish one. For the ones you don’t know, if it’s something way out of your knowledge comfort zone, look it up and read a bit more about it. It’s fun, really! There is no shame in missing an answer or not finishing the puzzle. The key is learning what you missed. The more puzzles you solve, the easier it gets.” — Howard Barkin, 2016 champion of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament

When you start a puzzle, get comfortable, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage — it’s important to stay hydrated — and then scan the clue list before solving. 

Pick out the clues that are meant to be the easiest and tackle them first. See anything you definitely know? Those are your ‘gimmes.’ Are there any fill-in-the-blanks clues? Those are usually the easiest. 

Trust us: There’s no better boost to your solving ego than to be able to fill in a few entries right off the bat.

You already know more than you think you do. To borrow a sports term, a puzzle or individual clue on topics that you know well is said to be “in your wheelhouse.” You’ll be able to find at least a few entries in each puzzle that you know.

“Good crosswords connect to everything in life.” – Will Shortz

Fill-in-the-blank clues tend to be easier because they have definite answers. 

Don’t believe us? Try these clues that are designed to be easy for most people:

1. Clue: “Winnie-the-___” 

Your brain knows the answer to this: It’s POOH, the “hunny”-loving bear from the stories by A. A. Milne

Easy clues don’t even have to be fill-in-the-blanks. Your brain will fill them in even when there is no blank.

2. Clue: “Actor Brad of ‘12 Years a Slave’”

Somewhere in your travels, your brain must have noticed that actor Brad PITT was in the award-winning movie “12 Years a Slave.”

Once you have a few answers in the puzzle, sit back and congratulate yourself. You’re solving!

Ready for another mini? 

Tip: Don’t be afraid to look up answers. You’ll become a better solver for it.

Let me say something that may be controversial, but it needs to be said: It’s O.K. to look something up when solving a crossword. 

Crosswords are ultimately learning tools, whether you’re learning some trivia or an interesting new word or phrase. When you look something up, you’re learning so you’ll know it for next time. 

Of course, some solvers may tell you that looking up the answer to a clue is “cheating,” but to us, that way lies frustration and a path to giving up. And that’s no fun. Crosswords are a game, and games are supposed to be fun. 

Still not sure looking things up is fair? Here is outright permission:

“It’s your puzzle. Solve it any way you like.” — Will Weng, the second crosswords editor of The New York Times (1969 — 1977)

We’re big fans of the brain here, especially its incredible work ethic. But even brains get tired, so if you are stuck at some point in the puzzle, one of the best things you can do is put it down and take a break from it for a while. 

I’m not sure how this works, but your brain will continue working on the clue in the background while you go about your day. When you come back to it, you might be surprised at the “Aha!” moment you experience when you thought you didn’t know the answer.

Tip: Solving with another person can work to your advantage. 

Your wheelhouse might be stuffed with sports trivia. Your BFF’s wheelhouse might be crammed to the rafters with a deep knowledge of opera. Vive la différence, right?

You know things your friend doesn’t know, and he or she knows things that you don’t know. That’s roughly twice as much stuff that you can solve, and it’s a good excuse to spend time together. 

In fact, you never know when it could lead to something more, like a marriage proposal. 

Yay, you! You’ve started solving The New York Times Crossword! 

Solving a New York Times crossword is not easy, but it should be satisfying. Even if you only get a few answers the first few times, keep on solving. It just gets easier – and better – from there. 

But don’t limit yourself. Try to master the skills you need to get started, and then push yourself to go further into the week. That’s where all of that devious, delicious wordplay is tucked into the clues, and where the fun in solving crosswords lies.

Are you ready to take your solving a step further?

• Tense
• Part of Speech
• Plural
• Language

• If a clue is in a certain tense (such as past tense), then the answer has to be in that tense as well. This is an easy rule to start with that will immediately improve your solving. For example, if you see the past tense clue “Adored” in a puzzle, the answer has to be past tense. So if the answer is a form of the word “love,” the answer would not be LOVE, LOVES or LOVING. It would be LOVED, because that’s the past tense form.

  Give your new knowledge a try with this mini. Some clues and answers will be present tense, some will be past tense. Just remember to make sure that the tenses of each clue and its answer match. We won’t spoil the answer, but as an example, note that the clue for 1-Across is in present tense and the clue for 5-Across is in past tense. Read the clues carefully! 

• An answer’s part of speech must match the clue’s part of speech. If a clue is primarily a noun, the answer will be a noun. If the clue is primarily a verb, the answer must be a verb. And so on.

  Take the word BOOK, for example. BOOK can be both a noun and a verb, so you may see a noun clue or a verb clue for the word. The answer will be the same, but how you get there will be very different.

  What would be the answer for these two clues?

  “Library unit”

  “Make reservations”

  In both cases, the answer would be BOOK. But the first would lead to the noun BOOK, that bound object with pages, while the second clue is for the verb BOOK, because “Make reservations” is a verb clue.

• If a clue is plural, the answer has to be plural. 

  There are a few different ways you might see plural answers clued:

  • The plural noun answer GRAPES might be clued “They might be sour.” “They” indicates the plural.
  • The plural noun answer STATES might be clued as “North and South Dakota,” because the “and” indicates more than one state.

  Tip: If you are struggling with an answer that has a plural clue, you can make yourself feel like you’ve at least got a grip on it by dropping the letter “S” in at the end. Then, come back when you have enough letters filled in from the crossings to solve the rest of the entry.

• No surprise here. If you see a foreign language clue, expect a foreign language answer. 

  If there is a non-English word or phrase in the crossword, the clue will signal it by either including a word or phrase in the same language, or by connecting the answer to a place where that language is spoken or a person who might speak it. For the most part, foreign words or phrases included in puzzles they are very common words that most people will know, providing they paid attention in their high school language classes.

  For example, the Spanish word ESTA, which means “this” or “it is,” might be clued early in the week as “It is, en español.” Don’t worry, the answer is in your brain somewhere. And remember: If you need to, take a break and come back to the puzzle. And work those crossings.

  You might also see ESTA clued as “It is, in Ibiza” or “This, in Tijuana.”

  A tantalizing glimpse at the late week wordplay you can look forward to when you push past the Mondays: If the entry was in a deviously tricky late-week puzzle, you might see the clue: “What this is in Spain.” 

  And no, the puzzle constructors and editors don’t hate you. They just want you to stretch your mind a bit.

• Cross-Referenced
• Partner Clues
• Abbreviations

• Some clues can be split between different entries in order to connect the answers.

  You might see clues that say “See 17-Across,” which, on the surface, is not very helpful. But it’s an indicator that the answers to the clue you are looking at and the one at 17-Across are somehow related. All you have to do is follow the instructions.

• A partner clue wants you to come up with a word that is typically partnered with another word, separated by the word “and.” 

  An example of this would be the clue, “Partner of live” for which the answer would be LEARN, because the popular phrase is “Live and learn.” Occasionally, the word “and” is not needed as a separator, as in the clue “Partner of neither,” for the answer NOR, because “neither” and “nor” are partnered in sentences.

  So let your mind wander and try to think of possible partners for the word in the clue. If you need to come up with an answer for the clue “Partner of sciences,” for example, the answer would be either “Sciences and ___” or “___ and sciences.” In this case, the answer is ARTS, for “arts and sciences.”

• In general, solvers will see some sort of signal that an entry is an abbreviation, an initialism or an acronym, although that signal may vary. Some of the signals you see might include:

  • Abbr., as in “Lawyer: Abbr.” for the answer ATTY
  • Abbreviating a word in the clue itself, as in “Trial fig.,” short for “Trial figure,” also for ATTY, or “Elephant grp.” for GOP
  • For short, as in “Free TV spot, for short” for PSA
  • In brief , as in “Individual rights defender, in brief” for ACLU

  Occasionally, you will see abbreviations in the clues that have nothing to do with abbreviations in the answers. For reasons of succinctness, some words in clues are nearly always abbreviated, like «U.S.» for United States, «U.N.» for United Nations, «N.F.L.» for National Football League,  or «V.I.P.» for very important person.

  In general, solvers will see some sort of signal that an entry is an abbreviation, an initialism or an acronym, although that signal may vary.Some of the signals you see might include:

  • Abbr., as in “Lawyer: Abbr.” for the answer ATTY
  • Abbreviating a word in the clue itself, as in “Trial fig.,” short for “Trial figure,” also for ATTY, or “Elephant grp.” for GOP
  • For short, as in “Free TV spot, for short” for PSA
  • In brief , as in “Individual rights defender, in brief” for ACLU

  Occasionally, you will see abbreviations in the clues that have nothing to do with abbreviations in the answers. For reasons of succinctness, some words in clues are nearly always abbreviated, like «U.S.» for United States, «U.N.» for United Nations, «N.F.L.» for National Football League,  or «V.I.P.» for very important person.

• Clues With a «?»
• Slang
• «Quotes» and [Brackets]
• Veiled Capitals

• Tip: A question mark at the end of a clue means that it should not be taken at face value. The answer is likely to be a pun, a misdirection, or some other type of wordplay. Ask yourself if the words in the clues might have different meanings from the ones you think they do.

  These are the forehead slappers of crossword clues. The puzzle maker and the editor are playing around with words and phrases in a clue like this, so free your mind up and think about other ways the words in the clues might be used. Question everything.

  Solvers will often see a “?” in clues that are part of a crossword theme involving wordplay, but any clue involving wordplay could conceivably have a “?” A clue might receive a “?” depending on on how “stretchy” it is — that is, how far a clue is from being factually true. It may also depend on which day of the week the clue appears: Early week puzzles might get a “?” to help you, whereas later week clues might not.

  But the most important thing to remember is that this is when it really gets fun. So it’s worth it to practice.

  Here are two examples:

  • “Fitness center?” On the surface, this clue sounds like it’s asking for a GYM, since a gym is also known as a fitness center. But what if we told you that the answer is a four-letter word? Can you think of any other way the words in the clues can be used?

  When you are trying to stay fit, it’s important to work the center of your body, or your CORE. 

  • “Current events?” Here’s another clue that misdirects you from a popular phrase to something totally different. On the surface, you might think that the clue is asking you about the current events you read about in the newspaper, but think: What other kinds of currents do you know? The answer is five letters long. 

  The answer is TIDES, because they are events that involve currents in the sea. 

  Sneaky? Maybe. But we promise you’ll learn to love this, and the more you practice solving, the easier it will be to spot these delicious opportunities to play with words and language.

• Tip: The New York Times Crossword speaks to all ages. It pays to learn both older and more modern slang and vernacular. And you will certainly learn it if you solve the crossword, dawg.

  Language is a living, evolving thing, and the entries in the crossword tend to reflect that. Therein lies a challenge: Older solvers have to keep up with our changing language and younger solvers have to learn words that might have fallen out of favor long before they were born.

  People who have not yet learned to enjoy The New York Times Crossword tend to believe that it is a stodgy pursuit for older people, but the truth is, there are both modern and retro references in almost every puzzle. So while you might see the words MASHER (slang for a man who makes often unwelcome advances to women) and MOOLA (slang for money), you will also see BAE (slang for a boyfriend or girlfriend) and BROMANCE (slang for a close, platonic friendship between two men).

• Tip: Clues in quotes and brackets will make it seem like your puzzle is talking to you. It’s only a problem if you answer.

  A clue that is in quotes can be the title of a song, a movie or a book. But it can also mean something else: A clue in quotes that is something someone might say out loud has an answer that is a synonym for that verbalization. Here are a few examples of clues with possible answers:

  • “Stop!”: HALT, ENOUGH, HOLD IT, FREEZE
  • “That’s the way the cookie crumbles”: C’EST LA VIE
  • “I goofed!”: MY BAD

  You might also see clues in brackets. A clue in brackets suggests an answer that might be nonverbal: 

  • [That’s painful]: GRIMACE
  • [I don’t care]: SHRUG
  • [!!!!]: I’M SHOCKED

• Tip: Watch out for one of the most devious cluing traps in crosswords: Hiding a proper name at the beginning of a clue.

  Talk about tough cluing. This type of clue requires careful reading.

  When the crossword constructor and the editors are feeling particularly diabolical, you might see an innocent-looking clue like this for a three letter entry:

  “Brave opponent”

  Hey, someone is calling their adversary “brave.” That’s nice. On the surface, this clue looks like a compliment, doesn’t it? 

  Not this time. The answer to that clue is RED. Depending on the puzzle, it might also be MET.

  We know. That makes no sense at first glance, but don’t give up. There’s logic behind this, we promise.

  Let’s take a closer look at the clue: The word “Brave” has a capital B because it is at the beginning of the clue, but that is not the only reason it’s capitalized. It has a capital B because it also happens to be the name of a professional baseball player, an Atlanta Brave. The puzzle maker and the editors put it at the beginning of the clue to capitalize on (sorry), or take advantage of, the capital letter.

  And a three letter “Brave opponent,” or an opponent of an Atlanta Brave, could be a Cincinnati RED. It might also be a New York MET.

  As we said, there may be a lot of forehead slapping as you get into the late week puzzles, but hang in there. We promise you’ll start to enjoy the lengths to which the puzzle makers and editors go to twist your brain.

Kudos to you for hanging in there with us! If you’ve been practicing, you should be able to tackle a midweek puzzle at least, if not a later-in-the-week puzzle. All it takes is dedication to solving and learning. Oh, and a willingness to have fun. Because as we said, crosswords are a game, and games are meant to be fun.

Some crosswords contain a set of entries that all have something in common. Puzzle makers have a knack for spotting oddities in our language, and when they can put enough of the same kind of oddity together, they have developed a theme set. As the solver, you not only get to do the crossword puzzle, you also get to piece together the theme. 

The number of types of themes you might see in crosswords is nearly infinite, so we can’t describe them here. But most commonly they involve playing with words.

They can use puns, anagrams, hidden words, common elements, letters added to familiar phrases to make new phrases, and much more. Some puzzle themes have visual themes. Be on the lookout for these, because they can be amazing.

A theme is an extra bit of entertainment that can also be a solving aid. 

Once you understand the theme and can guess what the other theme entries might be, you will have a leg up on solving the rest of the puzzle. Think of it as the frame of a house; the crossword’s theme is the basis on which the rest of the puzzle is built.