Crosswordese

Crosswordese is a term generally used to describe words frequently found in crossword puzzles but seldom found in everyday conversation. They are usually short words, three to five letters, with letter combinations which crossword constructors find useful in the creation of crossword puzzles. This is frequently because short words that start with a vowel are needed in every puzzle to some extent. Too much crosswordese in a crossword puzzle is considered a negative thing by cruciverbalists, or crossword enthusiasts.

Knowing the language of ‘crosswordese’ is helpful to constructors and solvers alike. According to Marc Romano,[1] “to do well solving crosswords, you absolutely need to keep a running mental list of “crosswordese,” the set of recurring words that constructors reach for whenever they are heading for trouble in a particular section of the grid.”

Contents

Frequently used crosswordese

Architecture

Biblical references

Brand and trade names

Computers and the Internet

Directions between cities

Many puzzles ask for the direction from one city to another. These directions always fall between the standard octaval compass points—i.e., North (N - 0° or 360°), Northeast (NE - 45°), East (E - 90°), etc.

The directions asked for on clue sheets are usually approximations. Starting at north and going clockwise, the directions are:

Fictional characters

Food and drink

Foreign words

General adjectives and adverbs

Geography

Jargon and slang

Latin words and phrases

Manmade items

Multiple meanings

Names of contemporary people (20th and 21st centuries)

(Note: The popularity of certain names used in crosswordese may wane with the passing of time. For instance, "Ito" -- as in Robert Ito, a Canadian-born actor of Japanese descent who was a regular on Quincy, M.E. from 1976 to 1983—continued to be a popular crosswordese reference throughout most of the 1980s. Yet, although he has remained active professionally, the appearance of his name in today's crosswords is a rare occurrence.)

Names of historical people

Nature, references to

Poetic phrases and terms

Prefixes and suffixes

Religious holidays, festivals, celebrations and observances

Roman numerals

Many puzzles ask for Roman numerals either as answers or as portions of answers. For instance:

Standard Roman numerals run from 1 to 3999, or I to MMMLXXXIX. The first ten Roman numerals are:

\mathrm{I,\;II,\;III,\;IV,\;V,\;VI,\;VII,\;VIII,\;IX, and \;X.}

For numerals representing values equal to or greater than 4000, a line is placed above the numeral. The following table shows the numerals used in crossword puzzles.

Symbol Value
I 1 (one) (unus)
V 5 (five) (quinque)
X 10 (ten) (decem)
L 50 (fifty) (quinquaginta)
C 100 (one hundred) (centum)
D 500 (five hundred) (quingenti)
M 1,000 (one thousand) (mille)

For those who are curious, the chart below shows numeral values up to 900,000.

×1 ×2 ×3 ×4 ×5 ×6 ×7 ×8 ×9
Ones I II III IV V VI VII VIII IX
Tens X XX XXX XL L LX LXX LXXX XC
Hundreds C CC CCC CD D DC DCC DCCC CM
Thousands M MM MMM IV V VI VII VIII IX
Ten thousands X XX XXX XL L LX LXX LXXX XC
Hundred thousands C CC CCC CD D DC DCC DCCC CM

Sports and gaming

Titles of books, plays, movies, etc.

Titles used by royalty and the nobility

Transportation

U.S. states and Canadian provinces

World War II

References

  1. ^ Romano, Marc. Crossworld: One Man’s Journey into America’s Crossword Obsession.

External links