What does crossword mean?
A crossword is a popular word puzzle built on a grid of white and black squares. Solvers are given numbered clues, each corresponding to an answer that must be written into the grid either across (horizontally) or down (vertically), with neighbouring answers intersecting so that they share letters — a design that lets one solved entry help unlock another. First published in its recognisable modern form in 1913, the crossword quickly became a fixture of newspapers worldwide and remains a daily habit for millions. Two main traditions exist: British-style crosswords, which favour symmetrical freeform grids and often cryptic, riddle-like clues, and American-style crosswords, which use dense grids with strict interlocking and more direct clues. The word is always a countable noun, and phrases such as 'do the crossword' or 'a tricky crossword clue' are part of everyday speech in both Britain and the United States.
nounA puzzle in which words fitting given definitions or clues are written into a grid of white and black squares, horizontally and vertically, so that intersecting entries share letters.
- A puzzle consisting of a square or rectangular grid into which words clued by definitions are entered horizontally and vertically.
"She does the New York Times crossword every morning over coffee."
"The Sunday crossword took the whole family most of the afternoon to finish."
"He set his first cryptic crossword for the university newspaper at nineteen."
Regular plural; used when referring to puzzles generally or collectively, e.g. across publications or over time.
"This newspaper has published crosswords since the 1920s."
The first modern crossword appeared in the New York World in 1913 — and within a decade it sparked a national craze so intense that some libraries banned patrons from hogging dictionaries.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of crossword
The word 'crossword' is a transparent compound formed in English from 'cross', referring to the way answers run across and down through the grid, and 'word', the units being fitted in. Both elements are long-established English words — 'cross' ultimately from Latin 'crux' via Old Norse, and 'word' from Old English 'word', of Germanic origin. The compound itself arose in the early 20th century alongside the puzzle it names, replacing the earlier term 'word-cross' used when the first modern puzzle was printed in the New York World in 1913.
Related word forms
How crossword is actually used
Always treated as a countable noun ('a crossword', 'the crossword'), typically without stating 'puzzle'. In British English, unqualified references often imply the cryptic style found in broadsheets; American crosswords usually rely on straightforward definitions, trivia, and wordplay rather than cryptic clues.