crossword puzzle

noun

1. a puzzle in which words corresponding to numbered clues or definitions are supplied and fitted into correspondingly numbered sets of squares, one letter per square, the words being arranged horizontally or vertically so that most letters form part of two words.

crossword puzzle

/ ˈkrɒsˌwɜːd /

noun

1. a puzzle in which the solver deduces words suggested by numbered clues and writes them into corresponding boxes in a grid to form a vertical and horizontal pattern Sometimes shortened tocrossword

Word History and Origins

Origin of crossword puzzle¹

1910–15; cross- + word, allegedly for earlier word cross

Example Sentences

My girlfriend and I were doing a crossword puzzle online when I got an email alert that 1,500 shots were instantly available in the District of Columbia.

From Washington Post

When I first started bouldering—indoors, at a gym in Somerville, Massachusetts—I was struck by how closely my experience sending a problem tracked with how I solve crossword puzzles.

From Outside Online

Teammates Garnet Hathaway and Trevor van Riemsdyk have listened to records and done crossword puzzles, respectively.

From Washington Post

Now, Kwong, 40, who creates crossword puzzles for the New York Times, has followed with a show that has Zoom audiences downloading quiz packets and solving mind games with him.

From Washington Post

Like finishing a crossword puzzle when your plane is crashing.

From Ozy

I have memories of every single crossword puzzle I completed.

From The Daily Beast

It even threatens such veteran horizontally integrated favorites as Scrabble, solitaire, and the crossword puzzle.

From The Daily Beast

Reading Pygmy is like trying to do a crossword puzzle while riding a horse underwater.

From The Daily Beast

He is regularly defined as “Hollywood Hairdresser” by The New York Times crossword puzzle.

From The Daily Beast

Automatic pencil poised, he was scanning the crossword puzzle intently.

From Project Gutenberg