Word.ws English Dictionary

crosswordese

/ˌkɹɒswɜː(ɹ)ˈdiːz/

crosswordese noun: the jargon of crossword puzzle clues or answers, often consisting of rare, archaic, or dialectal words.

Noun

crosswordese (uncountable)

  1. (crosswording) The jargon of crossword puzzle clues or answers, often consisting of rare, archaic, or dialectal words.
    • "The Times puzzle is full of crosswordese – words nobody ever heard of," he said. "Take today March 10. He's got the clue 'corn mush.' The answer is 'samp.' Then there's 'dwarf buffalo.' The answer is 'anoa.' It's laughable. I know these words because I'm in the business. But why should you?"20 March 1988, Sam Hodges, “Puzzlers Exchanging A Lot Of Cross Words”, in Orlando Sentinel

Origin of crosswordese

From crossword + -ese.

Questions about crosswordese

What does crosswordese mean?
Crosswordese means the jargon of crossword puzzle clues or answers, often consisting of rare, archaic, or dialectal words.
What part of speech is crosswordese?
Crosswordese is a noun.
How do you pronounce crosswordese?
Crosswordese is pronounced /ˌkɹɒswɜː(ɹ)ˈdiːz/.

Words near crosswordese in the dictionary

  1. crossword enigmas
  2. crossword puzzle
  3. crossword puzzles
  4. crossworder
  5. crossworders
  6. crosswordese
  7. crosswording
  8. crosswordlike
  9. crosswords
  10. crosswordy
  11. crosswort

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: crosswordese (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-crosswordese.wav.

Cite this entry: “crosswordese.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/crosswordese. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.