Word.ws English Dictionary

cryptic crossword

cryptic crossword noun: a type of crossword involving wordplay and misleading definitions.

Noun

cryptic crossword (plural cryptic crosswords)

  1. A type of crossword involving wordplay and misleading definitions.
    • While celebrating our “graduation”, a handsome Scot bailed me up outside a pub and insisted I help him solve the cryptic crossword.2023 January 31, Clem Bastow, “My bad trip – I met a handsome Scot with a crossword and thought it was true love”, in The Guardian

Forms of cryptic crossword

pluralcryptic crosswords

Questions about cryptic crossword

What does cryptic crossword mean?
Cryptic crossword means a type of crossword involving wordplay and misleading definitions.
What part of speech is cryptic crossword?
Cryptic crossword is a noun.
What is the plural of cryptic crossword?
The plural of cryptic crossword is cryptic crosswords.

Words near cryptic crossword in the dictionary

  1. cryptesthesia
  2. cryptesthetic
  3. cryptex
  4. cryptexes
  5. cryptic
  6. cryptic crossword
  7. cryptic crosswords
  8. cryptic definition
  9. cryptic definitions
  10. cryptic ovulation
  11. cryptic species

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cryptic crossword (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:

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