The 50 words you’ll see in every crossword for the rest of your life

There are roughly 200 words in the English language that exist, in the public mind, almost entirely because they help crossword constructors fill grids. Words like ETUI, EWER, ESNE, ARETE, OREO. They are short. They are vowel-heavy. They are made of common letters. They appear in real dictionaries. They almost never appear in real conversations. Crossword constructors call them crosswordese, sometimes lovingly and sometimes with a small sigh.

This is the field guide to the 50 most common ones. If you memorize this list, your average Monday and Tuesday solve time will drop by approximately 40%. If you ignore it, you will continue to spend 90 seconds of every easy puzzle staring at “Flat-bottomed boat (3)” and wondering why you can’t think of anything.

(The answer is SCOW. It will always be SCOW.)

Why crosswordese exists

American crossword grids are tightly constrained. Every letter in the grid has to satisfy two clues at once — one across, one down. The corners and edges of a 15×15 grid require a high density of three- and four-letter words. The English language, unfortunately, does not have enough commonly-used three- and four-letter words to fill every cross-letter constraint cleanly.

So constructors reach for the long tail. Words that are real, that appear in dictionaries, that have a clear definition, but that you would never use in a sentence. ETUI is a real word (it means a small ornamental case for needles). EWER is a real word (a wide-mouthed pitcher). ANOA is a real word (a small water buffalo from Sulawesi). All three are perfectly cromulent. None of them are words you have ever said out loud.

Will Shortz and most modern editors have, over the last 20 years, gradually pushed back against the worst of crosswordese. ESNE (a medieval slave) and ANOA have been retired by most major newspapers. Others — OREO, ETUI, EWER — remain because, frankly, the constructors need them.

The 50 essential entries

Animals you didn’t know existed

ANOA — small water buffalo from Sulawesi.
ASP — small viperous snake; also Cleopatra’s death device.
ELAND — large African antelope.
EMU — large flightless Australian bird.
GNU — wildebeest. Also a piece of free software, but in crosswords always the wildebeest.
IBIS — long-billed wading bird.
OKAPI — giraffe-relative, looks like a small giraffe with a zebra’s legs.
ORYX — large desert antelope.

Containers and tools

ETUI — small ornamental needlework case.
EWER — wide-mouthed pitcher.
ADZE — cutting tool similar to an axe.
ALEMBIC — distillation apparatus.
OLLA — cooking pot.
SCOW — flat-bottomed boat.
OAR — yes, like the rowing oar. Crosswords love this word.

Geographic features

ARETE — sharp mountain ridge.
ATOLL — ring-shaped coral island.
ESKER — long ridge of post-glacial gravel.
FEN — marshy wetland (often clued as “British marsh”).
RIA — long, narrow inlet of the sea.
STEPPE — vast, flat grassland.
TARN — small mountain lake.

Old-fashioned words for things

ANEW — “new again,” as in “start anew.”
ERE — “before,” as in poetic English. “Ere dawn.”
OFT — “often,” shortened.
OLE — Spanish exclamation, also short for “old.”
WAS’T — “was it,” Shakespearean.
YEAR — just “year,” but crossword editors love clueing it as “time period” to throw you off.

Music, art, and culture

ARIA — operatic solo.
ETUDE — instrumental study piece.
OPERA — yes, opera.
EWE — female sheep. Always.
ICAR — wait, sorry, that’s ICARUS. Crosswords like Greek mythology.
NEHRU — Indian PM, also a jacket.
OBI — Japanese kimono sash.

Letters of the Greek alphabet

ETA, IOTA, OMEGA, RHO, TAU, ZETA — all of them appear constantly. The clue will give you a Greek-related context (“Greek consonant,” “Fraternity letter”). The answer will be one of these six 90% of the time.

Numbers and small math

UNO — Spanish or Italian one.
TRES — Spanish three.
TEN — just ten.
ELS — multiple letter Ls. Crosswords love this.
ESS — letter S as a word. Likewise.
EM — letter M. Sometimes also a typesetting unit.

Cars and brands you only see in crosswords

OREO — the cookie. Always.
NEHI — retro soft-drink brand.
STP — motor oil treatment brand.
YMCA — the song, the building, both.

How to actually use this list

The first time through, just read it. Don’t try to memorize. Crosswordese is, structurally, easy to recognize once you’ve seen each word two or three times in real puzzles. The list is more useful as a reference than as flashcards.

The second time, after you’ve solved 10 or 15 puzzles, come back. The words you’ve hit will jump off the page. The ones you haven’t will stick because you’re ready for them.

The third time, after about 30 puzzles, you will stop needing this list. Crosswordese will have become part of your reflexive vocabulary, and the next time you see “Flat-bottomed boat (3)” you will write SCOW without thinking. That’s the point.

Welcome to the small, weirdly satisfying vocabulary club. We’ve been waiting for you.