crossword
/ˈkɹɒswɜː(ɹ)d/ noun
Forms crosswords
- noun (games, puzzles) A word puzzle in which interlocking words are entered usually horizontally and vertically into a grid based on clues given for each word.
- noun (informal, by extension) The grid of such a puzzle.
- noun (obsolete) The words in an acrostic puzzle from which the letters are to be taken.
- noun (obsolete) A crossword enigma poem.
Synonyms
Etymology
From cross + word. Various word puzzles referred to as "crosswords" date back to the 1860s. The modern crossword puzzle was invented in 1913 by Arthur Wynne, who coined the name word-cross – crossword first appeared a few weeks later as a typographical error or deliberate transposition.
Sources: Wiktionary — from the Wiktionary entry “crossword”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details