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Crosswordese.com

Crosswordese is a term generally used to describe words frequently found in crossword puzzles but seldom found in everyday conversation. That is what this site is devoted to – words like etui, arete, ogee, and ewer – words that your spell-checker doesn't even know. Marc Romano, author of Crossworld: One Man's Journey into America's Crossword Obsession, says “to do well solving crosswords, you absolutely need to keep a running mental list of “crosswordese”.” With this site I hope to not only help you create a 'mental list' but also help you pronounce these words, give you a better understanding of what they mean, help you see the frequency of these words – both in the English language and in crossword puzzles, give you examples of these words in the news, when possible, and help you etch them in your mind with images..

The Word of the Day is the place you'll want to visit every day. Some days (usually early in the week) you'll discover words that show up often in crossword puzzles - perhaps once or twice a month. Other days (usually later in the week) you'll find words that show up only once or twice a year.

A word about borderline crosswordese... By borderline I'm referring to two types of words. The first type are words that only show up about once a year. They may not fulfill the first part of the definition of crosswordese – frequent – but they do show up every year. When this first type shows up as a word-of-the-day it will have blue lettering. The second type of borderline crosswordese are words that, while not everyday English for most people, may be common for some large segments of the population. When this second type of borderline crosswordese appears as a word-of-the-day it will have green lettering.

It's my biased opinion that this is the most useful word-of-the-day site on the Internet since, as a crossword solver, these are words you will use – often within days after reading about them. If you'd like to receive the word-of-the-day in your email box every day, just send me a note.

Visit the Clever Clue of the Month page to see what your peers consider to be the most interesting/humorous clue for a particular month. If you come across an especially good clue, please let me know about it – I may add it to my monthly list of nominees.

The Cruciverbalist According to Dictionary.com, a cruciverbalist is a constructor of crosswords or an enthusiast of crosswords. This is where I report on the world of cruciverbalism and/or anything else I feel like writing about on a particular day. Also, this is where I list the nominations for the Clever Clue of the Month at the end of every month.

'Just looking for a good crossword puzzle? With the help of some of the visitors to this site my Links page has grown into one of the best lists of quality free crosswords you'll find anywhere. Also included on this page are other great links both puzzle-related and non-puzzle related.

Looking for a specific word? Check out the archives with over 650 words to date.