crossword puzzle

UK: /ˈkrɒsˌwɜːd/ US: /ˈkrɔsˌwɝd ˌpʌzəl, ˈkrɑs-/

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

cross•word puz•zle /ˈkrɔsˌwɜrd ˌpʌzəl, ˈkrɑs-/  n. [countable]

1. Games a puzzle in which words corresponding to numbered clues or definitions are fitted into a pattern of horizontal and vertical squares, one letter per square, so that most letters form parts of two words.

Also called ˈcrossˌword. 

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

cross′word puz′zle, 

1. Games a puzzle in which words corresponding to numbered clues or definitions are supplied and fitted into correspondingly numbered sets of squares, one letter per square, the words being arranged horizontally or vertically so that most letters form part of two words.

• cross- + word, allegedly for earlier word cross 1910–15

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

crossword puzzle / ˈkrɒsˌwɜːd/ noun

1. a puzzle in which the solver deduces words suggested by numbered clues and writes them into corresponding boxes in a grid to form a vertical and horizontal pattern