Crossword puzzles are a part of many people’s daily routines — mine included. What began as a casual hobby has grown into a years-long obsession, as evidenced by a 1,700-day streak (and counting). In my crossword experience, I’ve come to notice some words appear more often than others, and I’m not the only one who’s observed this.

In 2013, former New York Times product engineer Michael Donohoe published data regarding the most common words in the NYT crossword from 1996 to 2012. In turn, visual data analyst Noah Veltman created a list of the most common answers, plus a separate category of words he felt demonstrated a special level of “crosswordiness” (his word). While this data is over a decade old at this point, the NYT crossword hasn’t changed in format, and I expect the data to have remained relatively consistent since 2013. In addition to being a word nerd, I can be a data nerd, too. Let’s dig into some of the most interesting findings. 

The most common crossword answers tend to be short, vowel-packed words. At the top of the list is “ERA,” appearing in 323 NYT puzzles during the aforementioned time span, which amounts to roughly 5% of the total puzzles. Rounding out the top five answers are “AREA, “ERE,” “ONE,” and “ELI.”

The reason those compact, vowel-heavy words are so common is that they provide a useful service to the crossword writers and editors. The people putting those puzzles together need a way to connect the longer, more distinctive words, and the most efficient way to do that is by implementing these briefer, more malleable pieces. 

In other words, the shorter a word is, the likelier it is to fit into those parts of the puzzle where there’s limited space. Also, the more vowels, the better, given how common those letters are in the English language. A word such as “ERE” is perfect because it can easily connect two longer words, so long as each of them contain an “E” — the most common letter in the English language.

In 2018, engineer Jonathan Tan provided an update to support Donohoe and Veltman’s original findings, expanding the data to include 1994 through 2017. The results showed the same five words listed above still topped the list. That said, Tan’s findings showed each of those words has declined slightly in its frequency since 1994, though “ERA” continues to appear in more than 20 NYT crossword puzzles each year.

What exactly does “crosswordiness” mean? Veltman coined this term to describe a certain type of crossword answer that appears particularly often, and he even devised a scientific formula to back it up. 

The easiest way to define the term comes from Veltman himself, who says, “Crossword puzzlers know that certain words that never show up in real life pop up in crosswords all the time.” In other words, words that exude “crosswordiness” are far more useful as puzzle answers than they are in any practical quotidian (a crosswordy word meaning “daily”) scenarios.

The data shows “ASEA” — meaning “on the ocean” or “in the direction of the sea” — exudes the most “crosswordiness.” This is followed by “SMEE” — the name of a pirate character in Peter Pan. In third place is “URSA,” a constellation-related answer that’s often paired with the clue “___ Major” or “___ Minor.” Personally, I always found the words “EWER” and “EPEE” (“a large jug with a wide mouth” and “a sharp-pointed dueling sword, respectively)” to fit this category, though according to Veltman’s formula, they don’t rank as highly as I would’ve guessed.

Looking to improve your crossword skills but don’t know where to begin? Familiarizing yourself with the most common words is a good first step, but that’ll only get you so far. 

To take your crossword skills to the next level, you’ll need a greater understanding of how the clues are written. Some clues contain built-in hints meant to guide you, so here are a few tips:

• If the clue is plural, so is the answer.
• If the clue contains a list connected by the word “and,” the answer is also plural. If the list is connected by “or,” the answer is singular.
• If the clue is in a foreign language, the answer will be in the same language (minus any accent marks or other diacritics).
• If the clue mentions a city or country (e.g., “Money, in Mexico”) the answer will likely be in the predominant language spoken there (“DINERO”).
• If the clue is in italics, it relates to the puzzle’s overall theme. These answers may be a bit cryptic on their own, but they will coalesce into a theme once taken all together.
• If a clue ends in a question mark, the answer likely has an unexpected meaning that incorporates some sort of wordplay (e.g., a double entendre or pun).

Follow these tips, brush up on some common crossword answers, and you’ll be well on your way to becoming a skilled cruciverbalist in no time.

One of the simplest ways to instantly level up your communication is to diversify your vocabulary choices. By swapping in more sophisticated words, you can sharpen your arguments and impress your audience. 

Adverbs provide a versatile avenue to sprinkle in new words, as they modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs. However, the most commonly used adverbs are “very” and “really,” which is a shame because they don’t add much to the conversation. Another overused adverb is the topic of much debate among word nerds — is it OK to use “literally” in a figurative sense? Many respected dictionaries say yes, but we encourage you to keep it to casual usage, especially if you’re trying to increase the intellectual impact of your speech. Well-deployed adverbs typically answer the key questions of the sentence — how, when, or where. This list of “smart” adverbs can help elevate your tone as you answer those details. 

The beauty of these “smart” words lies not in their syllable count but in their precision. They don’t just make you sound smart — they help you express yourself more clearly and elegantly. Songwriter Tom Waits once said, “I like to think that my main instrument is vocabulary.” So whether you’re trying to impress at a dinner party or seeking the best way to convey your message in writing, these words will serve you well.

“I forgot my umbrella, ergo I was soaked.”

“Traffic was terrible, hence the delay.”

“It was rather cold yesterday, despite the sunshine.”

“That was indubitably the best coffee I’ve ever had.”

“I live vicariously through her Instagram posts.”

“The meeting was ostensibly about budget cuts, but really about office politics.”

“We tacitly agreed that no one would mention the incident.”

“I seldom use words I do not understand.”

“He won presumptively, pending the recount.”

“Our opinions on pineapple pizza are diametrically opposed.”

“He willfully ignored my advice about wearing sunscreen and now resembles a lobster.”

“The story about ducklings was entertaining, even if it was just tangentially related to the budget meeting.”

“He invariably arrives 10 minutes late with a latte in his hand.”

We’ve all seen them — pedestrians creeping out into the intersection against the light, ready to dash across the street, or folks running across the roadway in the middle of a block. It’s a risky (even illegal in many places) practice, but it has a cutesy nickname. This thrill-seeking pedestrian practice is known as “jaywalking.” 

“Jaywalker” is the noun version of the intransitive verb “jaywalk,” which means “to cross a street carelessly or at an unusual or inappropriate place or in a dangerous or illegal direction so as to be endangered by the traffic.” Some cities have bigger jaywalker populations than others, especially those with major city centers such as New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Mumbai, and Seoul. 

The “jay” in the first half of the word is a type of bird, but when the term was coined, “jay” also meant “a person lacking experience (as in city ways) or polish; an unsophisticated, countrified, or gullible person.” It’s old-fashioned slang now, but in the early 20th century, a jay in a new city didn’t understand the rules and might have embarrassed themself. 

Before we had jaywalkers, though, jay-drivers were the scourge of the road — these were horse-carriage drivers who drove on the wrong side of the road. Then cars started infiltrating American cities and the term “jaywalker” entered the lexicon. In a 1911 article in the Kansas City Star, a writer spoke out against New Yorkers: “Kansas City used to consider itself a town of jay walkers. That is another line in which New York deserves the discredit of being at the front of the procession.” 

In this context, the jaywalker is someone who walks in a disorganized manner purely on the sidewalk. Like its predecessor jay-driver, the original jaywalker was a pedestrian who didn’t stay in their proper lane. In a twist on the definition of the word, the insult of “jay” was applied to New York city-dwellers ruining the orderly nature of Kansas City. 

The word “jaywalking” eventually evolved to apply to pedestrians leaving the sidewalk and bringing their disorderly ways out into the street. Many towns and cities have specific ordinances against jaywalking, which has preserved the terminology in the lexicon. Despite the perseverance of the word, we can’t condone the practice — don’t be a jay, and look both ways when you cross the street. 

A brownie point is an unabashed win — you get credit for trying or succeeding at something. However, getting a brownie point does not mean you get an actual brownie. But even with no sweet treat involved, there’s an interesting history behind the idiom. 

Before there were points, brownies popped up in fairy tales as good-natured elves who performed helpful household tasks. You can find the use of this word with this definition in Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë: “You talk of my being a fairy; but, I am sure, you are more like a brownie.” Young girls who were taught how to do household chores would earn the helpful-elf moniker. 

The definition of a brownie point is “a credit regarded as earned especially by currying favor (as with a superior).” The key to understanding the origin is knowing that technically the “B” could be capitalized: a Brownie point. The Girl Scouts were founded in 1912 in Savannah, Georgia, by Juliette Gordon Low, and the group has grown over the past century from 18 members to a global organization with multiple tiers for all ages of girls and young women. “Brownies” is the name for the junior level of the Girl Scouts, for young girls in second and third grade, usually ages 7 to 9. The fairy-tale elves are the origin of the group’s name. 

Enter, the Brownie point. In 1944, a Pennsylvania newspaper reported on a gathering of Brownie Girl Scouts: “The girls gave Brownie dances and sang Brownie songs. Awards were given to Lois Ginhaman and Helen Romig for attendance and Brownie points.” In the modern Girl Scouts organization, members receive patches in recognition for their achievements, not Brownie points.

Is this one local news report enough evidence to support the origin of the idiom? The mid-20th-century timing is right, and the Girl Scouts are popular enough that it’s plausible. It’s likely that the helpful reputation of the elves combined with the Girl Scout rewards to create the idea of “brownie points” for extra credit.