History Main / CrosswordPuzzle

Also see HollywoodBoardGames (for TabletopGame-based characterization), SmartPeoplePlayChess, GeniusBookClub, and PastimesProvePersonality. SubTrope of GridPuzzle, the general trope for puzzles solved by arranging the elements of a grid. Compare MagicSquarePuzzle (a square array of integers that sum the same in each row, column, and main diagonal).

!!Useful Note:

Also see HollywoodBoardGames (for TabletopGame-based characterization), SmartPeoplePlayChess, GeniusBookClub, and PastimesProvePersonality. SubTrope of GridPuzzle, the general trope for puzzles solved by arranging the elements of a grid.

Also see HollyqoodBoardGames (for TabletopGame-based characterization), SmartPeoplePlayChess, GeniusBookClub, and PastimesProvePersonality. SubTrope of GridPuzzle, the general trope for puzzles solved by arranging the elements of a grid.

Also see HollyqoodBoardGames (for TabletopGame-based characterization), SmartPeoplePlayChess, GeniusBookClub, and PastimesProvePersonality.

Also see SmartPeoplePlayChess, GeniusBookClub, and PastimesProvePersonality.

# If the character does Sudoku instead, it connotes that the character is trendy and up on popular culture. Whether that's a good thing depends on context.

* ComicStrip/{{Blondie}} is often depicted doing a crossword while Dagwood watches television as they sit in the living room. (In later years she switched to sudoku instead.)

* James P. Hogan's ''[[Literature/GiantsSeries Giants' Star]]'' includes a cryptic crossword used to sneak information from Ganymede base to Earth.

[[caption-width-right:350:What's an eight-letter word for a [[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife site that will destroy you?]]]]

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* Played with in ''Film/HotFuzz!'' The landlady of the inn Nicholas Angel is staying at is reading out the description of a strong-armed authoritarian form of government (or something to that effect) while he, a strong-armed authoritarian police officer, is making his way in. Angel turns it around on her. Humourously called back in the final shoot out when they ''are'' used as insults.

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# The person who constantly asks the other person in the room, "What's a 11-letter word that means 'mercenary captain?'" [[note]] It's 'condottiere'[[/note]] Generally seen as someone who wants to be thought of as smart, but isn't quite making it. If they're asking, "What's a three-letter word that means 'feline?'", the character is meant to be not too bright at all.

* In ''ComicBook/BatmanHush'', The Riddler is seen to do a crossword puzzle without the clues. He seems to think it makes him look really intelligent, but it shows him for the fool he is--''the clues are there to tell the player what to think of.'' [[spoiler: The final reveals he used the inventor of the crossword puzzle's name - Arthur Wynne - as an alias when getting cancer treatment.]]
** Origin stories for ComicBook/TheRiddler has him displaying his first crime's clues on a city jumbotron in crossword puzzle form.

* In an episode of ''Series/JonathanCreek'', a psychic approaches a widow and tells her that her dead husband will answer five questions. Because her late husband had been good at crosswords, she demands that his ghost solve a clue from the day's crossword for her, and he does. [[spoiler: Of course, con artists can be good at crosswords too...]]

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' features an episode where, after O'Neill downloads the entire Ancient database into his brain (again), he fills in crossword spaces with what appears to be random gibberish, but are actually terms in Ancient. Then again, he also answers the clue 'celestial body' with 'Uma Thurman'... But that's Jack O'Neill for you.
* The fourth season of ''Series/StrangerThings'' opens with a man (whose face is not shown) going through his morning routine, including retrieving his newspaper, setting a timer, and completing the crossword before it goes off, suggesting that the mystery man has both high intelligence and a healthy ego. He turns out to be [[spoiler: [[MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate Dr. Martin Brenner]], who fits the bill on both counts.]]

** In another ''Series/BarneyMiller'' episode, Barney asks Dietrich (Main/TheSmartGuy) for help on a six-letter word meaning 'occupation on the floss' because 'dentist' has seven letters. [[spoiler: There's a novel ''Literature/TheMillOnTheFloss', so the answer could be 'miller', Barney's last name.]]

* A complex wordplay puzzle that ran in ''Games Magazine'', "Escape from the Dungeon," tasked the player with finding a weapon in a fantasy dungeon. A very small crossword puzzle was found in one room on a paper scroll. The puzzle was solvable (one clue was impossible to get, but could be deduced from the others and from the context), but that wasn't really the point. [[spoiler: The point was to take the crossword to a magician who removed letters from the fronts of words. Removing the C-R-O-S left you with a sword, completing the overall puzzle.]]

* ''VideoGame/NelsonTethersPuzzleAgent'': While none of the puzzles in the game directly involve crosswords, Nelson is shown to be a fan of crossword puzzles. He also uses a crossword as [[ThrowingTheDistraction a distraction]] when [[spoiler: Sheriff Bahg]], who is as puzzle-crazed as the other citizens of [[TownWithADarkSecret Scoggins]], has him at gunpoint.

** The "[[http://www.faans.com/crossover/ Crossover]]" arc is set up as a crossword puzzle at the end, with dialogue-free frames as the black squares, and the first letter in each square with dialogue as part of the puzzle's solution. The arc deals with a crossword puzzle convention, and also deals with Hilda's recent PTSD regarding crosswords. [[spoiler: (in a previous arc, Feddyg had kidnapped Hilda and tortured her by strapping a net to her face. The net resembled a crossword grid, so now thanks to Feddyg, she began to equate crossword puzzles with torture.)]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/JimmyNeutron'', Sheen is shown to be doing a crossword puzzle in ink in the episode where his brainpower is increased. When Cindy points out that it's not that impressive since her dad does the same thing, Sheen reveals that the crossword puzzle is from the Beijing Times.