History Main / CrosswordPuzzle

* Played with in the Series/DoctorWho EighthDoctorAdventures: Fitz is extremely good at crossword puzzles. He's probably cleverer than average, but not that brainy. His secret? He's an ArtificialHuman; for some reason, even though he [[LivingForeverIsAwesome wishes he'd got immortality]] for [[LossOfIdentity his trouble]], he just developed [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway a knack for crosswords and anagrams]].[[hottip:* :He also plays guitar (and sings and writes his own songs) and speaks Chinese, but it never, ever, ever [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman Looks Like A Job For Aquaman]]. Not that he's useless, of course, but he never gets much use out of his unusual skills. Other characters find his musical abilities impressive, but there's never a need for ThePowerOfRock.]]
** In the ''Series/DoctorWho''/''SherlockHolmes'' crossover novel ''[[VirginNewAdventures All-Consuming Fire]]'', the Third Doctor is doing the ''Times'' crossword in the Silent Room of the Diogenes Club (the crossword hasn't been invented yet, but he's got a newspaper from the future). The Seventh Doctor holds up a sign with one of the answers on it, causing Third to exclaim in annoyance and be ejected.

* ''XiaolinShowdown''

* In ''AmericanPsycho'', Patrick Bateman fills in one crossword with "meat" and "bone", over and over again, because he's [[{{Understatement}} slipping.]]

* In an episode of ''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...]]

* In an episode of ''CornerGas'', a Tarot card reader refers to the 18th letter of the alphabet and Wanda immediately says, "R!" Everyone looks at her strangely and she says, "I do thirty crosswords a day."

* The third HarryPotter book would have been something of a drag if not for Sirius Black's fondness for crossword puzzles.

* ''Nothing Nice to Say'' featured a short appearance of a crossword puzzle where all the words are ''{{RoboCop}}''.
* It's used similarly in ''Fans!'' to establish Hilda as a bona fide genius when she does the New York Times crossword. In pen. Strictly from the bottom up. While conducting a job interview. Because it helps her ''relax''.

* British crosswords resemble snaking mazes with clues that require a working knowledge of mythology and literature, with cryptic clues layered with double meanings (non-cryptic crosswords are known as "quickie" crosswords). A character seen completing [[BritishNewspapers ''The Times'' or ''The Guardian'']] crossword (or, in extreme cases, ''[[RadioTimes The Listener]]'') will be '''very''' smart. In contrast, a character shown doing crosswords in ''The Sun'' will be ridiculed.

* Played with in the DoctorWho EighthDoctorAdventures: Fitz is extremely good at crossword puzzles. He's probably cleverer than average, but not that brainy. His secret? He's an ArtificialHuman; for some reason, even though he [[LivingForeverIsAwesome wishes he'd got immortality]] for [[LossOfIdentity his trouble]], he just developed [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway a knack for crosswords and anagrams]].[[hottip:* :He also plays guitar (and sings and writes his own songs) and speaks Chinese, but it never, ever, ever [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman Looks Like A Job For Aquaman]]. Not that he's useless, of course, but he never gets much use out of his unusual skills. Other characters find his musical abilities impressive, but there's never a need for ThePowerOfRock.]]
** In the ''DoctorWho''/''SherlockHolmes'' crossover novel ''[[VirginNewAdventures All-Consuming Fire]]'', the Third Doctor is doing the ''Times'' crossword in the Silent Room of the Diogenes Club (the crossword hasn't been invented yet, but he's got a newspaper from the future). The Seventh Doctor holds up a sign with one of the answers on it, causing Third to exclaim in annoyance and be ejected.

* American crosswords are typically interlocking grids, with a theme for the lengthier answers, while the rest of the puzzle features vocabulary tests. An American doing a crossword is likely to be portrayed as being of slightly-above-average intelligence, especially if it's the ''[[AmericanNewspapers New York Times]]'' crossword.

* The very first episode of ''TheBigBangTheory'' has Leonard complete a crossword in a few seconds as an EstablishingCharacterMoment (about 0:20 to 1:15 [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFS1F-3XVtk here]]).

* The very first episode of ''TheBigBangTheory'' has Leonard complete a crossword in a few seconds as an EstablishingCharacterMoment (about 0:20 to 1:15[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFS1F-3XVtk here]]).

# The person who constantly asks the other person in the room, "What's a 11-letter word that means 'mercenary captain?'" [[hottip: It's 'condottiere']] 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.

# The person who constantly asks the other person in the room, "What's a 11-letter word that means 'mercenary captain?'" 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.

** ''The Cross-Wits''

* ''[=~Jeopardy!~=]'' regularly uses "Crossword Clues [letter]" as a category, where each clue is phrased as a crossword puzzle clue, and all five [[strike:answers]] questions begin with the same letter.

* The documentary ''Wordplay'' revolves around the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament and the oddballs who compete in it; it also features interviews with celebrity crossword buffs like [[TheDailyShow Jon Stewart]].

* ''{{Wordplay}}'' is a documentary about Crossword puzzle players and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. It also features interviews with Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Jon Stewart and Ken Burns, all avid crossword puzzlers.

# The person who constantly asks the other person in the room, "What's a 14-letter word that means 'mercenary captain?'" 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.

* {{Wordplay}} is a documentary about Crossword puzzle players and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. It also features interviews with Bill Clinton, Bob Dole, Jon Stewart and Ken Burns, all avid crossword puzzlers.

* In the recent novels of the {{Discworld}} series, the ''Ankh-Morpork Times'' publishes British-style cryptic crosswords, which Lord Vetinari enjoys. As with many British crossword compilers, the ''Ankh-Morpork Times'' setter goes by an appropriate pseudonym, in this case simply "Puzzler". (The founder of this trend in RealLife was "Torquemada" of ''The Observer''.)

** Note that crossword puzzles in {{Discworld}} apparently pre-date the ''Ankh-Morpork Times'', as Vimes compared the references Heralds work into coats-of-arms as "crossword clues" back in ''Discworld/{{Feet of Clay}}''.

* A few {{game show}}s have been based on thematic crosswords:

** ''Lexi-Cross'', which combined ''WheelOfFortune'' with ''The Cross-Wits''
** ''MervGriffinsCrosswords''
* ''{{Jeopardy}}!'' regularly uses "Crossword Clues [letter]" as a category, where each clue is phrased as a crossword puzzle clue, and all five [[strike:answers]] questions begin with the same letter.

* ''{{Series/Heroes}}'' uses a crossword to introduce Charlie's superpower of perfect memory. The sheriff struggling with the puzzle says he wants to shoot Will Shortz, perplexing the large fraction of the viewing public that doesn't know the name of the New York Times crossword editor.

--> '''[[CloudCuckooLander Phoebe]]:''' "Radiator."

* A SundayStrip of ''MoonMullins'' had Kayo writing his own crossword. Lord Plushbottom commented that it must be very hard; Kayo said, "nah, it's easy." Kayo showd LP the crossword with answers such as "RJHIEPOQ" and "VZK." Kayo said, "Making the crossword is easy. What's ''hard'' is writing the clues."

[[AC:Theater]]

-->'''Jack Spicer''': What's a four-letter word for "idiot"?
-->'''Wuya''': "Jack".
-->'''Jack Spicer''': ...''Perfect''.
* In 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 its not that impressive since her dad does the same thing, Sheen reveals that the crossword puzzle is from the Beijing Times.

** In the ''DoctorWho''/''SherlockHolmes'' crossover novel ''All-Consuming Fire'', the Third Doctor is doing the ''Times'' crossword in the Silent Room of the Diogenes Club (the crossword hasn't been invented yet, but he's got a newspaper from the future). The Seventh Doctor holds up a sign with one of the answers on it, causing Third to exclaim in annoyance and be ejected.

* The ''Dean Koontz's Frankenstein'' series contains Randal Six, an ArtificalHuman designed with autism who finds comfort in crosswords (imposing the order of letters in empty boxes soothes his anxiety). He escapes his cell by mentally turning the floor tile into crossword letters. When the tiles run out, [[spoiler:he closes his eyes and draws crossword grids on the floor, and later learns that he can move freely for some reason when pushing a shopping cart.00