History Main / CrosswordPuzzle

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

'''Calvin:''' I know. [[CompletelyMissingThePoint These idiots make you write real small]].

* 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.''

* On ''Series/FraggleRock'', Madame Trashheap was working on a crossword and needed a 12-letter word for life of the party. The answer, she claims, is her uncle Maximilian (spelt with a silent Q).

* On ''Series/FraggleRock'', Madame Trashheap was working on a crossword and needed a 12-letter word for life of the party. The answer, she claims, is her uncle Maximillian (spelt with a silent Q).

* ''Series/StargateSG1'' features an episode where, after O'Neill downloads the entire Ancient database into his brain (again), has him filling 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 Creator/HaroldLloyd film ''Film/TheFreshman'' gives Lloyd's character and his love interest a MeetCute involving one of these as they ride a train together.

** ''Panorama''/"panoramic crossword": Large crosswords which take up the whole page and have big squares. The hints are embedded directly inside the crossword (written into the "blank" squares, with a small arrow pointing towards where to write the answer). They're usually easy and feature a lot of short words, and tend to be stereotypically associated with housewives and elderly people.

** These types of crosswords are described by Internet humorist Lore Sjoberg as involving [[http://www.bookofratings.com/pencilpuzzles.html "anagrams, wordplay, and trafficking in the occult"]].

* 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.

-->'''Robin:''' 5 across is "impel."
-->'''Barry:''' Eh?
-->'''Robin:''', "Egg on", five letters - "impel". Not "toast".

-->'''Robin:''' 15 across, "Egg on", five letters, is going to be "impel". Not "toast".

->''Q. What's pink and hard in the morning?''\\

* Barry in ‘’Series/TheSmokingRoom’’ whiles his break times away doing crossword puzzles, usually getting the answers wrong and asking Robin for help.
-->‘’’Robin:’’’ 15 across, “Egg on”, five letters, is going to be “impel”. Not “toast”.

—> ‘’’Robin:’’’ 15 across, “Egg on”, five letters, is going to be “impel”. Not “toast”.

[[folder:FanFiction]]
* A ''Anime/TenchiMuyo'' fanfic has one character working out a crossword to show her intelligence, playing the trope itself straight. (Japanese crossword puzzles being done in hiragana or katakana (phonetic writing), of course.)
[[/folder]]

** In the Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures/''Literature/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.

->''Q. What's pink and hard in the morning?''
->''A. The Financial Times crossword.''

'''Landlady:''' [doing a crossword puzzle] System of government categorized by extreme dictatorship. Seven across.\\

'''Landlady:'''[thinks about it] Oh... bless you!

-->'''Watson''': 1 Across. A simple source of citrus fruit, 1, 5, 4. \\
'''Holmes''': A lemon tree, my dear Watson.\\
'''Watson''': 2 Down. Conservative pays ex-wife maintenance. 7, 4. \\
'''Holmes''': Alimony... alimony Tory, my dear Watson.

* ''Series/{{Friends}}'', paraphrased from memory:
--> '''[[UnluckyEverydude Ross]]:''' A word for a heating device.
--> '''[[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Phoebe]]:''' "Radiator."
--> '''Ross:''' Five letters.
--> '''Phoebe:''' ...Rdtor.

* One ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'' strip featured Calvin attempting to solve a crossword puzzle. He was not very good at it. To paraphrase:
--> '''Calvin''': A type of bird...I've got it! "Yellow-bellied sapsucker!"
--> '''Hobbes''': But there are only five boxes.
--> '''Calvin''': I know. [[CompletelyMissingThePoint These idiots make you write it real small]].

* ImSorryIHaventAClue: The chairman comments on crosswords thus:
-->'''Humph''': It seems that soon Sudoku will all but wipe out traditional games, such as the Telegraph’s cryptic crossword, in which you have to solve such brain-teasers as "Erasmus enigmatically produces visceral calisthenic (18 letters)" to win a book token, or the Sun’s "Furry animal that meows (3 letters - first letter C, last letter T, middle letter A)" which if a Sun reader gets it right wins them a speed boat.

--> '''Strong Bad''': I don't care about the crosswords, man, just the jumbles, the jumbles!

-->'''Jack Spicer:''' What's a four-letter word for "idiot"?
-->'''Wuya:''' "Jack".
-->'''Jack Spicer:''' ...''Perfect''.

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