Drawing on their collective experience as crossword puzzle solvers and constructors and research background in linguistics, cognitive science, and computer science, their article explores the grammar of crossword entries. In particular, they identify the ways that syntactic constituency, syntactic categories, compositionality, and other forms of grammatical knowledge underpin the implicit norms of crossword puzzle entries (h/t also to Rachel Gutman-Wei AB ‘17 who helped shape the piece in her role as Senior associate editor there).

Interested in learning more on the linguistics of crosswords and other word games? Consider taking CLPS 0350 “Playing with Words: The Linguistic Principles Behind Word Games and Puzzles” with Scott in Spring 2024!