Crossing Letters: A Four-Word Warm-up - Answers & Solutions
Complete answers for this easy crossword puzzle (4x4 grid, 8 clues).
Learn how one answer checks another. This 4×4 word square uses the same four words across and down, but gives each direction its own clues. It is a teaching exercise, not a standard newspaper crossword.
Worked solution and clue explanations (contains answers)
Start with a concrete definition
1 Across is BALL. Entering it supplies the first letters of all four Down answers: B, A, L, L. A correct answer helps four other clues at once.
Let grammar narrow the answer
6 Across asks you to do something: go first. LEAD is a verb here. The crossing clue at 3 Down asks for a metal, also spelled LEAD but pronounced differently.
Use the whole clue
2 Down asks for space measured in square metres, so AREA fits. An answer such as ACRE is also four letters, but names a unit rather than the space itself. The crossings resolve that tempting alternative.
Check the completed square
The Across answers are BALL, AREA, LEAD, LADY. In this exercise the Down answers repeat them. Read each Down clue again: the spelling can stay the same while the meaning changes.
Clues and explanations prepared for Play Crosswords with AI assistance. These exercises use word-square patterns; they are not NYT archive puzzles.
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Across Answers
- 1 Across: Round object passed between basketball players (4)
- BALL
- 5 Across: Length times width, for a rectangle (4)
- AREA
- 6 Across: Go first and show the way (4)
- LEAD
- 7 Across: Woman addressed politely as a ___ (4)
- LADY
Down Answers
- 1 Down: Object a goalkeeper tries to stop (4)
- BALL
- 2 Down: Space measured in square metres (4)
- AREA
- 3 Down: Metal whose chemical symbol is Pb (4)
- LEAD
- 4 Down: Title paired with Lord (4)
- LADY
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