4 ms·

Major crossword offenders: ERR, ORCA, OBOE, ALOE, ORE, ODE

• Thorrez 9mo ago
  The middle 4 are all fairly common words. "Ode" isn't super common, but I hear it in "An ode to..." phrases. And "err" I've only ever heard in 1 phrase: "To err is human."
  • DamnInteresting 9mo ago
    See also: "Err on the side of caution."
  • thaumasiotes 9mo ago
    > The middle 4 are all fairly common words. That's not really the concept. People know what an orca is. But if you see a crossword clue that says "black and white animal", you know that the answer is ORCA without even needing to look at the number of letters in the answer. (Could it be "skunk"? Could it be "panda"? No, those are stupid questions.) Same thing if the clue is "marine predator". (Could that be "shark"? No.) The words I listed are incredibly likely to appear in crossword puzzles. That's what's weird about them.