Yes, You Can Write More Than One Letter in a Square (2024)

Some solvers love them, some solvers hate them, but rebus elements pop up fairly often in late-week crosswords. A rebus can be a letter, a number or a symbol that represents a word, but in many crosswords, the rebus will be a word or group of letters that needs to be written inside a single square.

Newer puzzle solvers usually ask the following questions the first time they encounter a rebus:

• Wait, what? You’re allowed to put more than one letter or word in a square? Yes, but only when the puzzle calls for it. You can’t just do it randomly.

• Aren’t we supposed to be warned when a rebus exists in the puzzle? No, that’s part of the fun of solving.

• If more than one rebus exists in a square — and why do you do this to us? — is there a way to predict the order in which the rebus elements are supposed to be entered? Yes, there is. In most cases, the Across entry is entered first and then the Down entry. More on this later.

• How am I supposed to put more than one letter or word in a square if I am solving online or on my device? Keep reading. We answer that later, too.

What Kind of Rebuses Can I Expect?

You’ll find two kinds of letter-based rebus elements in a crossword.

Single Rebuses

A single rebus entry reads the same for both the intersecting Across and Down entries, like in this puzzle by Elizabeth Long from Dec. 1, 2011, where the word JACK was the rebus element.

In this case, the word JACK works for both the Across and Down entries, and the following rebus answers would be accepted:

• JACK

• J (The first letter)

Double, or Bidirectional, Rebuses

In a double rebus, two different rebus elements belong in the same square for the intersecting Across and Down entries, and each one reads only one way.

In the Dec. 7, 2023, puzzle by Rebecca Goldstein, solvers had to enter both the Across and Down entries in the same square, but the answers would work only when read in the correct direction.