"Won't this be an interesting subject for a column?," I thought.  Everyone is interested in eating and drinking, and I've filled in everything from Rumaki (for "party tidbit") to lasagna (for "Italian entree") to pecanpie (for "Dixie dessert") as a Crossword puzzle solver.   But we probably all agree that none of those answers would qualify under the heading of "frequently used words" in Crosswords.  So what sort of menu of "most often used words in Crosswords" do the puzzlemakers provide for us in the food and drinks category?  As we are about to discover, it's not bad.  Limited, perhaps, but very tasty.
 

EAT...Here's a word which may be the most beloved of the cluemeisters.  It fits so easily into a puzzle that we come across it much more often than merely occasionally.  Do you think it would be difficult to come up with a new clue for this word?  How about the following in just a few months?..."consume," "dine," "dig in," "devour," "gnaw," "gobble," "have a snack," "ingest," "patronize a trattoria," and "wolf down."  And for the plural, EATS, they added "diner sign" and "beanery sign" to the list.  Then for another little twist, a couple of them gave us "corrode" as their clue.  Cyrano describing his nose was barely this inventive.

Accepting the invitation to EAT, we can now move forward to check out what a menu compiled by Crossword composers might have to offer us.

ROE...Our Crossword meal begins on a note of class.  Roe is a word which falls easily into that "frequently used" category of words.  Usually the clue is a simple "caviar" or they might also refer to "lobster eggs" or "shad delicacy."  Click on the high-lighted word to find out all about what is probably the most expensive appetizer in the world.  Then you can return to this page to click on the above picture for even more information along with price listings.
 

HORS..."_ _ _ _ d'oeuvres" is a clue we see again and again.  A French term indicating something which is "outside the work (or meal)," it refers to the appetizers or canapes which are usually served at the beginning of a meal or as party and/or special occasion food.  A click on the high-lighted area of this paragraph will take you to a Washington State University site containing a definition along with pronunciation help for the term, and then by clicking on the accompanying picture of hors d'oeuvres you will be treated to a Canadian commercial site with an endless number of pictures and descriptions of these wonderful things to eat.

SALAD... It doesn't turn up often in puzzles, but once in a while the clue says "pre-entree course" or maybe "dieter's lunch".  We also might be invited to fill in the word CRESS  or on occasion even ENDIVE  for clues such as  "salad greenery" or "salad ingredient".  You can learn about these salad greens by clicking on one or the other of the names of these puzzle favorites, and by clicking on the picture of iceberg lettuce you'll find out how it is grown.
 
 

Now that we're past the appetizer and salad courses, we can move on to the Crossword composers' favorite entrees.  We'll skip the soup course since nothing of an "often used words" nature seems to apply.
 

 STEAK... It might turn up as "meat counter buy," or "cookout treat," or just plain "sliced beef."  My favorite clue for the word is "policemen's BBQ."  The answer:  STEAKOUT.  It must be difficult for a Crossword composer to come up with something that clever and then realize how fleeting it all is.  After a day or two everyone is on to the next puzzle and the "clever clue" is all but forgotten.  Incidentally, if you click on that picture of a succulent  steak just above, or on the word itself,  you will find yourself at the Omaha Steaks Home Page where you can then click on their Food Facts to find out about the various steak cuts.

I hope you all like steak, because once past that particular entree, the list from frequently used Crossword puzzle words becomes somewhat limited.  What we are left with are the following:

CHILI...Among the more recent clues I find "Red Hot _____ Peppers", "hot stuff", and "kind of dog".  Does anyone really prefer a chili dog to a barbecued steak?  Especially after being tricked by a clue like that last one.  Well, if you click on this picture of a pot of chili in the making you will find yourself at the home site of the Chili Appreciation Society International (CASI, for short), and quickly learn that there are people all over the world who prefer chili to almost anything you can name.
 
 

TACO...Here's an item which has really taken off in puzzles during the past few years.  It's usually a "Mexican dish" or "Mexican fare", but I've also seen it referred to as "Chihuahua chow" and "guacamole's place".  Too delicious to ignore, it can also be a bit messy to eat and with that in mind an Arizona restaurant of note has provided us with a series of pictures on how to comfortably eat a taco.  Just click on the high-lighted word TACO to see what I mean.

SPAM...That's right, folks, I said SPAM.   As a "canned product since 1937" it has also been popular as a puzzle item since that date when it was offered to the world in a massive advertising campaign which obviously worked.   GIs during World War II became quite familiar with the "meal in a can," a description which has sufficed as a clue for most puzzle builders since that time.  A whole new era is upon us, however, and we now see it being clued as "junk e-mail".  The Hormel people themselves tell us about this computer age phenomenon. Click HERE to read what they have to say about it.

That's it for the main portion of the meal everybody.  Unless you'd like to order a vegetable with your steak, chili, taco or Spam.  Keeping to our "frequently used words in Crosswords" you have a choice of two.  The first is...

PEAS... This "garden vegetable" is a very popular "side dish" in many a puzzle, and in its plural use (PEAS) I have seen it several times referred to as an "example of likeness."  I have also seen it clued as "child's ammo", as "shooter shot", and as a "kind of brain".  Don't tell me our cluemeisters aren't inventive.  And if you are partial to snowpeas, which are tiny peas eaten along with their pod, that will be okay, too, since POD is a word used in Crosswords with almost equal frequency.  Our best information on the subject comes from major universities.  You can check out Texas A&M's take on PEAS by clicking on the high-lighted word and then see what the University of Illinois has to add by applying your "mouse" to their picture of peas shown above.

POD...It might be clued as "pea place" or "two peas in a _ _ _", and it also shows up quite often as either a "seed container" or a "seed holder".

All of which leaves us with our other choice of favorite Crossword vegetables which is...

OKRA... ,   Often we find OKRA clued in puzzles simply as "gumbo," but actually it is a vegetable which is said to have been brought to this country by African slaves in the early 1700s.
Answering more accurately to the clue description "Southern soup ingredient," it is probably even more accurate to note that it is a vegetable which is most often sliced and then fried in a cornmeal batter, much as fried eggplant (which it resembles in flavor) is prepared and served.  The Southern Food section of About.com tells us much more about OKRA.  Just click on the high-lighted word to reach them.

Still a bit hungry?  How about trying the bread basket which comes with the meal?  Keeping only to our "most often used words" rule doesn't give us a whole lot to chose from, but at least there is something.

RYE...  As it happens, this seems to be our only choice.  Well, I like rye bread, especially knowing that it comes in as many varieties as we are shown in the picture shown here.  Also it is pretty obvious that most of our puzzle makers agree.  There are clue references to "bread choice," "some bread," "pumpernickel ingredient," "bread grain," "cereal grain," and "deli choice."   Swingers amongst our cluemeisters also like to refer to it as a "saloon choice" or as "package-store ware," but a RYE whiskey reference doesn't seem to fit all that well into our cluemeister menu.  A Bakers Federation in Britain has a site with a history of bread which informs us that rye bread was intoduced to England by the Saxons and Danes about 500 a.d.  Click here on RYE to read more about it.

Butter would be nice for our rye bread, but the "frequently used words" waiter doesn't go along with that request and instead brings us...

OLEO...which is probably better for us anyway.  The clue writers seem to agree, often with a reference to "dieter's spread" along with "butter substitute," "bread spread," "butter's brother" and (are you ready for this one?) "it's sold in bars."  This last one is obviously the brain child of whoever decided RYE is a "saloon choice."

Thank goodness!  Dessert at last!  I wish we could order that pecan pie I talked about at the beginning of this column, but no such luck.  To stick with our rules we will just have to settle for a cookie.  You heard me...a cookie.

OREO...   This  "popular cookie"  is, quite obviously, a "sandwich cookie," a favorite puzzle item for years and years.  As every cookie aficionado knows, it is a "Hydroxalternative," and "it can be licked."   We could go on and on with clues for OREO which is most definitely a Crossword Hall of Fame candidate.  Click on the high-lighted word to check out their current website.

ICE.... Happily, our Crossword designers have provided us with an alternative...or maybe we can just have our OREO with this wonderful "Italian _ _ _".  It is indeed an "Italian refreshment" or "Italian treat" as well as being a "kind of cap or cream".  Click on the word or picture for Granita's website.  Naturally the clues for ICE extend far beyond those just given.  We also have been provided with "Pepsi cooler", "water cooler", "Frost's 'Fire and _ _ _'", "rocks in a glass", "top tortes", "clinch", and "Hamill's milieu" (following the Salt Lake City Olympics will the clue now become "Sarah Hughes' milieu"?).   If we add the D to make it ICED we have as clues "like a cupcake," "clinched," and "some tea is."  Then, too, there is "cake decorator" (ICER), "in reserve" (ONICE), and "not straight up" (OVERICE).

With what we are now about to receive, may we never again complain about anything we are given in the name of "frequently used" Crossword food words.  Just get a load of the Crossword Fruit and Cheese Tray.

BRIE....It's a "French cheese" and a "soft cheese" and a "runny cheese," and it has oozed its way into many a puzzle over the years.

EDAM....This "famous Dutch cheese" is a "mild, yellow cheese" and also a "tray cheese" in addition to being a "red-coated cheese."  Very popular with the clue writers, it probably appears in puzzles much more often than any of the other cheeses.

 FETA....Third in line above is the "Greek cheese" which is a "soft, white goat's milk cheese."

SWISS....This final "cheese choise" is often clued as "Emmental," but is actually a "white, hard, holey cheese" which is, in fact, an American version of the Swiss Emmental cheese.

With that fine choice of cheeses we will now check out what our Crossword cronies can give us by way of  fruit to accompany the cheese.  I was going to say "frequently used" fruit, but it doesn't sound quite right.

PEAR....By far the most popular of fruits with the Crossword crowd, it might appear in a puzzle as "bosc" or as "Anjou or Seckel".  It could also be a "compote fruit" or an "item for a still life", and I've even seen the clue writer refer to its "diamond shape".

BOSC....This one turns up very often and rather obviously simply as "pear".

APPLE....Usually just the "_ _ _ _ _ a day" will suffice as the clue,  but recently I ran across "cobbler necessity", which works rather well, too.

KIWI...."Chinese gooseberry" is its usual designation, and any reference to "fruit from New Zealand" will probably prompt a strong letter of protest from the California Kiwifruit Commission.

That's it for the FOOD portion of the column, and you'll be happy to discover that DRINK covers a lot less territory.  It may be a bit disconcerting when our waiter's offer of a beverage is for "tea, ale or Nehi" rather than the more familiar "coffee, tea or milk."  Well, at least there is the

TEA....   This "brewed drink" is a "beverage" which has found its way into Crossword puzzles for decades.  Often being credited as a  "British brew", and designated by individual type such as "oolong or pekoe",  it also appears as a "Sri Lanka export".    There are also clue references to plays and movies ("_ _ _ and Sympathy"), popular songs ("_ _ _ for Two"), and even historical events ("Boston _ __ Party").  Clicking on high-lighted words will take you to interesting informational sites and a click on the picture of teapot and teacup leads to The Tea Council of Britain with an equally interesting site.

 ALE....  If you care for something a little stronger than tea, this "London libation" is a "heady brew" which just might fill the bill.  Puzzle clues have given us dozens of pub references such as "pub brew", "pub pint", "pub offering", "pub choice", "pub preference" and "pub quaff".  It has also turned up as an "alternative to lager", a "Steinful", a "pitcherful, maybe", and "porter".
 If you click on the CAMRA logo above, you will discover just how concerned the British have become about maintaining proper brewing standards for their ALE.

NEHI....As a "nostalgic soft drink name" for  a "certain grape soda", this brand of "soda pop" became especially popular during the 1980s as the television MASH star "Radar's favorite drink".

We can include a few more drinks, even though they turn up none too frequently in puzzles.  There's ADE, identified as a "summertime fruit drink", a "curb-side quaff", an "orange add-on", and also as "punch's cousin".  It is also currently referenced as a "citrus cooler" which you will discover more about by clicking on the high-lighted ADE.

Or perhaps you'd just like to order a BEER, which is "draft, maybe" or "Miller, for one" as well as "ginger or root".  Also, like TEA, it is a "brewed drink".  Don't forget, however, that BEER is also a "kind of belly".

And finally there is TANG, once the "favorite drink of astronauts", but today being relegated to just part of the "supply on old spaceships".  It has now also returned to being just plain "zest" or a "citric quality".

If this column has whetted your appetite, perhaps you'd like to have a look at the WHO COOKED THAT UP? page on HAMBURGERS.   Just click on the high-lighted word to be served immediately.

If you are into online crosswords, and have a Java-powered browser, you might like to try Timothy Parker's Universal Crossword.  Just click on the logo below.

Copyright 1998 C. Schnebel, Revised 2002
All rights reserved

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