Crossword editors test dictionaries’ words of the year; Rhea Seehorn and cheese feature

The Guardian crossword editor says a January test checks whether dictionaries’ words of the year have entered general use via puzzles. Of 2025’s winners, VIBE CODING (Collins) and PARASOCIAL (Cambridge) are not appearing in crosswords, the editor reports. The editor expects to see SLOP (Merriam-Webster) in its new AI-generated sense before long, describes Dictionary.com’s SIX-SEVEN as harder to nail down, and notes the rest align with Oxford’s RAGE BAIT, allowing them to mark 2025 as "another non-bumper crop." A new, annual brief amnesty after Christmas produced some striking grids, and one of 2026’s non-Guardian grids is already in place.

Pangakupu’s prize Genius puzzle in December used redundant words to spell almost the entire quotation "Poets have been mysteriously silent on the subject of cheese," which explains why entries such as GRUMBLIER and RIOT ACT must appear as LIMBURGER and RICOTTA, and why CHESTERTON is hiding in the fifth column.

The editor says January’s Genius appears in January for a reason and is available now. The editor also responds to a Stuart Heritage profile line quoting Rhea Seehorn and notes that since April 2024 the crossword team has "given away the code": the quick cryptic uniquely shows how the wordplay works, intended to lead solvers on to the quiptic, then Monday puzzles and the Genius series.

Key Topics

Culture, Crossword Puzzles, Rhea Seehorn, Genius Puzzle, Chesterton, Parasocial