# Crossword Puzzles in other languages

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzles-in-other-languages/778514>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 29, 2017, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzles-in-other-languages/778514 "2017-01-29T18:27:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\
**Post date:** [February 3, 2017, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzles-in-other-languages/778514/22 "2017-02-03T09:32:19Z")

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> [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](#):
>
> AFAIK only (North?) American crosswords have the symmetrical arrangement of light and dark squares.

In Spanish they may have symmetry; today’s grids in [El País](http://servicios.elpais.com/juegos/nuevos/crucigramas/) have a level two rotation, but I don’t know if they always use the same grid (they offer two difficulty levels, both of today’s have the same grid). The grid is more likely to be symmetrical for basic _crucigramas_ (one letter per square, definitions on the side) than for those which have one syllable in each white square or in those that have the definitions written inside the black squares (which can be letter-per-square or syllable-per-square).

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**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\
**Post date:** [March 20, 2017, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/crossword-puzzles-in-other-languages/778514/23 "2017-03-20T08:06:52Z")

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> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Maybe some variants do, but not in a standard American-style grid. The usual rule is that every letter must be a part of another clue and that word must be at least three letters long.
> 
> ETA:
> 
> [From Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crossword):

Note, I said “single word letters” not “single letter words”. I might be misremembering, but depending on where the black squares are I thought it was possible to have an answer in which the beginning or final letter does not appear in a crosswise answer.

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