# Largest contiguous crossword **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 19, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913 "2008-05-19T23:36:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2008, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/1 "2008-05-19T23:36:37Z")
What’s the largest known contiguous crossword square in English? By this I mean an n×n array of letters, such that each row and each column contains an English word when read left to right and top to bottom, respectively. Example of a 3×3 square: ```auto pet ere age ``` The above contains the six words pet, ere, age, pea, erg, and tee. I’m sure it would be pretty easy to construct a 4×4 square. Maybe even 5×5. Has anyone come up with anything larger? What’s the largest such square with no words repeated? What’s the largest such m×n rectangle? ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 7:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/2 "2008-05-20T07:41:14Z")
The term you want is [Word square](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Word_square). Or more specifically, since you want different horizontal and vertical words, a double word square. The Wiki page (linked above) says the largest is of order 8, although they don’t give the example. If you really need it, I can post the Jeff Grant square it mentions, since I have the Word Ways issue. I’m not much into word squares, but I can put you in touch with Jeff, if you really want to pursue the subject. (Unfortunately, Rex Gooch, who did a lot work on word squares, has passed on to the great logological place in the sky.) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/3 "2008-05-20T12:37:56Z")
Cool; thanks for the info. A related question: what’s the smallest possible English Scrabble game which uses every tile? By smallest, I mean area-wise; that is, able to be contained in an m×n rectangle on the board. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/4 "2008-05-20T13:41:07Z")
I saw the title and immediately thought of this: [The World’s Largest Crossword Puzzle, according to SkyMall.](http://skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=101813347&c=) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/5 "2008-05-20T17:57:58Z")
USA Today has a 4x4 one of these [every day online](http://puzzles.usatoday.com/quickcross/?POE=UCNQC). Admittedly, they often use the standard crossword-puzzle trickery like Roman numerals and proper names. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 9:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/6 "2008-05-21T09:40:34Z")
[QUOTE=psychonaut] A related question: what’s the smallest possible English Scrabble game which uses every tile? By smallest, I mean area-wise; that is, able to be contained in an m×n rectangle on the board. [/QUOTE] It’s possible that someone’s answered this at some time in Word Ways, but I checked the online list of articles [here](http://www.genius2000.com/wordways/author.html) and couldn’t find a likely article. However, that list just has the articles’ titles and has not been updated since 1997. Again, Jeff Grant may know, since he’s a serious Scrabble player (I’m not). I think I’ll point this thread out to Jeff, since he’s not a Straight Doper. Perhaps he’ll become one and reply. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [May 21, 2008, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/7 "2008-05-21T12:04:16Z")
[QUOTE=dtilque] It’s possible that someone’s answered this at some time in Word Ways, but I checked the online list of articles [here](http://www.genius2000.com/wordways/author.html) and couldn’t find a likely article. However, that list just has the articles’ titles and has not been updated since 1997. Again, Jeff Grant may know, since he’s a serious Scrabble player (I’m not). I think I’ll point this thread out to Jeff, since he’s not a Straight Doper. Perhaps he’ll become one and reply. [/QUOTE] That would be most appreciated; my subscription to _Word Ways_ lapsed a couple years ago. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/8 "2008-05-22T05:46:57Z")
I emailed Jeff and he managed to find this [pdf document](http://www.cross-tables.com/download/totalscrabble.pdf), that has, on page 72, all 100 tiles within an 8x14 area. Lots of other stuff there for the compleat Scrabble fanatic. He also confirms that the largest double word square is indeed 8x8. ---
**Author:** ![lizardling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f4b2a3/32.png) [@lizardling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lizardling)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2008, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/largest-contiguous-crossword/449913/9 "2008-05-22T07:30:17Z")
[QUOTE=DrCube] I saw the title and immediately thought of this: [The World’s Largest Crossword Puzzle, according to SkyMall.](http://skymall.com/shopping/detail.htm?pid=101813347&c=) [/QUOTE] Heh. That one’s hanging on a wall in the lounge at work. We’ll see if it ever gets filled out. 😃