Double Crostic

puzzle

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Last updated

June 25, 2026

Quick Summary

A Double Crostic is a word puzzle where the solver fills in words based on definitions. The letters from these filled-in words are then copied into a numbered diagram. This process reveals a quotation, and the initial letters of the words in the first column spell out the author and title of the quotation's source.1

This puzzle is a type of acrostic, a verse composition where the initial letters of the lines form words. Double acrostics, specifically, have acrostics in both the answers to clues and in the final quotation. The puzzle was devised by Elizabeth Kingsley for the Saturday Review in 1934.2

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acrostic
In the United States, the Double Crostic puzzle, devised by Elizabeth Kingsley for the Saturday Review in 1934, had an acrostic in the answers to the clues giving the author and title of a literary work; the letters, keyed by number to blanks like those of a crossword puzzle, spelled…
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In the United States, the Double Crostic puzzle, devised by Elizabeth Kingsley for the Saturday Review in 1934, had an acrostic in the answers to the clues giving the author and title of a literary work; the letters, keyed by number to blanks like those of a crossword puzzle, spelled…
Read More