Words you only ever see in crosswords

[ArwenUndomniel]

I'll start with the ones I see the most often.

Lea (meadow)
Col (mountain pass)
Etui (needle case)

I'm not saying they're not proper words but in real life I've never heard anyone calling a field a "lea". I think these must be popular with setters because they're short words that fit conveniently into a grid and there aren't any others that begin with e and end in i, for example.

What others can you think of?

Poi.

Eft (newt)

Reredos (a decorative screen in a church)

Assegai (a spear)

I don’t do crosswords but I’m glad I now know the meaning of the word Lea, there’s a place near here with 2 names, the second being Lea and it has a big meadow!

Urticaria (Hives).

Ennui

Era/s is also used a lot (in its classic sense, not in the Taylor Swift context).

Epee

Doge

And there's often an eel type creature. Can't think of the name.

(I do the Metro quick. Sometimes I can even crack some of the cryptic.)

Not to be confused with uhtcare which is lying awake before dawn and worrying about the coming day.

(Oh maybe that's the eel thing I'm thinking of!)

Oh yes, I forgot about the eft. And also in the animal kingdom, "erne" for a type of sea eagle.

I love a crossword but I’m a thicko and just about manage the daily mail ones. My sadly departed FIL was a whizz a cryptic ones and he tried to explain them to me several times. How do I even start trying to tackle them? Tips welcome 😬

Esurient

The mention of erne above has reminded me of eyrie.

The eel one might be elver, but I have heard that used in real life though.

Ewer

Download Minute Cryptic - one clue a day with hints available and a YouTube video explaining how to get to the answer. Bit by bit you can learn the various techniques.

Tar for sailor.

@catinboots26, always look at the words in a clue twice - for instance ‘flower’ might not mean what it looks like. It could be ‘something that flows’, so a river. I remember ‘Back number’ being an epidural. Something that numbs the back.

And if a clue mentions something being wrong, confused, twisted etc that probably means there’s an anagram.

Nostrum. Some sort of medicine

Adit, a mine entrance. I have never needed to use this word apart from in word puzzles but should I find myself at the entrance to a mine, I'll be ready with it!

The Times Quick Cryptic is worth a try for getting into cryptics. The actual answer is alnost always defined at the beginning or end of the clue and the rest of it gives hints for solving it. Look out for words that hint at anagrams like "confused" or "mixed" and if you see "originally" or "initially" it usually points towards a word being spelt out by first letters.

I haven't bought Puzzler in ages, but for a while it felt like every single crossword or arrow word included the answer 'ire' (anger)

Eddy for whirlpool

Poilu
Barchan
Mesa
Drey
Butte

The only one of those I've seen used in real life outside crosswords (or mostly forgotten geography/history lessons) is 'drey', and then only because I happen to live near a red squirrel reserve.

Otic something to do with the ear

@SanMarinoOutletExperience I live in an old mining area in Cornwall there are a lot little streets with Adit in the name

Not crosswords but I play online Scrabble, and most of the opponents are computer generated. It’s amazing how often the word they put down is an African antelope, or Ancient Peruvian coin currency.

Épée as in fencing weapon.

For learning how to do the cryptic, I've enjoyed the Guardian's quick cryptic, which only uses a few types of clue in one puzzle and explains which they will be. You can also use the website fifteen squared to check answers. I'm still crap but getting better slowly!