We apply the Crossword Test to see whether terms like ‘romantasy’ have entered general usage
Do you, when you encounter dictionary compilers’ lists of words of the year, wonder: does anyone actually use these phrases?
And are your suspicions heightened as more of the words must be offered with explanations: “to LAMEFARM is to feign being out of touch as a means of seeking attention, from a viral animation about a sassy talking nappy”? The best way of telling whether some phrase is known outside a small group of people is this: has it been used in a crossword puzzle?
Crossword setters fall over themselves to add fresh words to their grids. But setters and editors always put the solver’s interests first. We might use the language of combat, we might call compilers “torturers”, but this is just in fun: the solver is always supposed to win. A puzzle that could only be finished if the solver knew their GYATs from their SOCIAL BATTERY would be unsatisfying. And irritating. It would be a bad puzzle.for BRAT as an answer. None of these embraces the 2024 sense of BRAT , and it remains a word which I’ve heard explained a lot more than used. The closest we get is Methuselah …… who alludes to the album that started this, as part of a multiply funny clue for BRATWURST. So it’s a no for BRAT.
I reckon DELULU stands a chance of catching on and can envisage its being used to indicate an anagram. But the real word of the year, the only shortlisted phrase to have appeared in a crossword, is SUPERMAJORITY.
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