Crossword puzzles are basically a mental tug-of-war between you and an editor who is likely sitting in an office somewhere, laughing at your struggle. You’re staring at the grid. The pen is hovering. You see it: colon at times crossword. It’s short. It’s usually three or four letters. Your brain immediately goes to anatomy or maybe punctuation, and that is exactly where the constructor wants you to fail.
Honestly, the "colon" in this context is almost never about the large intestine. It’s a classic crossword trick—the "hidden capital" or the "sneaky synonym." In the world of The New York Times, LA Times, or USA Today puzzles, words like colon, polish, or august change meaning entirely based on whether they are capitalized or where they sit in a sentence. When you see "colon" in a clue, you have to stop thinking about your gut and start thinking about currency.
The Most Common Answer for Colon at Times Crossword
If you are stuck on a three-letter word, the answer is almost certainly COL. This is the standard abbreviation for a Colonel. It’s a military rank. In this specific wordplay, "colon" isn't a body part; it's a shortened form of a military title. You’ll see this frequently in puzzles edited by Will Shortz or Patti Varol. They love these because they look like one thing but act like another.
Sometimes, though, the puzzle is looking for something else. If the clue is "colon at times" and you have four boxes, the answer might be ESTO. Why? Because the colon is the official currency of Costa Rica (the Colón) and, formerly, El Salvador. In Spanish, "esto" means "this," but more importantly, crosswords often use currency names to fill tricky vowel-heavy spots. However, the more direct currency answer is usually just COLON itself, often clued as "Costa Rican coin" or "San José cash."
If you see a five-letter requirement, you might be looking at PUNCT. It’s rare, but it happens. This refers to the colon as a piece of punctuation. Crossword constructors are notorious for using abbreviations that aren't used in real life just to make a corner work. You've probably noticed that by now.
Why Do Constructors Use This Clue?
Constructors like Brendan Emmett Quigley or Elizabeth Gorski use these types of clues to "gatekeep" the harder sections of a puzzle. It's about "misdirection." Misdirection is the bread and butter of crossword difficulty. If every clue were a direct definition, you’d finish the Saturday NYT in five minutes.
Think about the word "colon" for a second. It has three distinct meanings that are fair game for a puzzle:
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- A part of the digestive system.
- A punctuation mark (:).
- A unit of currency in Central America.
- A shortened version of a military rank (Colonel).
When a clue adds "at times" or "briefly," it’s a massive neon sign telling you that the answer is an abbreviation or a specific instance of the word. "At times" is crossword-speak for "this isn't the primary definition you're thinking of."
Deciphering the Punctuation Angle
Sometimes the clue isn't looking for a synonym, but rather an example of what a colon does. If the answer is RATIO, you’re looking at the colon used in mathematics (1:2). If the answer is LIST, the puzzle is hinting at the colon’s job in a sentence—to introduce a list.
You have to look at the surrounding words. Is the puzzle theme related to math? Is it related to grammar? If you’re filling out a Tuesday puzzle, the answer is likely literal. If it’s a Friday or Saturday, prepare for the "colon" to be a reference to a person named Colon (like Bartolo Colón, the pitcher) or something equally obscure.
Actually, Bartolo Colón is a great example of how sports and crosswords collide. If the clue is "Pitcher Colon," and the answer is BARTOLO, you've moved out of the realm of punctuation and into "proper noun territory." This is why a broad knowledge base is better than just a large vocabulary when tackling these grids.
The Currency Factor: More Than Just Costa Rica
Let's talk about the Salvadoran colón. El Salvador officially adopted the U.S. dollar in 2001, but the colón still appears in crosswords constantly. Why? Because the letters C-O-L-O-N are incredibly "friendly" for a grid. They are common letters that allow a constructor to bridge different sections of the puzzle.
In many older puzzles, or those that lean on "crosswordese" (words that appear in puzzles more than in real life), you’ll find the colón mentioned alongside the lira, the yen, and the dinar. It’s part of the standard toolkit. If you’re a regular solver, you just memorize these. You don't even think about the money anymore; you just see the clue and your hand writes the letters automatically.
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Strategies for Solving Tricky Wordplay
When you hit a wall with colon at times crossword, you should apply the "Substitution Test."
- Check the length. Three letters? It’s probably COL (Colonel).
- Check the "Abbr." tag. Does the clue end with "Abbr."? If so, definitely COL.
- Check for Spanish influence. Is there another clue in the puzzle that references Latin America? If so, the answer might be related to currency.
- Look for a "helper" word. If the clue is "Colon or semicolon," the answer might be MARK or SIGN.
Crosswords are a language of their own. You aren't just solving a puzzle; you’re learning the specific dialect of the person who wrote it. For example, if the puzzle is edited by Stanley Newman (who edits the Newsday Stumper), "colon" could be something wildly literal or a very obscure geographic reference, like a city in Panama.
Panama actually has a city named Colón. It’s at the Atlantic entrance to the Panama Canal. So, if the clue is "City near the canal," or "Panamanian port," the answer is COLON. This is the kind of trivia that separates the casual solvers from the people who compete at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in Stamford.
Common Pitfalls to Avoid
Don't get married to your first guess. This is the biggest mistake people make. You write down MARK because you're sure it's punctuation, and then the "down" clues don't fit. You start questioning the down clues instead of the "across" one.
In crossword logic, if something is "at times," it implies a conditional state. A Colonel is "Col." at times (when being written about briefly). A punctuation mark is a "colon" at times (when it isn't a comma). A currency is a "colon" at times (specifically in certain countries).
Also, watch out for the plural. "Colons at times" would likely lead to COLS. In geography, a "col" is also a mountain pass. So now we have another layer: a "col" is a physical gap in a mountain range. If the clue is "Mountain passes," the answer is COLS. If the clue is "Colonels," the answer is also COLS.
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The Evolution of Crossword Clues
The way we clue "colon" has changed. Back in the 1950s, clues were very dry. It would just be "Punctuation mark." Today, solvers want "sparkle." They want to be tricked. That’s why you get these weird, vague clues like colon at times crossword. It forces you to think about the word from multiple angles.
Constructors today use software like Crossword Compiler or Tea (The Expert's Assistant) to find words that fit, but the "clueing" is still a human art. A human has to decide to be mean. A human decides to make "colon" refer to a 19th-century printer or an obscure surgical procedure.
If you're ever truly stuck, look at the "crosses." The "crosses" are the words that intersect your problem word. In a well-constructed puzzle, if one clue is "hard" (ambiguous), the intersecting clues should be "easy" (definitional). If you can't figure out the colon clue, solve the words going up and down through it. The answer will reveal itself. It’s like a Sudoku made of letters.
Actionable Tips for Your Next Puzzle
Stop looking for the literal answer immediately. When you see a word that has multiple meanings—especially one that can be a name, a place, a currency, and a body part—run through the list of possibilities before you write anything down.
- Keep a "crosswordese" mental file. Words like COL, ESTO, LIRA, and ETUI are your best friends.
- Identify the "Qualifier." Words like "briefly," "for short," "at times," or "in a way" are clues about the format of the answer, not just the definition.
- Check for capitalization. If "Colon" is at the start of the clue, is it because it’s the first word, or because it’s a proper noun? If the clue is "Colon's currency," the capital C tells you it’s the country or the person, not the punctuation.
- Use the "Eraser Rule." If you're 90% sure but the crosses aren't working, you're 100% wrong. Erase it and start over with a different definition of the word.
The next time you sit down with the Sunday paper or open your crossword app, and you see that pesky colon clue, you’ll know it’s just a game of definitions. Whether it’s a military officer, a Costa Rican coin, or a mountain pass, you’ve got the tools to fill those boxes. Puzzles are meant to be solved, but they’re also meant to teach you that words are never as simple as they seem on the surface.