Crosswords are weird. You’re sitting there with a coffee, staring at four little empty white squares, and the prompt says done for crossword clue. It feels like a trick. Your brain immediately goes to "dead" or "over," but then you realize the "for" in that sentence is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It's not asking what the word "done" means; it's asking what someone is when they are "done for."
That’s the beauty—and the absolute frustration—of the New York Times or LA Times crossword puzzles. They don't just want a synonym. They want you to understand the specific idiom. Most of the time, the answer is iced, sink, or kaput. But context is everything. If you've ever felt like throwing your phone across the room because "ended" doesn't fit the grid, you're definitely not alone.
The Linguistic Trap of Done For
Linguists often talk about "semantic prosody," which is basically a fancy way of saying words have a certain vibe based on the company they keep. When you see "done for," it carries a sense of finality, usually with a dark or exhausted undertone. It’s a phrasal verb. That’s why the done for crossword clue is such a frequent flier in the Monday through Wednesday puzzles. It’s just hard enough to make you pause, but common enough that you should know it.
If the answer is four letters, you’re almost certainly looking at iced. This is old-school slang. Think 1940s noir films where a mobster says someone is "iced." In modern crosswords, editors like Will Shortz have leaned into this because the letter combination—I, C, E, D—is a goldmine for constructors. It helps them bridge the gap between difficult vertical answers.
However, if you're looking at five letters, the game changes. Kaput is the big winner here. Borrowed from the German kaputt, it entered the English lexicon and never left. It implies something is broken beyond repair. Your car is kaput. Your chances of winning the lottery are kaput. In the world of crosswords, this is a "gimme" once you see that K at the start.
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Why Constructors Love This Clue
Constructors are the people who actually build these grids, and honestly, they have a tough job. They need words that have common letters (E, T, A, I, O, N) to make the grid work. Done for crossword clue is a versatile prompt because it can lead to so many different linguistic corners.
Take the word goner. It’s five letters. It’s common. It fits perfectly into a corner of a puzzle where you need a G or an R to start a downward word. A "goner" is someone who is done for. It’s colloquial, it’s slightly nostalgic, and it’s a staple of the American crossword style.
- Four letters: ICED, COOK, SHOT
- Five letters: GONER, KAPUT, FINIS
- Six letters: RUINED, WASHED
You’ve probably noticed that cooked is starting to show up more often too. Language evolves. While "iced" feels like a black-and-white movie, "cooked" feels like modern internet slang, though it has roots going back decades. If you're "cooked," you're done for. You've lost the argument. You've failed the test.
The Difficulty Curve
Monday puzzles are supposed to be easy. You’ll see "done for" and the answer will be something simple like dead. By Saturday, the clues become intentionally devious. A Saturday constructor might use "done for" as a trick to lead you toward a household chore. Are you "done for" the day? Then you might be spent.
Is the clue "done for" or "done for!" with an exclamation point? That punctuation matters. An exclamation point usually signals that the answer is a piece of slang or a direct quote. If you see that little mark, start thinking about kaput or toast.
Honestly, the best way to get better at these is to stop thinking literally. Crosswords are a game of synonyms and puns. If you're stuck on a particular grid, look at the crossing words first. If the first letter is an S, it’s probably spent or sunk. If it’s a T, you’re looking at toast.
Common Answers and Their Nuances
There’s a subtle difference between being sunk and being toast. In crossword logic, "sunk" usually refers to a situation—like a business deal or a plan. "Toast" is more personal. You, personally, are toast because you forgot your anniversary.
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Let's talk about finished. It's the most literal interpretation of the done for crossword clue. Usually, you won't see this in a high-level puzzle because it's too obvious. Crossword editors hate being boring. They want you to have that "Aha!" moment when you realize the answer is something slightly left-field like through.
I once spent twenty minutes on a Friday puzzle where the clue was "Done for." I had the letters _ _ _ _ E D. I was convinced it was "ruined." It wasn't. It was cooked. I had to re-evaluate every single vertical word in that section. It’s a reminder that even if a word fits perfectly, the "vibe" of the puzzle might demand something else.
What to do when you’re stuck
- Check the tense. If the clue is "done," the answer usually ends in "-ed."
- Count the squares again. It sounds stupid, but we've all tried to fit a five-letter word into a four-letter space.
- Look for "rebus" squares. In some advanced puzzles, multiple letters can fit into one square. If "done for" seems to need a ten-letter word in a five-letter space, you might be dealing with a rebus.
- Say the clue out loud. Sometimes hearing the words "done for" helps you trigger the slang response your brain is hiding.
Actionable Insights for Your Next Puzzle
Stop treating the clue as a definition and start treating it as a synonym in a sentence. If you can swap the answer for the clue in a casual conversation, you’ve found the winner.
Next time you see done for crossword clue, immediately scan for the length. If it's four letters, try iced or sunk. If it's five, go for goner or kaput. If those don't work, look at the letters you already have from the "down" clues. Usually, the second letter of the answer will give it away—an 'O' likely means toast or cooked, while an 'A' almost always points to kaput. Keep a mental list of these "crosswordese" staples, and you'll find your solve times dropping significantly as you stop overthinking the simple stuff.