You're staring at the grid. The black and white squares are mocking you because you have a four-letter gap for a very excited crossword clue, and "AMED" definitely isn't a word. We’ve all been there. It’s that specific brand of frustration where the answer is on the tip of your tongue, but your brain is currently a dial-up modem trying to load a high-def video.
Crosswords are weird. They don't just ask for synonyms; they ask for "vibe" matches. When a constructor writes "very excited," they aren't always looking for a dictionary definition. They're looking for how a person acts when they just won the lottery or how a dog reacts when it sees a squirrel.
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The Most Common Answers for Very Excited
If you’re stuck on a short word, it’s almost certainly AGOG. Honestly, AGOG is the darling of the crossword world. It’s short, it has great vowels, and it fits into those tight corners where a constructor is desperate to link "ALOE" with "GAGA." It literally means being in a state of eager desire or anticipation. It’s old-fashioned, sure, but the New York Times crossword is basically the last standing fortress for words like that.
But what if it's not AGOG?
Sometimes the clue is looking for ELATED. That’s the five-letter heavy hitter. If you have a few more boxes to fill, you might be looking at ATHRILL or even AFLUTTER. Notice a pattern? Crossword constructors love those "A-" prefix words. They’re structural duct tape for puzzles.
Why Crossword Puzzles Use "Very Excited" So Often
Will Shortz and the team at the NYT, or the folks over at The LA Times and The Wall Street Journal, have a limited vocabulary they can actually use while keeping puzzles solvable. You can only use the word "ERA" or "AREA" so many times before players start sending angry emails. "Very excited" provides a massive range of semantic flexibility. It can lead you toward slang, formal English, or even onomatopoeia.
Think about the word AMPED. It’s modern. It’s punchy. It’s something a teenager in 1998 would say, and yet it shows up in Monday puzzles constantly. Then you have GEARED, which is rarer, or HYPED, which feels very "Discovery Feed" era.
The trick is looking at the suffix. If the clue is "Very excited, in a way," and you have six letters, check if it ends in "-ED." JAZZED is a classic. It’s got that high-value 'Z' that helps fill out the more difficult vertical clues. If you see a 'Z' in the middle of your grid, your brain should immediately start scanning for JAZZED or FIZZED.
Cracking the Code of Crossword Difficulty
Monday puzzles are gentle. They want you to succeed. If you see "Very excited" on a Monday, it's AGOG or ELATED. No tricks. By the time Friday rolls around, the clue might be "Beside oneself," which is a much meaner way of saying the same thing. On a Friday, the answer might be INAFRENZY or SENT.
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Context matters. Look at the surrounding clues. If the puzzle theme is "Electricity," and the clue is "Very excited," the answer is almost certainly WIRED or CHARGED. Crossword puzzles aren't just lists of words; they are interconnected webs of logic. You have to think about what the constructor was feeling that day. Were they feeling cheeky? Were they trying to make you suffer?
Take the word EAGER. It’s simple. Maybe too simple? Sometimes the most obvious answer is the one we overlook because we’re busy trying to remember what a three-toed sloth is called (it's an AI, by the way).
Slang and Modern Twists
Language evolves, and crosswords are slowly—very slowly—catching up. We’re starting to see STOKED appear more often. It’s surfer slang that went mainstream decades ago, but in the world of crosswords, it’s practically a neologism.
Then there’s GAGA. You’ll see this clued as "Very excited about" or "Crazy over." It’s a gift to constructors because of the repeating letters. If you have _ _ G A, just put GAGA. Don't even think about it. Just do it.
When the Clue is a Phrase
Sometimes it isn't one word. That’s when the real headaches start. "Very excited" could be ALLAGOG or INA LATHER. If you see a multi-word answer, the game changes. You’re no longer looking for a synonym; you’re looking for a common idiom.
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"In a state" is another sneaky way constructors hint at excitement or agitation. This is where your knowledge of Britishisms or older American English comes in handy. ATWITTER is a fun one that popped up a lot during the early 2010s for obvious social media reasons, but it’s actually been around since the 1600s. It’s the perfect crossword word because it bridges the gap between Shakespeare and Elon Musk.
Practical Steps to Master the Grid
If you want to stop Googling clues every five minutes, you need to build a mental database of "Crosswordese." These are words that exist almost exclusively in the vacuum of the Sunday paper.
- Watch for the "A-" words: AGOG, ATHRILL, ALIVE, ASTIR.
- Check the tense: If the clue is "Very excited," the answer usually ends in -ED (ELATED, JAZZED, AMPED).
- Count your letters first: 4 letters? Try AGOG or AMED. 5 letters? ELATED or EAGER. 6 letters? STOKED or JAZZED.
- Look for high-value letters: If you have a 'Z', 'X', or 'K' nearby, look for words like JAZZED, EXALTED, or STOKED.
The next time you’re stuck on a very excited crossword clue, take a breath. It’s probably AGOG. It’s almost always AGOG. If it’s not, look for the 'ED' at the end. Once you nail those four squares, the rest of the corner usually falls into place like a series of tumbling dominoes. Stop overthinking the dictionary definition and start thinking like the person who got paid to hide the word in a box.
Check the intersecting words for common vowels. If you have an 'O' from a vertical clue, AGOG becomes a certainty. If you have an 'L', ELATED is your best friend. Crosswords are a game of intersections, not just definitions. Use the "cross" in crossword to your advantage. Keep a list of these recurring synonyms in a note on your phone. Eventually, you won't need the list anymore; you'll just see the pattern.