Crossword puzzles are basically low-stakes psychological warfare. One minute you're breezing through the Monday New York Times like a genius, and the next, you’re staring at a five-letter gap for incite that just won't click. It happens to the best of us. You know the word. You use the word. But when it’s stripped of its context and reduced to a series of white squares, your brain decides to take a coffee break. Honestly, the incite crossword clue is one of those pesky recurring nightmares for solvers because it has so many synonyms that fit different grid lengths.
Why the Incite Crossword Clue Is a Total Chameleon
Most people think crosswords are about vocabulary. They’re actually about patterns and flexibility. When you see "incite" as a clue, the setter is usually testing whether you can distinguish between "to start something" and "to annoy someone." It’s a subtle difference, but in a grid, it’s the difference between a win and a mess of eraser marks.
The English language is messy. We have dozens of words that mean roughly the same thing as incite, but they carry different "flavors." Some are aggressive. Some are sneaky. If the clue is just "Incite," you’re looking at a huge range of possibilities.
Take the word ABET. It’s a crossword staple. You see it everywhere because those vowels are gold for constructors. But abet usually implies a legal context—helping someone do something wrong. Then you have FOMENT. That sounds like something involving a revolutionary in a basement, right? It’s usually used for stirring up rebellion or discord. If you’re filling out a Saturday puzzle, you’re much more likely to see foment than a simpler word like STIR.
The Most Frequent Answers for Incite
Let's get into the weeds. If you’re stuck right now, one of these is probably what you need. I’ve seen these pop up in the LA Times, WSJ, and NYT more times than I can count.
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The Three-Letter Fix: ABET
If you have three letters, it’s almost certainly abet. Though, technically, abet means to encourage or assist, crossword editors use it interchangeably with incite all the time. It’s the "bread and butter" answer.
The Four-Letter Options: STIR, GOAD, URGE, WHIP
Four letters give you more variety. STIR is common, often clued as "incite to action." GOAD implies a bit of poking or prodding, like you’re driving cattle. URGE is softer, more of a strong suggestion. Then there’s WHIP, usually used in the context of "whip up" a frenzy.
The Five-Letter Heavy Hitters: ROUSE, PROMP, ADDUCE
Wait, scratch adduce—that’s more about evidence. For five letters, you’re usually looking at ROUSE or PROMP. Actually, PROD is four, but PROMPT is six. See? This is how the brain starts to melt. ROUSE is a classic. It means to wake someone up or get them moving.
The Six-Letter Grind: FOMENT, IGNITE, INDUCE
FOMENT is the high-brow choice. It’s a "Scrabble word" that shows up in harder puzzles. IGNITE is literal—starting a fire—but used metaphorically for inciting a riot or a passion.
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The Secret Language of Crossword Clues
You've gotta look at the punctuation. It matters. If the clue is "Incite?" with a question mark, the setter is being a "punny" little devil. They might be looking for something like EGG ON. That’s a two-word answer, often appearing in grids as EGGON. It’s a "phrasal verb," and solvers hate them because they look like gibberish until you realize there’s a space missing.
Actually, speaking of EGG ON, that is probably the single most common multi-word answer for the incite crossword clue. It’s used constantly because of those repetitive Gs and that helpful E. If you see "Incite" and you have five letters but it ends in N, just put in EGGON and move on with your life.
Another thing to watch for is the tense. If the clue is "Incited," the answer must end in -ED or -T. ABETED (sometimes spelled ABETTED, check your grid length!) or STIRRED. If the clue is "Inciting," look for ABETTING or FOMENTING. It sounds obvious, but when you're twenty minutes into a puzzle and your coffee is cold, you’d be surprised how often people try to cram a present-tense verb into a past-tense slot.
Expert Strategies for Breaking the Deadlock
When I’m stuck on a clue like this, I stop looking at the clue itself. I look at the crosses. This is "Crosswords 101," but there’s a nuance to it.
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Try to find the "anchor" letters. In a word like FOMENT, that 'M' or 'F' is going to be part of a much more obvious down-clue. If the down-clue is something like "Opposite of NNW," you know the 'S' for SSE is going to be there. Use that to narrow down your list of synonyms.
- Check the "Flavor": Is the puzzle a Monday or a Saturday? Monday wants STIR. Saturday wants FOMENT.
- Look for Prepositions: If the clue is "Incite (to)," the answer might be GOAD.
- The Vowel Count: If you have a lot of vowels already in the cross-clues, ABET or ARESE (though rarely used for incite) might fit.
Beyond the Grid: Why We Use These Words
Words like incite, provoke, and instigate are part of what linguists call "agentive verbs." They require someone to be doing the doing. You don't just "incite"—you incite something. Usually, it’s something bad. You rarely hear about someone "inciting a peaceful nap." It’s almost always "inciting a riot" or "inciting violence."
This negative connotation is a hint. Crossword setters often use clues like "Incite, as trouble." This is a huge "giveaway." If you see "trouble" or "discord" in the clue, your brain should immediately jump to FOMENT or BREW.
Crosswords aren't just about what words mean; they're about how words "behave" in common English usage. The more you read—real books, long-form journalism, even old poetry—the more these connections become automatic.
Actionable Steps to Master Your Next Puzzle
Stop googling the answer immediately. It kills the dopamine hit of actually solving it. Instead, try these specific tactics next time you see the incite crossword clue:
- Count the squares first. If it’s three, write in ABET lightly in pencil.
- Say the word out loud. Sometimes hearing "incite" will make your brain trigger "incite... a riot" or "incite... to action," which leads you to STIR or GOAD.
- Check for "EGGON." If it’s a five-letter word and you’re stuck, check if the second and third letters are 'G'.
- Analyze the puzzle's difficulty. If it’s a late-week puzzle (Thursday-Sunday), the answer is likely an obscure synonym like INSTIGATE (if you have the room) or FOMENT.
- Look at the suffix. Does the clue have "ing" or "ed"? Match it. Always.
Crosswords are a game of cat and mouse between you and the constructor. The constructor wants to mislead you by using a word like incite that has ten different meanings depending on the day of the week. By narrowing down the options based on letter count and "difficulty flavor," you can stop staring at the blank squares and start filling them in.