You’re staring at a grid. It’s almost finished, but there is this one nagging gap in the middle of the Northwest corner. The clue says "failed to include," and you’ve already tried "leftout" but it doesn’t fit the letter count. We’ve all been there. It’s that specific brand of frustration where the answer is on the tip of your tongue, yet your brain refuses to cough it up. Crosswords are basically psychological warfare disguised as a morning hobby.
Honestly, the failed to include crossword clue is one of those classic "chameleon" clues. Depending on the day of the week or which editor is running the show at the New York Times or LA Times, the answer could be four letters, six letters, or even a long-winded ten. It’s all about the "meta" of the puzzle.
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Why Failed To Include Shows Up So Often
The English language is messy. We have a dozen different ways to describe the act of forgetting or intentionally skipping something. Puzzle constructors love this. They take a simple concept like "omitting" and stretch it across the grid to make you second-guess your vowels.
If you’re looking at a standard weekday puzzle, the most common answer is OMIT.
It’s a four-letter staple. Short. Simple. To the point. But if that doesn't fit? You’re likely looking at OMITTED. That extra "ted" at the end has ruined many a perfect streak because people forget to check the tense of the clue. If the clue is "failed to include," it’s past tense. You need a past tense answer. If the clue is "fails to include," look for OMITS or LEAVESOUT.
The Usual Suspects: Answers You’ll See Most
Most of the time, you aren't looking for a PhD-level vocabulary word. You're looking for common verbs that have been tucked away in the back of your mind.
LEFT OUT is a massive favorite for Sunday puzzles because it’s two words. It fills seven spaces and uses high-frequency letters like L, E, and T. Then you have ELIDED. Now, that’s a "crossword-ese" word. You don’t hear people at the grocery store saying they elided the milk from their shopping list, but in the world of Will Shortz, it’s a bread-and-butter term. It technically means to join or merge, but in linguistics, it’s about leaving out a sound or syllable. In the context of a crossword, it’s a go-to for "failed to include."
Sometimes it's MISSED. Simple, right? But because it's so simple, we often overlook it in favor of something more complex. We think the constructor is trying to trick us, so we look for Latin roots when the answer is just a five-letter word we learned in second grade.
The Subtle Art of the Crossword Misdirection
Crossword construction is an art form. People like Brendan Emmett Quigley or Elizabeth Gorski don't just pick words; they build traps. When you see "failed to include," your first instinct is a verb. But what if the clue is part of a theme?
If it’s a "rebus" puzzle—those tricky ones where multiple letters fit into a single square—"failed to include" might actually be a hint for you to literally leave letters out of other answers in the grid. It’s a bit of a "meta" move. If you see a grid where nothing seems to be working, check if the theme is about exclusion.
When the Answer is More Than One Word
Multi-word answers are the bane of the casual solver. FORGOT is one thing, but PASS OVER or SKIP BY can throw your rhythm off completely.
- SKIP (4 letters)
- PRETERMIT (9 letters - this one is rare and honestly kind of mean)
- EXCLUDE (7 letters)
- BYPASS (6 letters)
I remember one specific puzzle where the answer was NEGLECTED. It felt so obvious once the "G" and the "L" were in place from the crossing clues, but until that moment, I was convinced the answer had something to do with "deletion."
How to Solve This Without a Dictionary
You don't need to be a human thesaurus to beat the failed to include crossword clue. You just need a strategy. First, check the cross-references. If the vertical clues (the "downs") are solid, they will give you the skeleton of the word.
If you have an _M_T, it’s OMIT.
If you have an _L_D_D, it’s ELIDED.
If you have a _E_T_U_, it’s LEFTOUT.
The letters don't lie. Most solvers get stuck because they fall in love with an answer that doesn't actually fit the crosses. They think, "It has to be 'exclude'!" and then they try to force the down clues to match. Don't do that. Be ruthless. If the cross-clue is a definitive "YES" (like "Opposite of No"), and your "exclude" answer puts a "Y" where an "O" should be, "exclude" is wrong. Period.
The Linguistics of Exclusion
There’s a reason why "elide" and "omit" are the darlings of the crossword world. They are "vowel-heavy." In the English language, and especially in the tight confines of a 15x15 grid, vowels are the glue. "Omit" gives you two vowels in four letters. That is prime real estate for a constructor. It allows them to bridge difficult sections of the map.
Interestingly, the word OVERLOOKED is becoming more popular in larger 21x21 Sunday puzzles. It’s a ten-letter beast. It’s satisfying to fill in because it covers so much ground, but it’s also easy to misspell if you’re rushing.
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Decoding the Tense and Number
Always, always look at the clue's suffix.
- Fail to include = OMIT, SKIP, MISS
- Fails to include = OMITS, SKIPS, MISSES
- Failed to include = OMITTED, SKIPPED, MISSED, ELIDED
- Failing to include = OMITTING, SKIPPING
If the clue is "Failed to include, perhaps," that "perhaps" is a huge red flag. It means the answer is an example or a pun. It might be something like ERASED or LOST. The "perhaps" is the editor's way of saying, "I'm being literal, but also kind of a jerk."
Crossword-ese 101: Beyond the Basics
Sometimes the clue is a bit more specialized. In legal terms, failing to include something might be LAPSING. In a computer science context, it could be a BUG or a NULL. But usually, the "failed to include" clue stays in the realm of general vocabulary.
Think about the context of the puzzle's difficulty. If it’s a Monday, go for the simplest word. If it’s a Saturday, prepare for something like PRETERMIT or OBVIATE. Saturday puzzles are designed to make you feel like you've forgotten how to speak your native language. It's part of the fun, or so they tell us.
Real-World Examples from Recent Puzzles
Let's look at some actual data from major publications.
In a recent USA Today puzzle, the clue "Failed to include" led directly to OMIT. Simple.
In a Wall Street Journal puzzle from a few months back, the clue was slightly different: "Intentionally failed to include." The answer? LEFT OUT. The word "intentionally" was the hint that it wasn't an accident (like "missed") but a choice.
The New York Times famously used ELIDED for this clue in a puzzle that had a lot of "E" and "L" crossings. It was a beautiful piece of construction, even if it frustrated the casual solvers who hadn't seen the word since college English 101.
The "Aha!" Moment
The best part of solving a crossword isn't finishing it. It's that "Aha!" moment when the letters finally click. You’ve been staring at _M_T_E_ for five minutes, and suddenly, your brain recognizes OMITTED. The fog clears. The rest of the corner falls into place.
If you are truly stuck, take a break. Walk away. Get a coffee. Your subconscious will keep chewing on that failed to include crossword clue while you’re doing something else. You’ll be washing dishes or walking the dog, and the word ELIDE will just pop into your head like a gift from the universe.
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Actionable Tips for Your Next Grid
To stop getting tripped up by these types of clues, you need to build a mental library of synonyms. Don't just look up the answer; learn why it’s the answer.
- Count the squares first. Don't even think of a word until you know if you need 4, 5, 6, or 10 letters.
- Identify the tense. Does the clue end in -ed, -s, or -ing? Your answer must match.
- Check the vowels. If you have an "O" or an "I" in a weird spot, "omit" variants are your best bet.
- Think outside the box. If "omit" doesn't fit, think about "leave," "skip," or "drop."
- Trust the crosses. If a vertical clue is a "gimme" (an answer you are 100% sure of), let it guide you. If it says the third letter of your horizontal word is "I," then "exclude" is out, and "omit" is in.
Next time you see this clue, don't panic. Start with the basics. Look for the O, the M, and the T. Most of the time, the simplest explanation is the right one. Puzzles are meant to be solved, not to keep you trapped in a loop of "what-ifs." Keep your pencil sharp—or your app updated—and move on to the next one.
Pro Tip: Keep a small notebook of common "crossword-ese" words. Words like ELIDE, ERASE, ALEE, and ETUI show up constantly because their letter combinations are a constructor's dream. Mastering these "filler" words is the secret to becoming a pro solver. It’s not about knowing everything; it’s about knowing how the game is played. Fill in those vowels, watch for the past tense, and you'll never be stumped by a "failed to include" clue again.