You're staring at your phone or the Sunday paper, and there it is: can it crossword clue. Four letters. Maybe six. Your brain goes to the pantry. You think about soup. You think about soda. You think about Grandma’s pickles. But the grid doesn't care about your preserve collection. In the world of cryptic and standard crosswords, "can it" is one of those linguistic chameleons that can mean anything from a physical act to a rude command to stop talking.
It’s annoying. I know.
Crossword constructors like Will Shortz or Brendan Emmett Quigley love these little linguistic traps. They rely on the fact that your brain defaults to the most common usage of a word. When you see "can," you think of a container. When you see "it," you think of an object. But in the weird, twisty logic of a Friday New York Times puzzle, "can it" is often an idiom. It’s a verbal nudge. It’s a trick.
The Most Common Answers for Can It Crossword Clue
If you are stuck right now, let’s look at the heavy hitters. The most frequent answer—by a landslide—is SHUSH.
Think about it. When someone tells you to "can it," they aren't asking you to put something in a jar. They’re telling you to shut up. It’s slang. It’s old-school. It’s something a character in a 1940s noir film would bark at a snitch. If you have five letters and the clue is "Can it!", SHUSH is your best bet.
But what if it's four letters? Then you’re likely looking at STOP. Or maybe QUIT.
Sometimes the clue isn't an exclamation. If the clue is "Can it," without the exclamation point, the constructor might be looking for PRESERVE. This is the literal meaning. To can something is to preserve it. You see this a lot in puzzles from the LA Times or The Wall Street Journal. They love that pivot from the colloquial to the industrial.
Why Constructors Love This Clue
Constructors are basically professional trolls. They want you to fail, but in a way that makes you go "Aha!" when you finally get it. The phrase "can it" is a goldmine for them because of its dual nature as a verb-noun combo and a standalone idiom.
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Let's talk about STOW.
That’s a common four-letter answer. If you "can it," you’re putting it away. You’re stowing it. It’s a bit of a stretch, honestly, but in the logic of a crossword, it’s fair game. Then there is CEASE. If you’re dealing with a five-letter space and SHUSH doesn’t fit because of the vowels, try CEASE. It’s more formal, sure, but it fits the "stop doing that" vibe of the phrase.
I once spent twenty minutes on a Tuesday puzzle—a Tuesday!—because I was convinced the answer had to be related to recycling. I was looking for something like BINS or TINS. Nope. The answer was HUSH. I felt like an idiot. But that’s the game. You have to be willing to throw out your first three assumptions the moment they don't work with the cross-answers.
Context Matters: Clues and Their Subtle Hints
The punctuation is your secret weapon. Pay attention to it.
- Can it! (with an exclamation): Look for SHUSH, HUSH, STOP, QUIT, or ZIP IT (if you have the space).
- Can it (without punctuation): Look for PRESERVE, JAR, TIN, or BOTTLE.
- Can it? (with a question mark): This is the danger zone. The question mark means there is a pun afoot. It might be MAYBE or IS IT ABLE. It’s a play on the word "can" as a modal verb.
If you see "Can it, in a way," they are definitely talking about JAR or POT. They’re acknowledging that "canning" is a specific method of food storage.
Beyond the Basics: Rare and Cryptic Variations
In British puzzles, like The Guardian cryptic, "can it" might lead you somewhere totally different. They might use "can" to mean PRISON (the "slammer"). So "can it" could theoretically clue an answer like JAIL or INCARCERATE, though that’s getting into the deep weeds.
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Then there’s the "fire" angle.
To "can" someone is to fire them. If the clue is "Can it," and the grid is looking for something related to employment, the answer might be AXE or FIRE. It’s less common for the specific phrase "can it," but "Can" as a standalone clue for FIRE is a staple.
You also have to consider the "Oust" factor. To can something—like a project or an idea—is to SCRAP it. SCRAP is a very common five-letter filler in crosswords. If you’re looking at _ C _ A P, and the clue is "Can it," don’t overthink the kitchen. Think about the trash heap.
How to Solve it Fast
Look at the letters you already have. This sounds obvious, but people get tunnel vision. If you have an S at the start, don't just think SHUSH. Think STOW. Think STOP.
Check the "Downs." If the "can it" clue is an "Across" and you’re stuck, solve the three vertical words running through it. Usually, one of those will give you a vowel that narrows your options from five possible meanings down to one.
Honestly, the best way to get better at this is to realize that crosswords are a language of their own. Words don't mean what they mean in the real world; they mean what they mean in the "Cruciverbist" dictionary. In that dictionary, "can it" is almost always a command for silence or a method of making jam.
Variations You Might Encounter
- SHUT UP (6 letters) - The most aggressive version.
- BELAY (5 letters) - A nautical twist on stopping something.
- PUT AWAY (7 letters) - Often used in longer Sunday grids.
- END (3 letters) - Simple, elegant, annoying.
- DITCH (5 letters) - To can a plan is to ditch it.
I remember a New York Times puzzle from a few years back where the clue was "Can it?" and the answer was ABLE. It was a play on the "can" meaning "is able to." That's the kind of high-level trickery that makes people want to throw their pens across the room. But once you see it, you never forget it.
The Strategy for Your Next Puzzle
Don't get married to your first answer. That's the biggest mistake people make with the can it crossword clue. You write in SHUSH in pen, and then you realize the vertical clue "Fruit used in pies" is APPLE, not APSHL.
Erase it. Move on.
Try JAR. Try AXE.
If you are playing a digital version like the NYT Games app, use the "Check" feature if you’re really losing your mind. There’s no shame in it. Life is too short to be defeated by a four-letter word for "shut up."
Actionable Steps for Mastery
- Analyze the Punctuation: If there’s an exclamation point, look for synonyms of "be quiet." If there isn't, look for synonyms of "store" or "discard."
- Count the Cells: Three letters? Try AXE or END. Four letters? Try STOP, STOW, or HUSH. Five letters? SHUSH or SCRAP.
- Check the Era: Older puzzles (merging into the 2000s) love the "be quiet" slang. Very modern puzzles might use "can it" to refer to CANCELING a show or a person.
- Cross-Reference Vowels: Most answers for this clue rely heavily on 'S', 'H', and 'U'. If your intersecting words don't allow for those, you’re likely looking at the "preserve" or "discard" definitions.
Next time this clue pops up, take a breath. It’s a tiny bit of wordplay designed to slow you down. By recognizing the three main paths—silence, storage, or dismissal—you can stop guessing and start solving.