Black crossword clue

The most likely answers for the crossword clue “Black” are ANGRY, FATAL or BLEAK, with 5 letters. Below are 49 answers from 3 to 12 letters, best match first in each length, then what each top answer means and how to tell them apart.

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The best answers, explained

DIM 3 letters · adjective

offering little or no hope “took a dim view of things”

DARK 4 letters · adjective

stemming from evil characteristics or forces; wicked or dishonorable “Darth Vader of the dark side”

ANGRY 5 letters · adjective

feeling or showing anger “angry at the weather”

COVERT 6 letters · adjective

secret or hidden; not openly practiced or engaged in or shown or avowed “covert actions by the CIA”

ILLEGAL 7 letters · adjective

prohibited by law or by official or accepted rules “an illegal chess move”

COLOURED 8 letters · adjective

having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination

SARCASTIC 9 letters · adjective

expressing or expressive of ridicule that wounds

DISASTROUS 10 letters · adjective

(of events) having extremely unfortunate or dire consequences; bringing ruin “the battle was a disastrous end to a disastrous campaign”

UNFORTUNATE 11 letters · adjective

not favored by fortune; marked or accompanied by or resulting in ill fortune “an unfortunate turn of events”

DISHONORABLE 12 letters · adjective

lacking honor or integrity; deserving dishonor “dishonorable in thought and deed”

Telling them apart

With 4 squares, DARK, EVIL, GRIM, CROW, INKY and COOT all fit. The fourth letter tells them all apart: K → DARK · L → EVIL · M → GRIM · W → CROW · Y → INKY · T → COOT. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 5 squares, ANGRY, FATAL, BLEAK, DIRTY, CONGO and SCALP all fit. The first letter tells them all apart: A → ANGRY · F → FATAL · B → BLEAK · D → DIRTY · C → CONGO · S → SCALP. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 3 squares, DIM, ANI and COB all fit. The first letter tells them all apart: D → DIM · A → ANI · C → COB. Fill in that crossing answer first.

Other forms of this clue

Clues often use another form of the word, and the answer then takes the same form: “blacked” wants an answer that ends the same way.

What “black” means

• adjective: being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light (“black leather jackets”)
• adjective: of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African origin (“a great people — a black people — … injected new meaning and dignity into the veins of civilization”)
• adjective: marked by anger or resentment or hostility (“black looks”)
• adjective: offering little or no hope (“the future looked black”)

A clue usually points at one of these senses, so the right answer is the one that matches the sense the puzzle means: check it against the crossing words.

About these answers

We match the clue against our own thesaurus and dictionary (Open English WordNet): words that mean the same as BLACK, and words whose definition is BLACK. We don't copy answers from newspaper puzzles, so a clue that leans on trivia or wordplay may need the crossing letters instead.