Old crossword clue

The most likely answers for the crossword clue “Old” are GOOD, USED or PAST, with 4 letters. Below are 79 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

BUS 3 letters · noun

a car that is old and unreliable “the fenders had fallen off that old bus”

GOOD 4 letters · adjective

having desirable or positive qualities especially those suitable for a thing specified “good news from the hospital”

GREAT 5 letters · adjective

excellent “had a great time at the party”

FORMER 6 letters · adjective

belonging to some prior time “our former glory”

ANCIENT 7 letters · adjective

very old “an ancient mariner”

PREVIOUS 8 letters · adjective

just preceding something else in time or order “the previous owner”

PRECEDING 9 letters · adjective

existing or coming before

ANTIQUATED 10 letters · adjective

so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period

EXPERIENCED 11 letters · adjective

having experience; having knowledge or skill from observation or participation

ANTEDILUVIAN 12 letters · adjective

so extremely old as seeming to belong to an earlier period “a ramshackle antediluvian tenement”

Telling them apart

With 4 squares, GOOD, USED, PAST, AGED, GREY and GRAY all fit. The second letter settles most of it: O → GOOD · S → USED · A → PAST · G → AGED · R → GREY, GRAY. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 5 squares, GREAT, AGING, BULLY, SWELL, RUSTY and STALE all fit. The first letter settles most of it: G → GREAT · A → AGING · B → BULLY · S → SWELL, STALE · R → RUSTY. Fill in that crossing answer first.

With 3 squares, BUS, NAG, HAG and TEG all fit. The first letter tells them all apart: B → BUS · N → NAG · H → HAG · T → TEG. 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: “olds” wants an answer that ends the same way.

What “old” means

• adjective: (used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age (“his mother is very old”)
• adjective: of long duration; not new (“old tradition”)
• adjective: (used for emphasis) very familiar (“good old boy”)
• adjective: skilled through long experience (“an old offender”)

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 OLD, and words whose definition is OLD. We don't copy answers from newspaper puzzles, so a clue that leans on trivia or wordplay may need the crossing letters instead.