Crossword abbreviations
This is a list of single-letter abbreviations used in cryptic crosswords, including explanations of where you might see them used in real life. Abbreviations backed up by Chambers dictionary are marked in red. See notes.
| Token | Letter | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| about | a | perhaps an abbreviation for 'about' in the sense of 'circa' |
| absent | a | historically used on school registers |
| absolute | A | as in absolute temperature |
| academician | A | presumably as in RA for Royal Academician |
| academy | A | presumably as in RADA, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art |
| acceleration | A | scientific abbreviation as in F = ma |
| accepted | A | abbreviation used on bills of exchange |
| ace card, playing card |
A | abbreviation for the playing card |
| acre acreage |
A | abbreviation for the unit of land area |
| across | A | as in 1A in a crossword |
| acting | A | used as part of abbreviations for job titles |
| active | a | abbreviation for active voice in grammar |
| adjective | a | grammatical abbreviation used in dictionaries |
| adult | A | A used to be a UK film certificate - 12A is still used today |
| advance | A | no idea |
| advanced | A | as in A-levels, UK academic qualification |
| afternoon | A | abbreviation historically used on train timetables |
| alpha alfa |
A | NATO phonetic alphabet codeword for the letter A (where it's also spelled 'alfa'); the Greek letter alpha is also visually identical to the Latin A |
| alto | A | abbreviation seen on sheet music |
| amateur | A | shown after the names of certain competitors in sports |
| America | A | presumably as in USA etc |
| American | A | presumably as in AA for American Airlines etc |
| ampere amp |
A | unit of electric current |
| ane | A | 'ane' is a Scottish equivalent to 'an' and 'a' |
| angstrom | A | unit of length - more commonly represented as Å |
| anno year, in the year |
A | as in AD for Anno Domini (Latin for 'in the year of the Lord') |
| annum year |
a | abbreviation for 'annum' (Latin for 'year') as in p.a. (per annum) |
| anonymous | A | presumably used in catalogues of writings somewhere |
| answer | A | as in Q&A |
| ante before |
A | abbreviation for 'ante' (Latin for 'before') in certain phrases |
| anterior | A | possibly a medical abbreviation |
| are | A | abbreviation for a historical unit of land measurement from which the hectare (100 ares) derives |
| area | A | mathematical abbreviation |
| argon | A | historical chemical symbol for the element - replaced by Ar |
| article an, one |
A | in English, the indefinite articles are 'a' and 'an' |
| associate | A | historically written after the names of certain attendees in minutes of association meetings - also found in abbreviations for associate degrees offered by some countries e.g. AA for Associate of Arts |
| athletic | A | presumably as in AFC for Athletic Football Club etc |
| atomic | A | as in an A-bomb |
| atomic weight | A | scientific abbreviation |
| atto- | a | abbreviation for a prefix meaning 10^-18 in the names of metric units, as in aW for attowatt |
| Australia | A | presumably as in WA for Western Australia etc |
| Australian | A | presumably as in AFL for Australian Football League etc |
| Austria | A | international vehicle registration code |
| blood group blood type |
A | as in Type A blood |
| bomb | A | atomic bomb |
| fifty 50 |
A | Roman numeral used by medieval scribes and setters of advanced puzzles |
| first first class, top class, first-rate |
A | as in A-list, A-team etc |
| first letter first character |
A | first letter of the alphabet |
| five hundred 500, half a thousand |
A | Roman numeral used by medieval scribes and setters of advanced puzzles |
| key | A | musical key |
| note | A | musical note |
| per | a | '£1 a bag' means '£1 per bag' |
| road | A | A-road is a type of UK road |
| vitamin | A | Vitamin A |
Notes
Note to setters: some solvers and editors expect all abbreviations used in clues to be verifiable in Chambers dictionary so there's a shared source of what is and isn't fair, but many are also happy to accept additional standalone abbreviations (e.g. S for Small) as long as they're well-established. Pretty much everyone agrees that cluing a letter via any random word from a longer abbreviation (e.g. B for Broadcasting or C for Corporation in BBC) is unfair - even though Chambers includes plenty of dissatisfying examples like this!
The rough "usual suspects" filter is based on whether or not I can remember seeing a given abbreviation regularly in UK daily cryptics. If you think a commonly used abbreviation should be included in that list, please let me know. Likewise, drop me a line if you can correct a mistake with my explanations or otherwise improve them.
Thanks to MyCrossword for the list of abbreviations I started from and to commenters in the Fifteensquared archives for shedding light on some of the less familiar abbreviations.