Food & Drink
EasyHerbs and Spices Crossword
Category: Food & DrinkDifficulty: Easy12 × 16
Saturday, September 12
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Enter one letter per square. Answers run Across or Down. Omit spaces and accents; any special spelling convention is stated in the clue. This is a freeform themed grid, so some letters are not crossed.
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About This Theme
Open the spice cupboard and imagine the aromas one at a time. This crossword combines familiar seasonings with clues about the plant parts they come from and the dishes they often accompany. There are no health claims to untangle and no recipes to memorize. Instead, look for a distinctive scent, color or culinary pairing. A useful solving question is whether the clue asks for a leaf, seed, rootlike stem, bark or flower part.
Clues
Across
- 3Red seasoning made from dried peppers (7)
- 5Spice consisting of dried flower buds (6)
- 7Herb often sprinkled on pizza (7)
- 9Herb with narrow, needlelike leaves (8)
- 10Cooling-tasting herb used in mint tea (4)
- 11Earthy spice often sold as elongated seeds (5)
Down
- 1Pungent rhizome used fresh or ground (6)
- 2Leafy herb strongly associated with pesto (5)
- 4Spice that gives many dishes a vivid yellow color (8)
- 5Spice made from the inner bark of certain trees (8)
- 6Spice made from the stigmas of a crocus flower (7)
- 8Small-leaved herb whose name sounds like a clock's concern (5)
Answers and Explanations
After Your Solve
The most interesting contrast is not hot versus mild; it is where a seasoning comes from. CINNAMON is bark, CLOVES are flower buds, and GINGER is a rhizome. BASIL and MINT are used for their leaves. That makes the cupboard a collection of different plant structures as well as flavors. If the recipe-based clues were easier for you, revisit the botanical ones with the answer visible. Connecting a familiar ingredient to its source is a small way to make the solved puzzle useful beyond the grid.
- 3 acrossPAPRIKA
Paprika varies in heat and flavor.
- 5 acrossCLOVES
The buds are harvested before they open.
- 7 acrossOREGANO
Oregano is used in many Mediterranean-style dishes.
- 9 acrossROSEMARY
Rosemary has a distinctive woody fragrance.
- 10 acrossMINT
Mint is used for its aromatic leaves.
- 11 acrossCUMIN
Cumin is used whole or ground.
- 1 downGINGER
The edible underground structure is a rhizome.
- 2 downBASIL
Basil is a classic ingredient in basil pesto.
- 4 downTURMERIC
Turmeric is commonly sold as a ground rhizome.
- 5 downCINNAMON
Cinnamon is bark rather than a seed.
- 6 downSAFFRON
Saffron comes from a flower part.
- 8 downTHYME
The pronunciation supplies an extra route to thyme.
Further Reading
- Theme referencemerriam-webster.com
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