Dad Stumped by Four-Letter Answer in Kids' Animal-Themed Crossword Puzzle

An incomplete crossword puzzle for kids has left the internet stumped with some fearing the worst when it comes to the final unanswered section.

People have been doing crosswords for well over a century, with the very first said to have been published in the New York World back in December 1913 as the brainchild of British journalist Arthur Wynne, who had emigrated to the U.S. around two decades earlier.

Today, crosswords continue to be enjoyed by a huge proportion of the U.S. public and remain a puzzle-based pastime whose popularity transcends generations.

In 2023, research conducted by Statista in collaboration with YouGov found crosswords were popular among baby boomers, with 62 percent still mad about puzzles of this kind and even more of Generation X (69 percent) and millennials (70 percent) picking it up as a pastime.

That might go some way to explaining why the post shared to Reddit by a dad from Seattle writing under the handle u/n44m is proving so popular. In the post, a baffled dad presented social media with the crossword puzzle his kid was handed as part of their meal at a restaurant in Florida.

The crossword features four words, each with a picture of an animal as a clue. The other three answers have been filled in with the help of pictures of a cow, a horse, and a sheep. However, the fourth remained only partially filled.

This is because it is asking for a four-letter word as an answer alongside a picture of a pig which, obviously, is only three letters.

The dad who posted the puzzle to Reddit told Newsweek he was dining with friends and family when they all began "all the adults got involved in the kids puzzle."

He said they were firmly divided on what the answer may or may not be. " Half of us thought that the answer should be pork, but the other half was convinced it was an incorrectly designed crossword."

Despite the disagreement, he remains relatively confident in his answer, even if it does put a dark spin on the crossword as a whole. "I think the answer could be pork," the dad said. "But it's weird considering the other answers of the puzzle are based on names of the animal, not the meat."

Seeking a definitive answer, he posted a picture of the puzzle to Reddit. The response was far from unanimous though.

One user was convinced the answer was "pigs" despite there being a picture of just one pig on the crossword. Another joked: "Pigg. The g is silent." Others were baffled at the suggestion the answer could be pork.

"Why pork?" one asked. "Yeah it's probably the answer, but that would make sense if the others were beef, lamb or mutton, and the horse were a chicken. A pig is not pork, the meat from a pig is pork—to me anyway."

Despite the ongoing confusion and lack of a definitive answer, the dad said he has had "fun reading all the comments" even if they were not able to get to the bottom of it.

This isn't the first time a kids puzzle has left the internet scratching their heads. A spot-the-difference game shared on social media had a similar effect as did a seemingly impossible maze challenge.

There's even been another kids' crossword that has left people confused.