You’ve seen it in writing, and you may even use it yourself. Many solvers missed the entry EST in Jake Halperin’s Wednesday, July 24 puzzle. It was clued as “The ‘e’ of i.e..”

The Latin phrase “id est,” usually abbreviated as “i.e.,” means “that is,” and is used to follow up a generalization with a more specific explainer. Contrary to popular belief, “i.e.” and “e.g.” are not interchangeable. “Exempli gratia” or “e.g.” which translates to “for example,” is used to introduce examples in a list format.

The word EST has been in the New York Times Crossword a total of 848 times, although it’s hard to know exactly how many of those entries were clued as the “e” of i.e., since EST can also be clued as an abbreviation for “estimated” or “established,” as well as a superlative and the word “is” in Latin or French.



How It Might be Clued

Clues that involve wordplay are in bold.

“The ‘e’ of i.e.,” “Is from ancient Rome?,” “Is written on papyrus?” “Id ___”