A popular socio-cultural phenomenon, the crossword puzzle, is considered a peculiar aspect of uncodified (folk) linguistics, a spontaneous, not conditioned by an institutional intention, practice of reflecting people on the language in the referent-instrumental field of everyday consciousness. The main objective of the publication is to show that the discursive format of the crossword puzzle actualizes fundamental knowledge, concepts and categories from the thematic area of the word linguistics (lexicology).