printer's devilry

English

Alternative forms

• Printer's Devilry

Etymology

Pun on printer's devil and devilry.

Noun

printer's devilry (uncountable)

1. A type of crossword puzzle where solvers have to identify the string of letters, spelling out a word, that has been removed from a sentence.
2. A typographical error.
   • 1909, The Imperial and Asiatic Quarterly Review and Oriental and Colonial Record

     This was not a printer's devilry, for taffetas, sugar, mats are similarly misstated.

   • 2002, Tim Pat Coogan, Michael Collins: The Man Who Made Ireland, Palgrave Macmillan →ISBN, page 445

     The writer adopted the initials after his nom de plume, Aeon, was once shortened accidentally through printer's devilry.

   • 2002, Pratibha India

     A word of caution! The Bengali as well as the translated texts are not free from Printer's devilry.

See also

• Titivillus