Always in literature that is strangely frightening

The answer to “Always in literature that is strangely frightening” in the The Times Cryptic crossword is EERIE — a 5-letter word. It most recently appeared in the The Times Cryptic crossword on September 5, 2026, a Saturday puzzle, at 21-Down. Below you'll find why that fill fits, every other answer we've recorded for this clue, and links into the puzzle it came from.

“Always in literature that is strangely frightening” answer

EERIE (5 letters)

Reveal the solution one letter at a time with the tiles above if you'd rather nudge yourself toward it than see the whole word at once. Just want it outright? The answer is EERIE.

Why the answer is EERIE

An unsettling synonym for frightening emerges from a literary wordplay on permanence. 👻

What does EERIE mean?

Reading the plain dictionary sense of EERIE is often the fastest way to see why it answers this clue.

When else has “Always in literature that is strangely frightening” appeared?

The Times Cryptic reuses clues across dates, sometimes with a different answer depending on the grid. Here's where this exact clue has shown up, and what the answer was each time — handy when you're checking whether today's fill is the only one.

September 5, 2026 (most recent) → EERIE. We haven't indexed another appearance of this exact clue yet.

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