Puzzle with pluses and minuses crossword clue
50 Down · WSJ Crossword, September 30, 2026 · 5 letters
Explanation
The answer to “Puzzle with pluses and minuses” is REBUS. It appears as 50 Down in the Wall Street Journal crossword of September 30, 2026, a Wednesday puzzle titled “Classical Symmetry” by Kathleen Diamantakis & Jeff Chen, and it fills 5 squares running top to bottom from row 11, column 3 of the 15×15 grid.
A plural clue takes a plural answer, which is why the entry ends in S. The entry begins with R and ends with S, and contains 2 vowels and 3 consonants. If you are working from the crossings, two or three confirmed letters from the Across entries should be enough to lock it in. Wednesday puzzles sit mid-week on the difficulty curve, so expect the rest of this grid to be pitched at the same level.
Past appearances
REBUS has not appeared as an answer in any other WSJ puzzle in our index, which runs from May 2026 onward. It will be listed here the next time it turns up.