First name in detective fiction

The answer

ERLE

4 letters. See every clue for this answer on the ERLE answer page.

Used 18 times across 13 distinct years; most recently in 2025; first recorded in 1970. It appears in 7 publications in the xd corpus. Frequency and last-seen figures come from the xd crossword corpus only.

Other answers for this clue

The same clue has also been answered these ways in the xd corpus. Answers inside this collection link to their own answer page.

• NERO (2 uses in xd)
• AGATHA (1 uses in xd)
• ARSENE (1 uses in xd)
• ELLERY (1 uses in xd)

Other clues for ERLE

Every other clue in this collection answered by ERLE, most used first.

• Perry's creator - used 332 times, most recently in 2026
• ___ Stanley Gardner - used 189 times, most recently in 2026
• First name in mysteries - used 94 times, most recently in 2025
• Author __ Stanley Gardner - used 84 times, most recently in 2025
• Gardner - used 68 times, most recently in 1998
• Writer ___ Stanley Gardner - used 51 times, most recently in 2025
• Della's creator - used 49 times, most recently in 2015
• Author Gardner - used 48 times, most recently in 2014
• A Gardner - used 44 times, most recently in 2005
• Writer Gardner - used 40 times, most recently in 2023
• First name in courtroom fiction - used 35 times, most recently in 2020
• Perry's penner - used 34 times, most recently in 2009
• Creator of Perry and Della - used 33 times, most recently in 2021
• First name in whodunits - used 30 times, most recently in 2025
• Mystery writer ___ Stanley Gardner - used 30 times, most recently in 2025
• Gardner of mystery - used 29 times, most recently in 2022
• Agatha contemporary - used 28 times, most recently in 2021
• Agatha's contemporary - used 26 times, most recently in 2008
• Contemporary of Agatha - used 23 times, most recently in 2017
• First name in mystery - used 23 times, most recently in 2017
• Man's name. - used 22 times, most recently in 1968
• Dashiell contemporary - used 18 times, most recently in 2026
• Mr. Gardner - used 17 times, most recently in 2014
• Mystery writer Gardner - used 16 times, most recently in 2025
• Perry and Della's creator - used 16 times, most recently in 2019
• First name in mystery writing - used 13 times, most recently in 2014
• Colleague of Agatha - used 12 times, most recently in 2014
• Contemporary of Dashiell - used 12 times, most recently in 2018
• A. A. Fair's real first name - used 11 times, most recently in 2009
• Gardner of mysteries - used 11 times, most recently in 2011
• One of the Gardners. - used 10 times, most recently in 1969
• "Perry Mason" novelist ___ Stanley Gardner - used 9 times, most recently in 2025
• Agatha's colleague - used 8 times, most recently in 2011
• Director Kenton - used 7 times, most recently in 2006
• First name in courtroom drama - used 7 times, most recently in 2009
• Novelist -- Stanley Gardner - used 7 times, most recently in 2022
• Peer of Dashiell - used 7 times, most recently in 2008
• Perry's progenitor - used 7 times, most recently in 2005

Related clues

Clues in this collection of the same answer length that share a word with this clue, or match its answer pattern when no word is shared. Most used first.

• First-rate - AONE, used 274 times
• First place - EDEN, used 215 times
• Baseball family name - ALOU, used 183 times
• Edison's middle name - ALVA, used 156 times
• First-class - AONE, used 143 times
• First name in scat - ELLA, used 140 times

Search the clue collection

Search by clue words or by answer, or type a pattern with the letters you have and a blank for each square you do not know. The characters _ ? . and - all work as blanks.