Contrary to expectation
The crossword clue "Contrary to expectation" is answered by ODDLY, a 5-letter entry. Used 6 times across 6 distinct years; most recently in 2018; first recorded in 1999. It appears in 5 publications in the xd corpus. Every figure on this page comes from the collection data itself, never from a guess.
The answer
ODDLY
5 letters. See every clue for this answer on the ODDLY answer page.
Used 6 times across 6 distinct years; most recently in 2018; first recorded in 1999. It appears in 5 publications in the xd corpus. Frequency and last-seen figures come from the xd crossword corpus only.
Other clues for ODDLY
Every other clue in this collection answered by ODDLY, most used first.
- In a strange way - used 41 times, most recently in 2026
- In a weird way - used 19 times, most recently in 2026
- "Strange to say ..." - used 18 times, most recently in 2026
- In an unusual way - used 14 times, most recently in 2026
- In a strange manner - used 13 times, most recently in 2023
- Strangely - used 13 times, most recently in 2025
- In a peculiar way - used 10 times, most recently in 2026
- "Strange as it may seem ... " - used 10 times, most recently in 2025
- In an offbeat way - used 6 times, most recently in 2026
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.
- "On the contrary!" - NOTSO, used 7 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.