Ever

The answer

ONCE

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

Used 9 times across 7 distinct years; most recently in 1997; first recorded in 1961. It appears in 2 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.

• ATALL (31 uses in xd)
• DOI (8 uses in xd)
• ALWAYS (3 uses in xd)
• ATANYTIME (3 uses in xd)
• AYE (3 uses in xd)

Other clues for ONCE

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

• Formerly - used 402 times, most recently in 2026
• A single time - used 296 times, most recently in 2026
• In the past - used 192 times, most recently in 2026
• "__ upon a time..." - used 138 times, most recently in 2026
• As soon as - used 137 times, most recently in 2026
• Back in the day - used 77 times, most recently in 2026
• Way back when - used 68 times, most recently in 2025
• Fairy tale starter - used 66 times, most recently in 2026
• Fairy tale opener - used 59 times, most recently in 2026
• Long ago - used 56 times, most recently in 2025
• Fairy tale beginning - used 54 times, most recently in 2026
• ___ in a blue moon - used 53 times, most recently in 2026
• Fairy tale start - used 49 times, most recently in 2026
• First word of "The Raven" - used 44 times, most recently in 2026
• Story starter - used 42 times, most recently in 2021
• Never again? - used 40 times, most recently in 2025
• Previously - used 39 times, most recently in 2026
• Some time ago - used 39 times, most recently in 2026
• Without repetition - used 38 times, most recently in 2026
• ___ and for all - used 35 times, most recently in 2026
• Whenever. - used 34 times, most recently in 2018
• Years ago - used 33 times, most recently in 2025
• In the old days - used 32 times, most recently in 2021
• "__ in Love with Amy" - used 29 times, most recently in 2022
• Quondam. - used 27 times, most recently in 1993
• Almost never - used 26 times, most recently in 2025
• All at __; suddenly - used 24 times, most recently in 2023
• Erstwhile - used 24 times, most recently in 2015
• Just a single time - used 24 times, most recently in 2026
• Not repeatedly - used 24 times, most recently in 2026
• "___ bitten..." - used 22 times, most recently in 2018
• Grimm beginning - used 22 times, most recently in 2020
• ___ in a lifetime - used 22 times, most recently in 2026
• "___ bitten, twice shy" - used 21 times, most recently in 2022
• "Measure twice, cut ___" - used 21 times, most recently in 2026
• In times past - used 20 times, most recently in 2026
• On a single occasion - used 20 times, most recently in 2026
• Enough, for some - used 19 times, most recently in 2020
• Head of a tale - used 18 times, most recently in 2012
• Second word of many limericks - used 18 times, most recently in 2025
• Former - used 17 times, most recently in 2014
• Tale starter - used 17 times, most recently in 2008
• ___ over lightly - used 15 times, most recently in 1994
• At all - used 14 times, most recently in 1992
• First word of many fairy tales - used 14 times, most recently in 2026
• In years past - used 14 times, most recently in 2026
• Not again - used 14 times, most recently in 2026
• Single time - used 14 times, most recently in 2022
• "___ Upon a Time in Hollywood" - used 14 times, most recently in 2025
• A while back - used 13 times, most recently in 2021
• It may be enough - used 13 times, most recently in 2017
• Never to be repeated - used 13 times, most recently in 2026
• A while ago - used 12 times, most recently in 2026
• If ever. - used 12 times, most recently in 2007
• Start of a fairy tale - used 12 times, most recently in 2026
• Back then - used 11 times, most recently in 2024
• First word of a fairy tale - used 11 times, most recently in 2024
• "Fool me ___, shame on you ..." - used 11 times, most recently in 2026
• "Going ___, going ..." - used 11 times, most recently in 2015
• ___ in a while - used 11 times, most recently in 2026
• In days gone by - used 11 times, most recently in 2023
• "The Raven" opener - used 11 times, most recently in 2022
• Fairy tale opening - used 10 times, most recently in 2026
• First word in a fairy tale - used 10 times, most recently in 2025
• Part of YOLO - used 10 times, most recently in 2026
• Story start - used 10 times, most recently in 2010
• Twice halved - used 10 times, most recently in 2013
• "You only live ___" - used 10 times, most recently in 2025
• 2012 Tony winner for Best Musical - used 9 times, most recently in 2019
• A long time ago - used 9 times, most recently in 2020
• At some earlier time - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• At some point in the past - used 9 times, most recently in 2025
• At some prior time - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• Fairy-tale word - used 9 times, most recently in 2016
• Fairy tale's first word - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• "Fool me ___ ..." - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• Just that single time - used 9 times, most recently in 2025
• "Just this ___!" - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• Not to be repeated - used 9 times, most recently in 2026
• Some years back - used 9 times, most recently in 2008
• Story opener - used 9 times, most recently in 2016
• Storybook beginning - used 9 times, most recently in 2015
• This may be enough - used 9 times, most recently in 2014
• Years back - used 9 times, most recently in 2022
• At an earlier time - used 8 times, most recently in 2024
• At any time. - used 8 times, most recently in 1995
• Start of many fairy tales - used 8 times, most recently in 2022
• Tale start - used 8 times, most recently in 2002
• "The Raven" opening - used 8 times, most recently in 2024
• At __; immediately - used 7 times, most recently in 2021
• "If I've told you ___ . . ." - used 7 times, most recently in 2026
• In olden days - used 7 times, most recently in 2026
• Never before and never again - used 7 times, most recently in 2023
• Not repeated - used 7 times, most recently in 2025
• Singly - used 7 times, most recently in 2019
• Start of a reminiscence - used 7 times, most recently in 2026
• "The ___ and Future King" - used 7 times, most recently in 2025
• "___ Upon a Mattress" - used 7 times, most recently in 2007
• "___ upon a midnight dreary ..." - used 7 times, most recently in 2025
• At the moment when - used 6 times, most recently in 2022
• "Falling Slowly" musical - used 6 times, most recently in 2026
• First word in many fairy tales - used 6 times, most recently in 2025
• It might be enough - used 6 times, most recently in 2012
• Just this time - used 6 times, most recently in 2008
• Less than twice - used 6 times, most recently in 2024
• ___-over (quick look) - used 6 times, most recently in 2016
• Sometime in the past - used 6 times, most recently in 2025
• "The Raven" start - used 6 times, most recently in 2017
• "There was this time when..." - used 6 times, most recently in 2026
• This time only - used 6 times, most recently in 2024
• Twice removed from thrice - used 6 times, most recently in 2013
• Uniquely - used 6 times, most recently in 2013
• Word in many limericks - used 6 times, most recently in 2006

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.

• Ever and ___ - ANON, used 59 times
• Ever so slightly - ATAD, used 42 times
• "___ ever so humble . . . " - BEIT, used 34 times
• "Like that'll ever happen!" - ASIF, used 27 times
• Forever and ever - EONS, used 19 times
• "Like that would ever happen!" - ASIF, used 16 times

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