Story starter
The crossword clue "Story starter" is answered by ONCE, a 4-letter entry. Used 42 times across 22 distinct years; most recently in 2021; first recorded in 1979. It appears in 14 publications in the xd corpus. Every figure on this page comes from the collection data itself.
The answer
ONCE
4 letters. See every clue for this answer on the ONCE answer page.
Used 42 times across 22 distinct years; most recently in 2021; first recorded in 1979. It appears in 14 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.
- DATELINE (3 uses in xd)
- LEDE (1 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
- "__ upon a time..." - used 138 times, most recently in 2026
- As soon as - used 137 times, most recently in 2026
- Fairy tale starter - used 66 times, most recently in 2026
- Fairy tale opener - used 59 times, most recently in 2026
- 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
- Never again? - used 40 times, most recently in 2025
- 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
- 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
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.
- Story - TALE, used 293 times
- Long story - SAGA, used 247 times
- It's a long story - SAGA, used 161 times
- Pot starter - ANTE, used 158 times
- Poker pot starter - ANTE, used 92 times
- Story line - PLOT, used 89 times
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