Take by surprise
The crossword clue "Take by surprise" is answered by STARTLE, a 7-letter entry. Used 13 times across 9 distinct years; most recently in 2025; first recorded in 1989. It appears in 9 publications in the xd corpus. Every figure on this page comes from the collection data itself, never from a guess.
The answer
STARTLE
7 letters. See every clue for this answer on the STARTLE answer page.
Used 13 times across 9 distinct years; most recently in 2025; first recorded in 1989. It appears in 9 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.
- THROWACURVE (2 uses in xd)
- SNEAKUPON (1 uses in xd)
Other clues for STARTLE
Every other clue in this collection answered by STARTLE, most used first.
- Catch off guard - used 16 times, most recently in 2026
- Surprise - used 15 times, most recently in 2025
- Cause to jump - used 10 times, most recently in 2026
- Shake up - used 10 times, most recently in 2012
- Alarm - used 9 times, most recently in 2022
- Shock - used 8 times, most recently in 2024
- Frighten. - used 7 times, most recently in 2017
- Scare suddenly - used 7 times, most recently in 2025
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.
- Take for granted - PRESUME, used 27 times
- Take away - DETRACT, used 26 times
- Take over for - RELIEVE, used 23 times
- Surprise hit - SLEEPER, used 20 times
- Take back - RETRACT, used 20 times
- Take back - RESCIND, used 19 times
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