Crossword Clue: Ivory Coast's largest city
Here's the answer to the Ivory Coast's largest city crossword clue, with an explanation and where it has appeared.
Definition & answer: ABIDJAN
"Ivory Coast's largest city" points to ABIDJAN, a 7-letter entry that starts with A and finishes on N and carries 3 vowels. Because every square it occupies also belongs to a down or across answer crossing it, you can often back into ABIDJAN from the letters around it rather than the clue alone.
Origin & meaning
Abidjan is the economic capital and largest city of Ivory Coast. It is built around a lagoon on the Atlantic coast. The city was once nicknamed the Paris of West Africa for its skyline.
Common usage
Compact, vowel-friendly answers such as ABIDJAN are a constructor's staple: they slot into a 7-square space and play nicely in both directions. Solvers who recognize it on sight save real time on the daily puzzle.
Crossword trivia
Abidjan belongs to the small vocabulary of words that appear constantly in grids. Because it's only 7 letters, editors can drop it almost anywhere, which is why regular solvers know it on sight.
Stuck on this clue?
Stuck on "Ivory Coast's largest city"? Don't force it — solve the clues crossing this slot instead. One or two intersecting letters usually make ABIDJAN obvious. Working from the crossings is the single most useful habit for getting faster.
This clue in different puzzles
Setters vary how they clue ABIDJAN — sometimes with a straight dictionary definition, sometimes with wordplay, a pun, or a fill-in-the-blank — but the answer itself stays the same. Learning to spot the answer behind the disguise is a core crossword skill.
Example sentences
- "A 7-letter slot and a clue like 'Ivory Coast's largest city'? That's ABIDJAN nine times out of ten."
- "I second-guessed it, but the crossing answers confirmed ABIDJAN was right."
- "I had the crossing letters, so writing ABIDJAN into the grid took no time at all."