___ in a blue moon

The answer

ONCE

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

Used 53 times across 19 distinct years; most recently in 2026; first recorded in 1997. It appears in 15 publications in the xd corpus. Frequency and last-seen figures come from the xd crossword corpus only.

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
• 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
• "Measure twice, cut ___" - used 21 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.

• Moon goddess - LUNA, used 168 times
• Blue-pencil - EDIT, used 151 times
• Blue hue - AQUA, used 135 times
• Greenish blue - TEAL, used 130 times
• Blue dye - ANIL, used 116 times
• Greenish-blue - AQUA, used 111 times

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