Word that can be represented by a number

As a good detective and avid crossword solver, I knew that this clue was going to require some creative thinking. The first thing that came to mind was the idea of Roman numerals, since certain letters can be represented by numbers in this system. However, the clue was asking for a word, not a letter. So, I continued to search for other possibilities.

Then it hit me: the word “FOR” can be used in mathematical expressions to represent division. In certain contexts, instead of writing out “divided by,” we can use the symbol “/”, or simply write “a / b,” to mean “a divided by b”. And in everyday language, we often use the word “for” as a substitute for “divided by.” For example, “I ran 5 miles for 30 minutes” means “I ran 5 miles divided by 30 minutes.”

Once I put the pieces together, I felt confident that I had solved the mystery of the crossword clue “Word that can be represented by a number.” “FOR” may not be the most obvious answer, but it is a clever and fun one.