The answer is EDAM (4 letters).
Why EDAM fits
EDAM is the most common four-letter answer, and it is a crossword institution. The Dutch cheese has an ideal letter pattern of vowel, consonant, vowel, consonant, and it also reads as MADE backwards, which cryptic setters enjoy. The clue is deliberately open, so the letter count does most of the work.
Every answer by letter count
| Letters | Answer | When it is used |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | EDAM | Dutch, the crossword default |
| 4 | BRIE | French soft cheese |
| 4 | FETA | Greek brined cheese |
| 5 | GOUDA | Dutch, semi-hard |
| 6 | ASIAGO | Italian, when the clue hints Italian |
| 7 | RICOTTA | Italian whey cheese |
| 9 | ROQUEFORT | French blue, longer slots |
Clues that share these answers
- Dutch export
- Sandwich filler
- Deli offering
- Tea variety, for a parallel clue
- Lettuce variety, same clue shape
How to attack any variety clue
Variety clues are deliberately open. The setter is not testing whether you know cheese, they are using a category with many short members to fill an awkward slot. The efficient approach is to ignore the clue entirely until you have one or two crossing letters, then match against the shortlist for that length.
The same tactic works on tea variety, lettuce variety, cabbage variety and mango variety, which all appear in the same puzzles for the same structural reason. Learning the four-letter members of each category is worth more than learning the categories themselves.
The short cheeses worth memorising
EDAM, BRIE and FETA cover the large majority of four-letter cheese entries. Beyond those the useful additions are COLBY and DERBY at five, and CHEVRE at six when the clue hints at goat.
It is equally worth knowing which cheeses almost never appear. Long names with awkward letter runs such as MASCARPONE are rare outside themed grids, because they constrain too much of the surrounding fill. Constructors reach for short, vowel-alternating names, which is precisely why the same handful recur week after week.
Confirming it in your grid
Count the squares before committing. If the length matches the row above and one crossing letter agrees, you can fill the rest with confidence. When two answers of the same length both fit the clue, the crossings decide it, and it is usually faster to solve the crossing entry than to argue with the definition.