Crossword
In Crossword you fill a crossword grid from written clues. Every word is genuinely in the grid. Free, no install, no sign-up.
Crossword works like this: some words are woven together in the grid. Each one comes with a short clue telling you what it means — work out the words and fill them in.
about 39.0 KB
Works offline after the first visit. No install, no sign-up.
Loading the game…
How to play Crossword
The clues are meanings, not definitions copied from a dictionary
Every clue was written for this site as a one-line explanation of the word, in plain language. Nothing is taken from a dictionary, a thesaurus or any third-party word source, which is also why the clues never simply restate the answer.
Tap a square to see its clue
Tap any white square and the clues for that square appear underneath — a word running across and a word running down both pass through it. Tap the same square again to switch between the two. The whole word you are currently on is shaded so you can see which letters it needs.
Typing moves along the clue
Type a letter and the selection moves to the next square of the same clue, so you can fill a whole word without tapping each cell. The backspace key clears the current square. On a touchscreen, the on-screen keys do the same thing.
No two entries sit back to back
Words are only ever joined where they genuinely cross. Two parallel words are never allowed to touch, because the letters would run together and form a longer string that is not a word at all — read across and you would see nonsense. The grid is built so that every run of adjoining letters in it is exactly one of the entries and nothing else.
Every entry is genuinely in the grid
The words are laid into the grid first, crossing only where the letters agree, and each placement is checked as it happens. So a clue never sends you looking for a word that is not there.
Fill every square to finish
The round ends when every white square holds its correct letter. Wrong letters simply stay wrong — there is no penalty and you can overwrite any square as often as you like.
Crossword Tips and Strategy
Crossings hand you free letters
Every placed word crosses another, and the crossing square has to hold the same letter in both entries. Solving the clue you are surest about therefore settles letters in the perpendicular clue for nothing, so start with the easiest entry and let its crossings narrow the rest of the grid.
The panel shows a length
Each clue is shown with the length of its entry, and the pool behind the puzzle is only sixty words between four and eight letters. Just three of them are as short as four letters, so a four-square entry can often be identified from its definition and length before you have read the clue twice.
Nothing checks you mid-word
A letter that disagrees with the answer is simply left sitting on the board, and the puzzle only ends when every cell agrees. So write your best guess across the whole grid first and correct the doubtful cells afterwards instead of stopping at one clue and waiting for a confirmation that never comes.
Crossword — Frequently Asked Questions
I cannot find where a clue goes.
Tap the squares you think it might start at and check whether one of the two clues shown matches. The shading shows the whole word for whichever clue is currently selected, so you can see how many letters it needs.
Two clues are shown for the same square. How do I pick the other one?
Tap the same square again — the selection switches between the word across and the word down.
Are the clues from a dictionary?
No. Each one was written for this site as a plain one-line explanation of the word. Nothing is copied from a dictionary or any other word source, and no clue simply repeats its own answer.
Can two answers be touching without crossing?
No. Entries only meet where they genuinely cross. Two parallel words are never allowed to sit side by side, because their letters would read as one longer string that is not a word.
Does it need installing or an account?
No. It runs in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer and works offline after the first visit.
Selection guide: word games online