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How to play Crossword

Goal

Fill the crossword! Every clue is a quiz question, and the number in brackets tells you how long the answer is — (7) is one word of 7 letters, (5,3) is two words, (4-5) has a hyphen. Spaces, hyphens and apostrophes are left out of the grid.

Ways to play

• 🎲 Random — a brand-new crossword every time. Pick the size (Quick 9×9, Regular 11×11, Big 13×13 or Huge 15×15), how hard the clues are, and a topic if you like.
• 🗺️ Story — 15 crosswords in 5 levels: Warm-up, Getting going, Brain teaser, Tough cookie, Mastermind. They get bigger and harder as you go, and each one is made fresh when you start it. Finish a crossword to open the next one.
• 📅 Daily — one Regular crossword for everyone each day. Your best time for the day is kept. Hints add time: 15 seconds for a letter, 45 for a word.
• 🏁 Race — 2 to 6 players solve the same grid, each on their own copy. Challenge someone from the lobby, open a table for up to 6, or race 1–5 computer players. You see how many words everyone has solved, and small coloured marks next to the clues they've done — but never their answers. First to finish wins. With a time limit, whoever solved the most words wins (then the most letters).

Typing an answer

• Tap a square or tap a clue. The word lights up and the answer strip under the grid shows the clue and a row of boxes.
• Type the answer — on a phone or tablet use the keyboard on the screen. Letters you already know from crossing words are filled in for you and locked.
• ⌫ rubs out, ← → move along the boxes, and Enter ⏎ checks it.
• Right: the word turns green, and the strip moves on to the next clue. Wrong: the boxes shake and the wrong letters flash red — fix them and try again.
• Letters you typed but haven't checked stay in the grid in pencil, so you can come back to them.
• Where an Across and a Down word cross, tap the same square again to swap between them, or use the [4 Across] [4 Down] tabs on the strip.
• Keyboard: Tab / Shift+Tab next or previous clue, ↑ ↓ move up and down the grid, Space swaps Across and Down.

Hints

• 💡 Letter shows the next empty letter of the word (1 hint point). 🔎 Word fills in the whole word (3 hint points).
• In a race there's no 🔎, and you get 3 💡 letters — but each one freezes your typing for 8 seconds.

Story stars

• ★★★ no hints and finished inside the par time (shown on the map).
• ★★ 3 hint points or fewer, or slower than par.
• ★ finished. Replay any crossword to try for more stars — your best is kept.

Tips

• Start with the clues you're sure of — every answer gives you letters for the words that cross it.
• Short words are often quickest. Use Tab (or just carry on) to hop to the next clue you haven't solved.
• Not sure? Type what you think anyway — your pencil letters wait in the grid until you come back.
• Press ❚❚ to pause a solo game: the clock stops and the grid is hidden.

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