Starting an anytime puzzle
Choose a crossword from the title page by tapping on New Game in the Anytime Puzzles section, and then selecting the type and size of puzzle you prefer. The quickest puzzles are on a the 9x9 grid, as these have the fewest answers to find. Choosing Easy, Medium or Hard puzzles adjusts the difficulty of the answers - harder puzzles will really test your vocabulary and knowledge!
Your game will have a grid for you to fill in - just tap on an empty square and it will highlight the space, and also show you the clue that matches that space. Use the on-screen keyboard to enter the answer. You can pop the keyboard up or down to be able to see more of the clues.
Daily and Weekender puzzles
These puzzles are regular puzzles that you can collect and play - you will need to have a network connection (WiFi or cellular data) to be able to get them. All players worldwide play the same puzzle each day, and once complete, can submit their time and see how they ranked! To play them, just tap the number '1' to '4' or Weekender buttons in the Daily section on the title screen.
The Daily Puzzle 1 is an 11x11 grid, usually with fairly easy clues, and may also feature some answers appropriate to the day or season.
The Daily Puzzle 2 is an 11x11 grid but with trickier clues and more unusual words.
Daily Puzzle 3 and 4 vary in size and difficulty
A new Weekender 15x15 puzzle is available each Friday and is more of a challenge! It will often include answers which are topical, although the clues won’t require you to know current events - these are really just as a bonus to see if you can spot them.
The Plus is an exclusive subscriber-only puzzle which is tougher still and has its own score chart.
When you’ve completed any Daily or Weekender it will ask you if you want to submit your time. There is a small time penalty for each hint you’ve used or for any words you didn’t complete. To get the best time possible, try to complete the whole puzzle without using any hints!
Extra Features
- If you tap on a ‘checked’ square that has two answers running through, you will toggle between the two clues.
- As you type in an answer, if a letter is already in one of the places the cursor will skip past as you don’t need to enter it again.
- Once you’ve entered a word and it is correct, it will become set so you don’t accidentally delete any.
- You can tap on the Hint button at the bottom of the screen and it will give you a correct letter in your currently selected word. If you have some letters filled in it will skip those if they are correct, but if you have made a mistake then it may overwrite one of your letters with the correct one. You can tap hint several times for more hints within a word.
- You can pause any game in progress and return back to the title screen, where you will have the option to return to any of your games in progress or to start up another new game. You can have as many games in progress as you have spare slots available, but once those are full you’ll need to complete (or delete) one to free up a slot.
- To delete a game in progress from the title screen, tap on the X at the top right of a game. You will have the option to just delete the game, or to show you the complete solution first.
- We love improving Crosswords, making the game better and improving the puzzles and clues as we go along! If you spot any mistakes, come across clues which you think are incorrect or unreasonable, or if you just have suggestions to make the game better, let us know by choosing Feedback from the title screen!