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How to play Crossword

The classic crossword is the heart of Wordarling: a grid, a list of straight clues and words that help each other out. Here are the rules, a worked example and the tips that matter once the grid grows.

What it is

Every word hidden in the grid has a clue — a short definition such as "Sweet treat for birthdays" or "Opposite of good". Words run across (left to right) or down (top to bottom) and they cross: the letter you put in one word also belongs to the word passing through that square.

Answers are written in plain capital letters, with no spaces, hyphens or apostrophes.

The rules, step by step

1. Pick a word. Tap any white square. Its word lights up and the clue appears in the bar above the grid, with its number and direction (→ for across, ↓ for down).
2. Switch direction. Tapping the same square again toggles between the across and the down word through it. You can also tap a clue in the "Across" and "Down" lists below the grid to jump straight to the start of that word.
3. Type. Use your phone or computer keyboard. Each letter goes in and the cursor moves along the word by itself. Backspace on an empty square steps back one square.
4. Fill the grid. There is no "submit" button: once every square is filled, the game checks it automatically. If it is all correct, the level ends and you see your time; if something is wrong, the game tells you there are still mistakes, without saying where.

The clock at the top tracks your time, but there is no limit: take it easy.

A worked example

A tiny grid, already solved, with three words.

Start with the clue you are sure of: a four-letter birthday treat is CAKE. Look at what that does to the downs: 1↓ now starts with C and 2↓ starts with E. A small hand-pulled wagon beginning with C is CART — not WAGON, which doesn't fit. The opposite of good, four letters, starting with E, is EVIL. Three words, each one pulling in the next. Real levels work exactly the same way, just with more crossings.

Difficulty and the journey

There are four levels: Easy, Medium, Hard and Expert. From Easy to Expert the grid grows (from around 7×6 up to 14×14), the word count climbs (from about six to around twenty), words get longer and the vocabulary gets less common. On later levels the clues get more oblique too.

In solo play you don't pick levels: tap the Crossword card and the game opens the next level of your journey. If you keep solving quickly without help, the journey skips a few levels ahead to keep it challenging — it never sends you back.

Strategy and tips

• Scan before you write. Read both lists and fill in the obvious answers first. Each one leaves free letters in the words that cross it.
• Short words first. Three- and four-letter answers have few options and tend to fall quickly.
• Use the length. The highlighted word shows how many squares it has. If your answer doesn't fit, it isn't the answer.
• Match the grammar. A plural clue usually means a plural answer; a past-tense clue ("Walked…") usually means a past-tense answer.
• Think in endings. English loves -ING, -ED, -ER, -LY and -TION. A down word that ends on a filled square can give away the ending of an across.
• Move around. Stuck in one corner? Work elsewhere and come back: new letters often crack what looked impossible.

Common mistakes

• Typing the down answer into the across slot. Before typing, check the arrow in the clue bar.
• Holding on to an answer that fits the clue but fights a crossing. When two words disagree on a letter, at least one of them is wrong.
• Committing too fast to a short word. "Foot digit" in three letters is probably TOE — but let a crossing confirm it before you build on it.

How helps work

Signed in with Google, every level gives you free uses of two helps:

• Check looks at the whole grid and marks wrong letters in red. Empty squares don't count, and the mark disappears when you change the letter.
• Reveal shows the correct letter in the selected square. If the letter there was already right, the use is not spent.

Right now you get two free uses of each per level (three with Premium). After that you can buy a few extra uses with coins, and the price shows on the button before you tap.

Other ways to play

The Crossword also powers Blitz (three minutes, no helps, points per correct word), the Friday daily challenge and the multiplayer modes: in team play, up to four people solve the same grid live; in Versus, players take 20-second turns.

FAQ

Enjoyed it? Once the classic feels easy, try the Cryptic Crossword, where every clue is a small riddle.