Crossword Puzzles

Overview

A grid of white and black squares, filled with interlocking words from numbered clues. There is no opponent and no timer, only you and the setter.

There's no governing body. What follows are the conventions most published puzzles follow, and each publication has its own house style.

Reading a grid

Squares are numbered where a word begins, and clues are listed as Across and Down. Every white square in a standard grid belongs to both an across and a down entry, so each letter is confirmed twice. That cross-checking is what makes the puzzle solvable.

British grids use a lattice with more black squares and often only alternate letters checked; American grids check every letter.

Most grids have 180-degree rotational symmetry — a convention, not a rule, but near-universal.

Enumeration

British and cryptic puzzles print the answer's shape after the clue:

• (7) — a single seven-letter word
• (3,4) — two words of three and four letters
• (5-2) — a hyphenated answer

American puzzles omit this; you count the squares.

Straight clues

A straight — or quick — clue is a definition or synonym. The difficulty comes from ambiguity: Bank might want RELY, SHORE or TILT.

Watch the part of speech. A clue in the past tense wants an answer in the past tense. A plural clue wants a plural answer.

Cryptic clues

A cryptic clue is two clues in one: a definition at the start or the end, and wordplay covering the rest. Both point at the same answer. By convention, the definition sits at one end of the clue, not in the middle.

Device	How it works	Signalled by
Anagram	Rearrange letters given in the clue	confused, broken, out, oddly, cooked
Hidden	The answer sits inside consecutive words	in, some, part of, held by
Charade	Join pieces end to end	and, with, following, after
Container	One string inside another	in, around, swallowing, holding
Reversal	Spell a word backwards	back, returning, up (in downs)
Homophone	Sounds like another word	we hear, reportedly, on the radio
Double definition	Two meanings, no wordplay	Usually a very short clue
Deletion	Remove letters	headless, endless, heartless

An &lit clue — "and literally so" — is one where the entire clue works as both definition and wordplay at once. These are rare and setters are proud of them.

Common abbreviations

Cryptics lean on a shared shorthand: about = CA or RE, quiet = P, loud = F, learner = L, note = A to G or TE, sailor = AB or TAR, doctor = DR or MO, river = R, king = K or R.

How to start

Fill the entries you are certain of first — usually short across answers and any clue with an obvious enumeration. Every letter you place helps with the entries crossing it.

If you are stuck, count the enumeration against the grid. A wrong answer that fits the definition but not the letter count is the most common reason a corner refuses to resolve.