Clue for the word crossword

Crossword Clues By Letter

Or browse our list of commonly used crossword clues by letter

If you have a clue that you simply cannot solve on your own, Crossword Solver is a helpful tool. All you need to do is input the clue and whatever information you have. The search results will give you the most likely answer for your puzzle.

For over a century, crossword puzzles have been a favorite pastime for those who love words. While many people enjoy the feeling of accomplishment that comes with solving a difficult clue, others walk away from the puzzle in frustration.

What is a Crossword Puzzle?

For some people, the first thing they do when they get a newspaper or magazine is turn to the crossword. A crossword puzzle is a specially-designed grid with spaces for vertical and horizontal words. Each open square in the puzzle is the space for a letter.
Along with the grid, there is a list of clues that will help you identify the words in the puzzle. The numbers of the clues correspond to numbered squares in the puzzle grid. Because the words intersect, solving a vertical clue will give you letters to help you solve a horizontal clue.

A Brief History of the Crossword

The crossword puzzle was briefly known as the “Word-cross.” This was the name when it first appeared in The New York World newspaper in 1913. A few weeks later, an error by a typesetter reversed the words, but the “Crossword” label is the one that stuck.
The popularity of the crossword rose and fell a few times during the ensuing decades. Some critics labeled the puzzles as a waste of time. Yet, there were always puzzlers who both wanted to design and solve these challenges.
In the late 1990s, the internet began to drive readership from newspapers and magazines. As a result, crossword puzzle designers were looking for online options for their work. Today, those who love word games can find several apps for a daily crossword fix. Many newspaper publishers make their puzzle available online. You can find links to some of these in the Crossword Finder section. There are online resources available that allow you to design your own crossword puzzle. Teachers enjoy creating these kinds of puzzles as a way to teach new vocabulary terms.

Types of Crossword Puzzles

Because the crossword puzzle has been around for so long, several variations on the standard format have appeared. The different types of puzzles vary in difficulty and style.

Jumble

The jumble puzzle often has a small crossword element as its first step. By solving the crossword clues, you are given a set of letters that you then unscramble for the final solution.

Cryptic Crossword

This English variation on the standard crossword is far more difficult than a standard crossword. The clues of a cryptic puzzle are more challenging and unclear. For example, this type of puzzle is more likely to use anagrams or other creative wordplays.

Themed Crosswords

This kind of crossword is especially popular in magazines. The crossword clues may include definitions that refer back to content in the periodical.

Secret Phrase

In this variation, a large part of the puzzle is taken up by a long, secret phrase. By solving the regular clues, you will eventually have enough vowels and consonants to solve the longer riddle.

Crossword Clues

A challenging crossword clue is part of the fun of solving these puzzles, but it may also be the reason that you may need crossword help. If you choose a puzzle at an easy level, you may find that the answers to the clues are obvious. However, most crossword puzzle designers create clues that are meant to be a challenge.
In most puzzles, a winning strategy is to read through all the clues. To get you started, the puzzle designer almost always includes clues that do not require too much thought. This will help you fill in a few squares and make the next round of clue-solving a little easier.
As you solve more puzzles, you will become familiar with some common words and clues that help with puzzle design. For example, «obi» is the answer to the clue, «A Japanese belt.» This word shows up frequently because it is a short word that starts and ends with a vowel, making it perfect as a connecting word in the grid.

How to Use Crossword Solver

Our crossword help tool makes it easy to find the answer to vexing clues.

1. When you land on the page, you will see two rows of input areas. In the first row, input the crossword clue you are trying to solve.

2. In the second area, you can choose to input the letters you know using question marks for blank spaces, or you can just submit the length of the word.

3. When you press Search, you will receive a list of possible answers based on your information. The program accesses a database of the most common crossword puzzle answers that fit your description.

For example, if your clue is “Nonsense,” and you know it is a 10-letter word that starts with T, there is a 95% chance that it is either triviality or tomfoolery.

FAQs on Crossword Clues:

Which clues should you start with?

Starting with the simplest clues will help you fill your grid. Fill-in-the-blank clues are often the easiest because they use common names and phrases. As you do more puzzles, you will also see that designers reuse clues for common connecting words like EAR, ALE and ERE.

How do you interpret clues?

Clues in a basic crossword puzzle follow rules to help you solve them. For example, the tense of the clue is a hint about the tense of the answer. The answer to a clue like “Used to hurry” will be RAN and not RUN. In more advanced puzzles, you will need to think outside the box as the puzzle designer may use wordplay to increase the challenge.

What are the most uncommon clues?

Crossword puzzles are designed for many different publications. A book of crossword puzzles designed for extended use will use evergreen clues that will be relevant for many years. A weekly newspaper crossword or daily puzzle may have references to current events or popular figures. Clues such as these have a limited shelf life, but they make the puzzles more interesting.

This Crossword Word Finder will take a clue and an optional answer pattern to help you solve your Crossword Puzzle.

You can use wildcards to make the pattern.. i.e. G??? for a 4 letter word starting with G

Recent Crossword Clues and Puzzle Answers

How Does This Crossword Puzzle Solver Work?

Our Crossword Puzzle Solver is simple on purpose, so you can quickly solve tricky crossword puzzle clues and move on. Just enter the clues and an optional pattern, and we will do the rest!

We include the answers to clues from all major publications, such as the LA Times, The NY Times, USA Today, The Guardian, Daily Celebrity.

How do you Solve Crossword Puzzles?

Although our English Crossword Puzzle Search makes it easy, here are a few tips if you want to solve it yourself:

Tips for Solving Crosswords:

1. Always work in pencil. You will most likely need to erase a lot!
2. Think about the theme you are working with. The crossword puzzle’s title usually relates to at least some of the crossword clues.
3. Start with the fill in the blank crossword clues first. Usually, they are the easiest to solve, and they give hints on how to fill out the rest of your crossword puzzle.
4. Go for the short words first. Short words are a lot easier and help you gain extra clues on longer word answers.
5. Check for plurals. Often you may have the correct answer but in the singular form. Always check to see if the plural form fits.
6. Ask around for help. Ask people you know, who knows; they might know the answer right away.
7. Relax! It’s all in fun.

How do you Solve Cryptic Crosswords?

Need more crossword help? Our puzzle solver also works on cryptic crossword puzzles & general knowledge crosswords.

1. Read the clue forwards and backward
2. Think about the clue as a whole
3. Count the number of letters.
4. Cryptic crosswords are a lot harder to solve, so be patient and don’t forget to tap outside resources