What are the different types of crosswords?
Common crossword types include quick, cryptic, fill-in, codeword, arroword, picture, anagram, rebus and diagramless puzzles. Some ask you to recall a word; others hand you the letters and ask you to work out where they belong. The table compares what you get and what you do with it.
| Type | You start with | Your job |
|---|---|---|
| Quick / straight | Definitions, synonyms or general-knowledge clues | Solve clues and fit crossing answers. |
| Cryptic | Clues usually combining a definition with wordplay | Explain how the clue builds the answer. |
| Fill-in / word fit | The answers in a word bank | Work out where each word belongs. |
| Codeword / cipher | Numbered cells and some starter letters | Discover which letter each number represents. |
| Arroword / Scandinavian | Clues inside the grid with directional arrows | Write each answer where its arrow points. |
| Picture crossword | Pictures in place of written clues | Name and spell what you see. |
| Anagram / scrambled | Letters to rearrange, sometimes as another word | Find the arrangement that fits the crossings. |
| Crossnumber / cross-figure | Number clues or arithmetic | Fit answers as crossing strings of digits. |
| Rebus | Clues and a twist in how answers fit | Put multiple letters or a symbol in certain cells. |
| Diagramless | Clues and a grid with its block pattern missing | Locate the answers and the black squares. |
These describe solving rules. Size, grid style and theme can overlap with any of them; this is not a fixed count of every possible type.
A crossword can be mini, themed and cryptic at the same time: small grid, connected answers, wordplay clues. “Daily” tells you when it appears; “printable” tells you how you can use it. Neither changes the solving rules.
What is the difference between quick and cryptic crosswords?
A quick crossword uses straight clues: definitions, synonyms, phrases to complete or general knowledge. “Quick” describes the tradition, not a promise about your stopwatch. A short clue can still leave you choosing between several words until a crossing letter settles it.
A cryptic clue usually offers two routes to the same answer: a definition and wordplay. Anagrams, hidden words, reversals and sounds can all be part of the machinery. You want to know both what the answer means and how the clue produces its letters. The National Puzzlers’ League’s cryptic introduction demonstrates that double reading.
Our regular puzzles use straight clues. We don't offer cryptic crosswords: generating a filled grid is one job; writing fair, satisfying cryptic clues is another. If rearranging letters appeals, our anagram crosswords let you practice that particular skill.
How do American and British crosswords differ?
In a traditional American-style grid, every answer letter belongs to both an Across and a Down word: it is “checked” by a crossing answer. British-style lattice grids leave some letters in only one answer. There, a solved crossing word cannot confirm every letter you write.
British does not automatically mean cryptic. British newspapers also publish quick crosswords, and that is the tradition our British crosswords follow. They use lattice grids and our usual US spellings. Our mini grids have every letter checked; our larger grids can have unchecked letters, so they don't all follow the strict American construction convention.
What is a crossword without clues called?
Usually a fill-in or a codeword, depending on what replaces the clues. A fill-in supplies the words; match their lengths to the available spaces, then use crossing letters to decide between candidates. A codeword supplies a substitution code: every occurrence of a number stands for the same letter. Finding one letter can unlock several words at once.
Here is one real 5×5 grid from our puzzle builder, presented three ways. The answers and black squares stay exactly the same.
Regular crossword
10 clues. For example: 1 Across, “Vine that keeps its leaves in the cold” (3).
Fill-in crossword
The word bank replaces the clues. PLEAT is already placed.
3 letters: DEN, IMP, IVY, TAN
4 letters: DALE, ELLA, MAID, VALE
5 letters: PLEAT, YIELD
Codeword
11 different letters, each with its own code number. Starter letters A, N are filled everywhere they occur.
We make the fill-in by replacing a normal puzzle's clues with its actual answers and placing one starter word. Our codeword and cipher crossword pages use the same number-to-letter rules. In these small grids, the code covers only the letters present, rather than requiring all 26.
Which types change the clues you see?
Arrowords, also called arrow words or Scandinavian crosswords, put short clues inside the grid. Follow each arrow to its answer. Picture crosswords replace written clues with images; ours use emoji whose everyday names you spell into the squares.
Our anagram puzzles give you a real word to rearrange, such as THING for NIGHT. Scrambled crosswords give you loose letters instead, with an optional ordinary hint alongside them. Both provide the letters; the crossings help you put them in order. In a crossnumber or cross-figure puzzle, the answers are numbers. Ours use self-contained arithmetic clues, so you can begin with any sum.
Are mini, daily and Sunday crosswords different types?
They mostly describe scale or schedule. A mini crossword is a small grid—ours is 5×5. A daily crossword gives you a new puzzle each day. A Sunday crossword usually means a larger newspaper-style puzzle; ours is 21×21 and available any day.
Bigger need not mean harder clues. Our Sunday uses the same everyday clue style as our smaller puzzles; there are simply more answers to find. For dimensions, answer counts and sitting-time estimates, use the crossword size guide.
What makes a crossword themed or themeless?
In a newspaper themed crossword, a group of answers shares a connection, perhaps a phrase pattern or a joke. The other entries need not belong to that theme. A themeless crossword has no overarching theme tying its answers together.
Our themed crosswords take the other common approach: the whole vocabulary pool belongs to one topic, such as animals or space. Knowing the subject narrows your search for each answer. A theme can coexist with different sizes and clue styles; it does not define the grid's rules.
What are barred, rebus and diagramless crosswords?
Blocked grids separate answers with black squares. Barred grids use thick lines between cells instead. Barred puzzles often appear in specialist cryptic publications, but the bars describe word boundaries, not a clue technique. Setter Phi's illustrated guide shows both grid styles and explains their conventions.
In a rebus crossword, certain squares hold multiple letters, a word or a symbol. Both crossing answers must accommodate that content. That differs from our picture puzzles, where the image is the clue and you still write one letter per square.
A diagramless crossword makes you reconstruct the missing block pattern as you solve. Our Backward Crossword has a related but different task: all the letters are supplied, including camouflage, and you black out the extras. We don't currently offer barred, rebus or traditional diagramless games.
Are acrostics and word searches crosswords too?
They are neighboring word-puzzle families. In an acrostic, clue-answer letters transfer into a quotation through matching numbers; they do not form an Across-and-Down grid. Drop quotes rebuild a quotation from column letter banks without a clue list. A plain word search asks you to find words already hidden in a letter grid.
Some games combine those ideas with crossword solving. Our word search crosswords hide an actual interlocking crossword among decoy letters. Detective Crosswords turn the finished grid into evidence for a mystery, while StackWord has you spell clued answers by uncovering tiles in a stack. They share the directory because they give crossword solvers another way to play.
Which crossword type should a beginner try?
Start with the kind of thinking you enjoy. For familiar clue-solving in a small space, try a mini. For fitting pieces together without trivia, choose a fill-in. For patterns and deduction, try a codeword. If you like having the letters supplied as a helping hand, choose scrambled mode with hints. Cryptics add a set of wordplay conventions to learn first.
For a young reader, the kids' guide helps match the vocabulary to their reading. For paper puzzles, the printable collection routes you to the right pack. Curious about what goes into our grids? Read how we make our puzzles.