Fill the grid one clue at a time, letting the crossing words check your work as you go. Every clue has exactly one right answer, and every answer you land locks in a few letters of its neighbours — that's what makes a crossword satisfying to chip away at. Every puzzle below is free to print, with the answer key folded on the back so you can check your work without spoiling it.
Easy · Medium · Hard — themes from everyday vocabulary to general knowledge and geography
Everyday vocabulary and a smaller grid — a friendly place to start if crosswords are new to you or you want a quick, satisfying solve.
Print this puzzle » See all easy crosswords »A bigger grid and a wider clue vocabulary. Enough of a challenge to slow you down without ever feeling unfair.
Print this puzzle » See all medium crosswords »High-school level vocabulary and sharper clues throughout. A proper test for solvers who want their crossword to push back.
Print this puzzle » See all hard crosswords »A crossword is a grid of white squares waiting for letters and black squares that separate one answer from the next. Every white square belongs to two answers at once — one across, one down — so every letter you're sure of helps confirm or rule out its crossing neighbour. That overlap is the whole game: you rarely solve a clue in isolation, you solve it with help from the letters already locked in around it.
Start with the clues you're certain of, not the ones you can guess at. Fill those in first, then use the crossing letters they reveal to unlock the clues that seemed impossible on their own. A clue that felt hopeless with zero letters filled in often becomes obvious with just one or two confirmed.
First, work the short answers before the long ones — three- and four-letter entries have far fewer possible words, so they lock in faster and hand you crossing letters sooner. Second, watch for a clue's part of speech and tense; a clue ending in "-ed" wants a past-tense answer, and a plural clue wants a plural answer, which narrows the field before you've even guessed a word.
Want the full method, including how to read theme clues and crack cryptic-style wordplay? Read our complete guide to solving crosswords.
If one clue just won't budge, you don't have to leave it blank. Our free crossword solver takes the letters you already have and the word length and narrows down the possible answers — handy for checking your work or breaking a stubborn logjam.