How to Solve This Criss-Cross Crossword

A criss-cross plays like a crossword, but every answer is already listed in the word bank — your job is to work out where each one fits. Here's the method:

• Start with the word bank. Each of the 19 words is used exactly once, so cross them off as you place them to narrow every remaining choice.
• Count letters before you write. Every slot is a fixed length. Match a bank word to a slot of exactly the right size, then check the crossing letters agree before committing in pen.
• Let the crossings do the work. Once a few words are down, each shared square hands you a letter in the answer that crosses it — often enough to place a word without even reading its clue.
• Collect the ringed letters. Eight squares are circled in red. As you fill the grid, the letters that land in those squares are your bonus — read all eight and rearrange them into one hidden summer word.

New to grid puzzles? Our complete guide to solving crosswords walks through clue-reading and fill strategy from the ground up.

About This Puzzle

Life's a Beach fits nineteen summery answers into one interlocking grid — from the SAILBOAT, WAVES, and TIDE offshore to the SANDALS, PARASOL, and SEAWEED onshore, all watched over by a LIFEGUARD. Because every answer also appears in the word bank below, it plays fair as a Medium: the challenge is placement and the crossings, not obscure vocabulary. Solve it and eight of the squares — the ones ringed in red — give up a scrambled eight-letter word for exactly where you'd want to spend your summer.

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