Crossword Solver
Enter the letters you already have, the clue, or both. Nothing to install and no account — the results are on this page.
How to use it
Say you have a nine-letter answer, you know it starts with C and has a W seventh. Enter C??????W? and the solver lists every word that fits, commonest first — because the word a setter used is almost always the ordinary one.
If you have no letters at all, type a distinctive word from the clue instead. Searching for sheltered water for ships finds HARBOUR without any letters to go on.
Both together is strongest: the clue narrows the meaning and the pattern narrows the shape.
Questions
- Does it solve cryptic crossword clues?
- Not reliably. It searches definitions, so it answers straight clues well and cryptic ones badly — a cryptic clue hides its answer in wordplay, an anagram or a charade, and no definition search sees through that. For cryptics the letters you already have from the crossing entries are worth more than the clue is.
- What do I type if I only have some of the letters?
- Use a question mark for each letter you do not have. C?O??W??D finds CROSSWORD. Full stops, underscores and hyphens all work the same way, so whichever notation you are used to is fine.
- Why are the results in that order?
- Commonest word first. A pattern with a few letters showing can match forty words, and the one a setter used is almost always the ordinary one rather than the obscure one.
- Can I search without any letters at all?
- Yes — type a distinctive word from the clue instead. A pattern of nothing but wildcards is refused, because it matches thousands of words and answers nothing.
- Is it free, and do I need an account?
- It is free and there is no account. Every search is an ordinary web address, so you can bookmark or share a result.
Rather solve one?
There is a new crossword here every day, free to play and free to print, and the answers to every one of them if you would rather just know.