Free Daily Crossword: A New Crossword Puzzle Every Day

How today's crossword works

Our daily crossword is a free-form puzzle: the words cross wherever they share a letter, the way a classic criss-cross puzzle does, rather than filling a symmetrical grid packed with black squares. Each puzzle has 22 words, from short three-letter answers to long ones of nine or ten letters, and every clue was written for 77.today. Clues come in the familiar American styles: straight definitions, synonyms, fill-in-the-blanks, the occasional "Opposite of ___" and now and then a playful clue that ends in a question mark.

The puzzle above is today's. A new one is published every day at midnight Eastern Time, and the newest puzzle always sits at the top of this page. Older puzzles move into the list of previous crosswords, each on its own page, so you can solve them in any order.

How to play the crossword online

1. Pick a square. Tap or click any white square. The current word is highlighted and its clue appears in the bar above the grid.
2. Type the answer. Your phone keyboard opens automatically. Letters move forward through the word as you type.
3. Switch direction. Tap the same square again to flip between Across and Down where two words cross.
4. Jump between clues. On a computer, Tab or Enter moves to the next clue, Shift+Tab to the previous one, and the arrow keys move around the grid. On any screen you can tap a clue in the lists to jump straight to it.
5. Fix a letter. Backspace deletes the current letter, or the previous one if the square is empty. The delete key under the grid does the same on a phone.
6. Check your work. Check marks every wrong letter in red. Reveal letter fills in the selected square, Reveal word fills the whole current word, and Answers shows the complete solution.
7. Start over or print. Start over clears the grid and the timer. Print gives you a printable crossword with the grid and both clue lists.

Your progress and time are saved in your browser, so you can close the page on the bus and finish the puzzle at lunch on the same device. The timer only runs while the page is open in front of you.

Free crossword puzzles: why a daily habit works

A crossword is a small, finished thing in a day that rarely has many of those. You start with a blank grid and end with a full one, and in between you dig up words you have not used in years. That is a large part of why crossword puzzles have been a newspaper staple for more than a century and why so many people solve one every morning.

Solving at the same time each day also makes you better quickly. Crossword clues follow patterns, and after a few weeks you start to recognize them: a clue in the past tense needs a past-tense answer, a plural clue a plural answer, and a clue with a question mark is probably a pun. Our puzzles are meant to be friendly enough for a five-minute coffee break and still give regular solvers a few words to think about.

Crossword solving tips

Start with the fill-in-the-blanks

Clues like "___ and seek" or "Peanut butter and ___" are usually the easiest in the grid. Fill them first; every letter you place is a free hint for the words that cross it.

Match the grammar

The answer always takes the same form as the clue. "Ran quickly" points to a past-tense verb such as DASHED, "Large birds" to a plural noun, "Very tired" to an adjective. If your answer does not fit the grammar of the clue, it is probably wrong even if it fits the squares.

Count the letters

The number in brackets after each clue tells you how long the answer is. A clue like "Ocean off California" could have several answers in your head, but only one fits seven squares.

Work the crossings

If you are unsure of a word, solve the words that cross it first. Two or three crossing letters often make the answer obvious. Long words are worth extra attention because they cross many others.

Use the help tools wisely

Check is the gentlest kind of help: it only shows which letters are wrong. Reveal letter is next. Save Reveal word for a word that has truly stumped you, and look at its crossings afterward; that is how you learn the patterns for next time.

Take a break

Every crossword solver knows the moment when a clue that made no sense at breakfast suddenly makes perfect sense at lunch. Your brain keeps working on the puzzle while you do something else, so walking away for a while is a real strategy.

Easy crossword puzzles or a challenge?

Our daily puzzles are designed to be approachable. Most clues use everyday vocabulary, and the grid is open enough that a few solved words always lead you to the next ones. That makes them good easy crossword puzzles for beginners and a quick warm-up for experienced solvers. Every puzzle also has a few harder clues, such as a less common word, a state capital or a bit of wordplay, so there is always something to chew on.

For children, we publish a separate crossword for kids every day, with 12 short words and simple, friendly clues about animals, colors, school and home.

Printable crosswords

Every puzzle on 77.today is also a printable crossword. Press Print under the grid, and your browser prints the grid and both clue lists without the rest of the page. If you have already typed some letters, they print too, so clear the grid first with Start over if you want a blank copy. Printed puzzles are handy for long flights, waiting rooms, classrooms and anyone who simply prefers a pencil.

The crossword archive

Missed a few days? The previous crosswords list below today's puzzle shows every puzzle we have published, newest first, with its date and word count. Each one opens on its own page, ready to solve, check and print. Your progress on each puzzle is saved separately in your browser.

Are crosswords good for your brain?

Crosswords exercise vocabulary, memory retrieval and the ability to hold several possibilities in mind at once, and regular solvers often say the habit keeps them sharp. What the research says about protecting memory over the long run is more nuanced; we went through the studies in Are crosswords and sudoku good for your brain? In short, a daily puzzle is a pleasant, healthy habit, and it works best alongside sleep, exercise and time with other people.

More puzzles

Prefer numbers? Try today's free sudoku in easy, medium and hard, plus picture sudoku for kids. The Now column on the 77.today home page also shows the daily puzzle, taking turns between the crossword and the sudoku.