Guides & Strategy.
Practical, sometimes ruthless solving advice. How to read a clue. How to spot a theme. How to stop dying on Thursday. The mechanics that turn good solvers into fast ones.
How to read a cryptic clue without losing your mind — a beginner’s field guide for Americans.
Anagrams. Hidden words. Charades. The whole British puzzle vocabulary, demystified one cryptic indicator at a time. By the end you’ll be reading clues two ways at once — which is the whole game.
How to stop dying on Thursday: a survival guide for the trickiest day of the week.
Rebus squares. Misdirections. Themes that bend the rules. Here’s what they look like and how to spot them.
The 50 words you’ll see in every crossword for the rest of your life. (Sorry, ETUI.)
A working glossary of crosswordese — the strange recurring vocabulary that exists almost solely inside grids.
Solve faster, not smarter: 7 weirdly mechanical tricks the speed-solvers all use.
Stop reading the clues in order. Stop typing answers letter by letter. Start finishing in half the time.
CodyCross strategy: how to clear a pack without burning every hint.
Start with vowels. Save the password reveal. Why the third row is almost always a freebie. A practical guide to playing smart.
How to reach Genius on Spelling Bee every day: a real method, not a vibe.
The four prefixes. The five suffixes. The one letter pair you should always check. A working playbook for daily Genius.
How not to lose Connections: the four-pile method that prevents the obvious trap.
Stop guessing the easy yellow first. Sort everything into four piles before you submit anything. Why the simplest discipline keeps your streak alive.
7 Little Words strategy: the method that cuts your solve time in half.
Read all seven clues first. Match the longest fragments. Why the seventh clue is almost always the easiest. A solver’s playbook.
The 5 Wordle opening words a math nerd ranked. ADIEU is not the answer.
Information theory says you can do better than your gut starter. We tested the top contenders against the full Wordle answer list.
Anagram tricks every word-puzzle solver eventually figures out (and a shortcut for everyone else).
Pull out the rare letters. Group the common pairs. Why “Q” is your best friend. A short guide to seeing the word inside the jumble.
Strategy is great. Sometimes you just want the answer.
Skip ahead with one of our dedicated answer sites — the verified solution is one click away.