Crocword sits between a crossword and a word builder, and it takes the harder half of each.
You get a crossword grid with every square empty, and a small set of letters underneath. Every word in the grid has to be made from those letters. There are no clues. The grid itself is the only information you have: how many words, how long each one is, and where they cross.
That makes it a very different exercise from a normal crossword. A crossword gives you meaning and asks for a word. This gives you letters and asks which arrangement fits a shape.
- A grid of blank slots appears with a set of letters below it.
- Build a word from the letters and it drops into a matching slot.
- Every word in the grid uses only the letters provided.
- Fill every slot to complete the level.
- A hint system is available when a level stops moving.
How to play Crocword
Using the crossings
Crossings are the whole game. A slot that shares a letter with a word you have already placed is no longer an open question, it is a partly filled one.
That is why the order matters. Solving the longest word first tends to fix letters in three or four other slots at once, which turns the rest of the level into a much smaller problem.
The hint system
Hints reveal letters rather than words. That makes them more useful early in a stuck level than late: a revealed letter with several empty crossings around it does more work than a revealed letter in the last remaining slot.
Other grid builders are 7 Words and Wordscapes, and the clued puzzles are on the crossword page.
Tips and strategy
Where to start
- Count the letters, then find the longest slot. If they match, that word uses everything and it is the one to solve first.
- If the long word will not come, take the three letter slots. They are cheap and every one of them fixes crossings.
- Look for repeated letters in the pool. Two of the same letter almost always means at least one word uses both.
Working the shape
- Read what the grid already gives you before every guess. A slot with two fixed letters is a very different problem from an empty one.
- Run S, ED, ER and ING through the words you have placed. Levels are usually built from a family of related words.
- Vowel positions are the fastest constraint. A five letter slot with a fixed vowel in the middle rules out most of what you were considering.
Where players lose time
- Treating the letter pool as an open word hunt and ignoring the slot lengths.
- Spending hints on the final slot rather than on the one with the most crossings.
- Looking for unusual words. The vocabulary is ordinary throughout.
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Frequently asked questions
Are there clues in Crocword?
No. The grid is the only information you get, so you work from slot lengths and crossings rather than from definitions.
Do all the words use the same letters?
Yes. Every word in a level is built from the same set of letters shown below the grid.
What do the hints reveal?
Letters rather than whole words, which makes them most useful in a slot that has several crossings still empty.
Do the words get harder?
The vocabulary stays ordinary. What increases is the number of letters and the size of the grid, which is where the difficulty comes from.
Is Crocword free?
Yes. It runs in the browser with nothing to install and no account.