Making crosswords
accessible to everyone.

TheCrossword.org was built by crossword lovers, for crossword lovers. No paywalls. No subscriptions. Just great puzzles, tools, and clues — free, forever.

1M+ Monthly Solvers
365 Puzzles Per Year
5M+ Clues in Database
$0 Forever Free

Our Story

TheCrossword.org started in early 2024 with a simple frustration: why do the best crossword resources hide behind paywalls? Every serious solver knows the sting of hitting a paywall mid-puzzle, or discovering that the clue database you need costs $10 a month.

We decided to fix that. A small team of engineers, lexicographers, and lifelong crossword obsessives came together to build something better — a free, fast, and genuinely excellent crossword destination that doesn't ask you to pay a penny.

We're proudly independent. We don't have investors telling us to monetise users. We cover our running costs through tasteful, non-intrusive advertising, and every dollar goes back into building better puzzles and tools.

"Every person deserves access to a great crossword. It's one of the few truly universal pleasures — intellectual, playful, and deeply human."

What We Offer

Today, TheCrossword.org is home to:

  • A fresh crossword puzzle every single day, from quick 9×9 to full 15×15 standard grids
  • The Mini Crossword — our beloved 5×5 speed puzzle, new each morning
  • Daily cryptic crosswords in the British tradition, with full clue-type guides
  • A clue database with over 5 million answered clues from major publications
  • The Crossword Solver — pattern matching with 270,000+ words
  • Anagram solver and word finder tools used by competitive puzzle players
  • The Archive — hundreds of past puzzles, searchable and playable anytime

Our Commitment

We believe puzzles should be for everyone. That means:

  • No paywalls, ever. Every puzzle and tool on this site is completely free.
  • No dark patterns. We don't trick you into signing up for anything.
  • Accessibility first. Our puzzles work with screen readers and keyboard navigation.
  • Fast, clean, and light. We don't load megabytes of JavaScript on a puzzle page.
  • Privacy by default. We collect the minimum data required to run the site.

Our Team

We're a small, fully remote team spread across three time zones. What unites us: a genuine love of language and puzzles, and a belief that the best things on the internet should be free.

James Whitfield

Founder & Editor

Former newspaper puzzles editor. Has been setting crosswords for 20 years. Believes every good clue tells a small story.

Priya Sharma

Lead Engineer

Builds the solver engine and clue database. Can solve a Saturday NYT in under 12 minutes. Passionate about web performance.

Marcus Chen

Puzzle Constructor

Creates the daily crosswords. Former linguistics professor. Specialises in themes that reward solvers with a "wait, of course!" moment.

Sarah O'Brien

Cryptic Editor

Edits all cryptic content and writes the clue-type guides. Has been solving British cryptics since age 14. Expert in & Lit clues.

What We Believe

Three principles that guide every decision we make.

Free, always

No puzzles behind a paywall. No "premium" tiers. Every person who arrives at TheCrossword.org gets the same full experience, regardless of whether they pay anything.

Fast & lightweight

Puzzle pages should load in under a second. We obsess over performance because slow pages kill the joy of solving. No bloated frameworks, no tracking scripts loading before content.

Quality over quantity

One great puzzle beats ten mediocre ones. Our editors review every clue. Our constructors test every theme. We'd rather publish fewer puzzles and make each one worth your time.