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Crossword #3 5 × 5

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Across

  1. 1 A formal dance held by a high school or college, typically near the end of the school year. (4)
  2. 5 A tropical tree (Genipa americana) that produces a large edible fruit used to make juice and dye. (4)
  3. 6 The narrow part of the body between the ribs and the hips. (5)
  4. 7 A skin condition, common in teenagers, causing spots and pimples from blocked and inflamed pores. (4)
  5. 8 A structure built by a bird (or other animal) to hold eggs and raise young. (4)

Down

  1. 1 A particular area, location, or spot. (5)
  2. 2 A rainy season, especially in regions with a distinct wet period each year. (5)
  3. 3 The point at which something, especially an illness or a change, first begins. (5)
  4. 4 A flat piece of material laid on a floor to wipe feet, protect a surface, or decorate. (3)
  5. 6 Pale and looking unwell or tired. (3)

Crossword

The free online crossword, in miniature

Play a free online crossword: a five-by-five mini with real clues, solvable in a couple of minutes. Two hundred puzzles, nothing to install and no account.

How to Play

  1. Every square belongs to two clues

    One across and one down. That is the whole mechanism: a letter you are unsure of in one direction is often obvious in the other, and the crossings are what make a crossword solvable rather than a guessing game.

  2. Click a square twice to change direction

    The first click puts you in the square; clicking again switches between the across clue and the down one. Arrow keys work too, and typing moves you along whichever way you are facing.

  3. Start with what you are sure of

    Fill the clues you know outright, then read the crossing clues again with those letters in place. A clue that meant nothing on a blank grid often solves itself once two of its letters are there.

  4. Check without being told the answer

    The check button marks the squares that are wrong and says nothing about what should be there. Use it when you suspect one early answer has sent the rest astray.

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Crossword questions, answered

Why is it only five by five?

Because a bigger grid has to be fillable, and that is harder than it looks. A dense fifteen-square grid needs a vocabulary of obscure filler words — the ones that exist in crosswords and almost nowhere else. This puzzle is built from everyday words with real definitions, and at that size a five-by-five is what fills cleanly.

Where do the clues come from?

They are dictionary definitions of the answer, written as plain English rather than as cryptic wordplay. If you know the word, the clue will read as obvious; if you do not, the crossings will get you there.

Is it the same puzzle for everyone?

Each crossword has a number and never changes, so you can leave one half-finished, come back to it, or send somebody the same one. It is not a daily — there are two hundred and you can play them in any order.

Can I solve it with just the keyboard?

Yes. Arrow keys move around the grid, typing advances along the current direction, and backspace on an empty square steps back and clears the one before it.

Are the clues cryptic?

No. These are straight definitions. Cryptic clues are a different game with its own conventions, and mixing the two without saying so is how a solver ends up thinking they are bad at crosswords.