Word Games

Crossword

Pick a puzzle and fill the grid — click a clue or a square to jump to it, type to fill it in.

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Word Guess

Crack the hidden 5-letter word in six tries.

Hangman

Guess the hidden word one letter at a time.

Typing Test

Measure your words-per-minute and accuracy.

Word Scramble

Unscramble the jumbled letters, no clock, just your best streak.

Math Blitz

Solve as many quick problems as you can in 45s.

Bounce Trouble

Auto-bounce through 50 trap-filled stages across 10 worlds that lie, flip, and crumble beneath you.

Devil Trap

41 brutal levels of trick platforming — you will never see it coming.

Sky Jumper

Bounce up endless platforms without falling.

Asteroids

Thrust, rotate and blast the drifting space rocks.

Paint Battle

Spray territory, dodge your rival, and hold the highest paint percentage when the 90-second clock runs out.

Flappy

Tap to fly through the gaps and chase a high score.

Color Cards

Match colors and numbers to empty your hand first vs 3 CPUs.

Tic Tac Toe

Take on an unbeatable AI or a friend on the couch.

Checkers

Outmaneuver a minimax CPU with Classic or International rules, in 2D or 3D.

Chip Line

Play a card, place a chip, and line up 5 in a row to win.

Bike Race Championship

Watch rivals from around the world join your grid, then race them across a 5-lane track on any of 4 maps.

Snake

Slither, feast, and grow without biting your tail.

Hill Climb 3D

Gas, brake, and lean your way over an endless run of rolling hills.

Block Drop

Rotate and drop falling blocks to clear glowing lines.

2048

Merge matching tiles to reach the elusive 2048.

Bike Race 3D

Weave through traffic on a neon highway and see how far you can ride.

Klondike Solitaire

The classic card patience — build all four suits up from Ace to King.

Alien Defense

Blast the descending alien fleet before it lands.

Brick Breaker

Bounce the ball and smash every brick.

Sudoku

Fill the grid so every row, column and box holds 1–9.

Mahjong Solitaire

Match free tiles in pairs to clear the 144-tile turtle layout.

Paddle Duel

Classic ball-and-paddle duel against a scaling AI opponent.

Minesweeper

Clear the field without detonating a single mine.

Memory Match

Flip cards and pair every symbol in the fewest moves.

Blackjack

Hit or stand to beat the dealer to 21.

Spider Solitaire

Clear all 8 suit runs from a 10-column tableau, from 1 easy suit up to 4.

Road Hopper

Hop across busy traffic to the safe zone.

Connect Four

Line up four discs before the CPU beats you to it.

Simon Says

Repeat the growing color sequence from memory.

Tower Stack 3D

Drop blocks and build the tallest tower you can.

Whack-a-Mole

Smash the glowing moles before they duck away.

Maze Runner

Escape 30 tiered mazes where fog, crystals and hidden traps test your memory.

15 Puzzle

Slide the tiles back into numerical order.

Rock Paper Scissors

Best the CPU in the timeless hand duel.

Dots & Boxes

Claim more boxes than the CPU on a 4×4 grid.

Reaction Time

Test your reflexes — click the instant it turns violet.

Lights Out

Toggle tiles until every light is switched off.

Reversi

Flank your opponent’s discs to flip the board to your color.

Tower of Hanoi

Move the stacked tower in the fewest moves.

Color Match

Beat the Stroop effect — match ink, not the word.

Higher or Lower

Guess if the next card beats the last and build a streak.

Number Guess

Home in on the secret number with smart hints.

Rocket Knockout

Blast, ram and ring out the other rocket in a tiny asteroid arena.

The Last Mine

Dig 50 meters down a single mine shaft, dodging live dynamite and a hunting cave crawler for every gem you can find.

Enjoying Crossword?

Send it to a friend or drop it in your group chat.

About Crossword

The crossword you know from the newspaper page dates to 1913, when journalist Arthur Wynne published a diamond-shaped "word-cross" in the New York World — the grid of numbered black-and-white squares barely changed in over a century. This build generates every number and clue list straight from the grid itself rather than storing them separately, the same way a real crossword renderer works: a square only gets a number if it starts an across or down answer of two letters or more, so the numbering can never drift out of sync with what's actually playable. Four themed puzzles are included, from a compact single-word grid to a dense two-answer 10×9 layout, and every crossing was verified letter-by-letter by an automated check that rebuilds the grid from scratch and confirms it matches the authored answers exactly, so there's no unsolvable square hiding anywhere. Selecting a square focuses a fully invisible text field rather than a custom on-screen keyboard, which is what lets your own device's native keyboard (autocapitalized to letters) pop up automatically on a phone or tablet exactly like it would for any other text box, while arrow keys, Tab, and the space bar all work as expected on desktop.

Play Crossword free right now at Playaby — no downloads, installs, or sign-up needed.

How to Play Crossword

Objective

Fill every square with the letter that answers its across and down clue — pick from 4 themed puzzles.

Click a square to select it, then type a letter — it auto-advances to the next square in the current direction

Click a clue in the Across/Down list to jump straight to it, or click an already-selected square again to flip between across and down

Backspace clears the current square, or steps back and clears the previous one if it is already empty

"Check puzzle" briefly highlights any filled square that does not match the solution

"Reveal letter" fills in the selected square, and "Reveal puzzle" fills the whole grid

Desktop Controls

Click a square to select it, then type letters on your keyboard — filling one square auto-advances to the next in the current direction
Click a clue in the Across or Down list to jump straight to its first square and set the direction to match
Click an already-selected square again to flip between across and down when it belongs to both an across and a down word
Arrow keys move the selection one square at a time and switch direction to match the arrow; Backspace clears the current square or steps back to clear the previous one
Space or Tab flips between across and down on the current square, same as clicking it again

Mobile Controls

Tap a square to select it — this focuses a hidden text field so your device keyboard pops up automatically, no on-screen letter keys needed
Tap a clue in the Across or Down list to jump straight to it
Tap an already-selected square again to flip between across and down

Tips for Crossword

Solve the short 3-letter crossing answers first — they lock in several shared letters at once and turn the long central word into a fill-in-the-blank instead of a cold guess.

A square's tiny number only marks where an across or down word starts, not both — check the clue lists on the side to see whether a numbered square you're stuck on even has a clue running the other direction through it.

Use "Check puzzle" liberally instead of guessing blind — it only flags which filled squares are wrong without giving away the correct letter, so it costs you nothing but a look.

A completed grid is verified the instant every square matches, with no submit button to press, so you can keep typing right up until the last letter lands and the win screen will appear on its own.

Your best time for a puzzle only saves on a clean solve with zero letters revealed, so save "Reveal letter" for a puzzle you've already given a real attempt rather than reaching for it on your first pass.

Crossword — Frequently Asked Questions

How do you play Crossword?

Fill every square with the letter that answers its across and down clue — pick from 4 themed puzzles. Click a square to select it, then type a letter — it auto-advances to the next square in the current direction.

Is Crossword free to play?

Yes — Crossword is completely free to play on Playaby, with no downloads, no account, and no in-game purchases.

Can I play Crossword on my phone or tablet?

Yes. Crossword runs directly in your browser, so it works on desktop, phone, and tablet with touch controls built in — there's nothing to install and no extra permissions needed.

What are the controls for Crossword?

Click a square to select it, then type a letter — it auto-advances to the next square in the current direction. Click a clue in the Across/Down list to jump straight to it, or click an already-selected square again to flip between across and down. Backspace clears the current square, or steps back and clears the previous one if it is already empty. "Check puzzle" briefly highlights any filled square that does not match the solution. "Reveal letter" fills in the selected square, and "Reveal puzzle" fills the whole grid.

Where can I find more word games like Crossword?

Playaby has a full page of free word games you can browse and jump straight into — no downloads required for any of them.

How do I switch between an across and a down clue on the same square?

Click the square again once it's already selected — if it belongs to both an across and a down answer, that flips the active direction. Space and Tab do the same thing from the keyboard.

Does typing skip over the black squares?

There's nothing to skip: every answer in this build sits inside its own uninterrupted run of playable squares, so typing simply auto-advances one square at a time in your current direction and naturally stops at the end of the word — you'll never land on a black square mid-word.

What does "Check puzzle" actually reveal?

It briefly highlights, in red, any square you've already filled in that doesn't match the solution — it never fills in or shows you the correct letter, just flags a mistake so you know where to look again.

Does using Reveal letter or Reveal puzzle stop me from getting a best time?

Reveal letter and Reveal puzzle both keep the clock running, but neither counts as a genuine solve for your saved best time — that's only recorded when you fill the whole grid correctly yourself, with zero letters revealed. Using Check puzzle is fine and doesn't affect it.

Can I play this crossword on my phone?

Yes — tapping a square focuses an invisible text field that brings up your device's own keyboard automatically, already set to capital letters, so there's no separate on-screen keyboard to learn.

Crossword

Crossword

About Crossword

How to Play Crossword

Tips for Crossword

Crossword — Frequently Asked Questions

Every Type in Crossword (4)

More Word Games