Crossword Clue Solver
Enter a crossword clue exactly as printed and get confidence-ranked answers. Works for definitions, geography, mythology, science, and general knowledge.
Clue examples
How clue-based solving works
Every crossword clue is essentially a compressed definition. The puzzle editor writes a phrase that points to a specific word — sometimes directly ("Capital of France" → PARIS), sometimes through a category ("Chess piece" → ROOK, KING, BISHOP, PAWN, or QUEEN), and sometimes through wordplay ("Mixed-up notes" → TONES, an anagram of STONE). Our clue solver handles direct definition and category clues best.
The engine tokenizes your clue, removes stop words, and scores each candidate word against three data sources: a curated seed corpus of known clue-answer pairs, dictionary definitions and synonyms, and metadata fields like category tags, hypernyms, and usage notes. Each layer contributes to the final confidence percentage shown beside each result.
When you add the answer length from your grid, the engine filters candidates before scoring — a major accuracy improvement. A clue like "Chess piece" returns five plausible answers without a length filter; add length 4 and only KING and ROOK remain.
For the full crossword-solving experience — combining clue mode with pattern mode — use the main Crossword Solver.
Types of crossword clues
Straight / definition clues are the most common type: the clue is a synonym or direct definition of the answer. "Large African river (7)" means a seven-letter river in Africa — ZAMBEZI. "Greek god of war (4)" is ARES. These score highest in our engine because the token overlap with dictionary definitions is direct.
Category and example clues name a class of things and expect any valid member: "Chess piece", "South American capital", or "Type of pasta". These return multiple valid answers — use the length filter and crossing letters to select the correct one.
Fill-in-the-blank clues complete a famous phrase or title: "___ the Terrible" → IVAN. Enter just the non-blank words for best results: "terrible tsar" often works better than the exact printed form.
Cryptic clues combine a straight definition with a wordplay component (anagram, hidden word, reversal, homophone). Our clue mode handles the definition component; use Anagram Solver for anagram indicators, or pattern mode for reversals once you have partial crossing letters.
Clue examples with answers
Tips for better clue results
- Always set the answer length — it is the single most effective filter. The grid always tells you how many squares to fill; use that number.
- Paste the clue exactly — avoid paraphrasing. The scoring engine compares your text to known phrasing, so "Greek god of war" scores higher than "war deity Greece".
- Add crossing letters if available — even one confirmed letter in pattern mode resolves most ties between equally confident candidates.
- Try the key noun if the full clue fails — for long clues, the engine may miss intent. Isolate the main subject: " Famous London clock tower" → try "London clock tower" or just "clock tower" with length 3 for BIG.
- Switch to pattern mode when stuck — if clue mode returns low-confidence results and you have crossing letters, enter the pattern in Crossword Pattern Finder mode for definitive matches.
Crossword solver tools
Related word tools
Frequently asked questions
- What is a crossword clue solver?
- A crossword clue solver accepts a written clue — the text printed beside a numbered entry in a crossword grid — and searches a curated clue corpus and dictionary to propose valid answers. It uses semantic matching, synonym lookup, and token overlap scoring to rank candidates by how well they match the clue's meaning.
- What types of crossword clues does this tool handle?
- The clue solver works best for straight or definition clues ("Greek god of war" → ARES), geography clues ("Capital of Italy" → ROME), mythology and history clues, science terminology, and common trivia. It handles fill-in-the-blank clues and partial phrases. Cryptic clues (which use wordplay indicators like "mixed up" or "sounds like") require a different parsing strategy and return lower confidence scores.
- How do I get better clue results?
- Always include the answer length from your grid — this eliminates most false positives. If the clue has a parenthetical like "(4)", set the length field to 4. Paste the clue exactly as printed; avoid paraphrasing since the scoring engine compares your text against known clue phrasing. If the first search returns many low-confidence matches, switch to pattern mode with any crossing letters you have confirmed.
- Why does the clue solver show a confidence percentage?
- Confidence reflects how closely the engine matched your clue text against its reference data. 80%+ means a strong match in the curated clue corpus — treat these as reliable answers to verify against your grid. 40–79% indicates partial overlap; cross-check with crossing letters. Below 40% is a metadata fallback; use these results as starting points only.
- Can I search NYT crossword clues?
- Yes. Enter the clue text from any NYT crossword entry, add the answer length from the grid, and optionally enter any letters you have from crossing entries. The engine covers the definition and trivia clue styles common in Monday through Wednesday NYT grids. Late-week clues with cryptic wordplay may need pattern mode after the first crossing letter is confirmed.
- What is the difference between a straight clue and a cryptic clue?
- A straight (or quick) clue is a direct definition: "Large African river (7)" means a seven-letter word for a large African river — ZAMBEZI. A cryptic clue contains a definition plus a wordplay element, which may be an anagram indicator ("mixed up"), a hidden word indicator ("inside"), or a homophone indicator ("sounds like"). Our clue solver is optimized for straight clues; cryptic solvers require specialized parsers for each wordplay type.
- What should I do when the clue solver returns no results?
- First, remove the length filter if you set one — a wrong length blocks valid answers. Second, try shortening the clue to its key nouns: "Famous river in Zimbabwe" → "river Zimbabwe". Third, if the clue is a fill-in-the-blank like "___ is a long time in politics", try entering just the surrounding words. Finally, switch to pattern mode if you have even one crossing letter.
- Does clue mode work without knowing the answer length?
- Yes, but results include words of all lengths ranked by confidence. Adding the answer length from your grid is strongly recommended — it filters out unrelated words and surfaces the most relevant candidates first. The length is always available in the grid itself, so there is rarely a reason to omit it.