Solve any crossword clue
instantly
Enter a clue, optional letter count, and known letter positions — Crossword Clues returns up to 3 answers with explanations and confidence scores.
Results
What is Crossword Clues?
Crossword Clues is a free AI-powered crossword clue solver designed for casual solvers and seasoned cruciverbalists alike. Whether you're stuck on a tricky cryptic clue or just need a nudge on the last square of a Sunday puzzle, Crossword Clues delivers up to three candidate answers, each with a plain-English explanation and a confidence rating.
Unlike simple anagram solvers or brute-force dictionary tools, Crossword Clues understands the conventions of crossword construction — definition clues, anagram indicators, hidden words, abbreviations, and wordplay signalled by a trailing question mark. This means you get answers that actually make sense in context, not just a list of words that fit the grid.
How to Use the Solver
Basic Solve
Type the full clue exactly as it appears in your puzzle (including any number in parentheses like (4)). Hit Solve and review the top answers.
Pattern-assisted Solve
If you have letters from crossing answers, enter them in the Letter Pattern field. Use ? or _ for unknowns (e.g. P???S). This gives the most accurate results.
Pattern-only Solve
Leave the clue field blank and enter just a pattern. Crossword Clues will search a comprehensive offline English dictionary instantly — no API call is made.
Understanding Confidence Labels
Each answer card shows a High, Medium, or Low confidence label. High means the AI is very confident this is the intended answer — typically when the clue is a straightforward definition or when the word perfectly matches your pattern. Medium indicates a plausible answer that fits the clue style but may have alternatives. Low signals a speculative answer — worth checking, but treat it as a starting point rather than a certainty.
Looking for new puzzles to play? Check out our guide on Where to Play Crosswords Online for a comparison of the best free and paid options.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes — Crossword Clues is trained on cryptic crossword conventions including anagram indicators ("muddled", "arranged", etc.), hidden word clues, reversals, charades, and double definitions. It performs best when you provide the full clue with indicator words intact. Success varies with clue complexity; we recommend checking the explanation to understand the reasoning before entering the answer.
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Crossword Clues is completely free. Pattern-only searches use a local dictionary and cost nothing. AI-powered clue solving is rate-limited to 10 requests per minute per user to keep the service fair and sustainable. There are no accounts, no paywalls, and no hidden fees.
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The pattern-only mode uses the ENABLE (Enhanced North American Benchmark Lexicon) word list, a public-domain dictionary of over 170,000 English words commonly used in competitive word games and crossword construction. It is loaded lazily on your first pattern search and cached in memory for the rest of your session.
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Clues you submit are sent to our backend, processed by a third-party AI API (currently DeepSeek), and the result is cached permanently to speed up future identical queries. We do not share your clues with third parties beyond what is necessary to operate the service. See our Privacy Policy for full details.
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AI models have knowledge cutoffs and may not know recent proper nouns, niche terminology, or highly regional vocabulary. Very ambiguous clues — where multiple valid answers fit — are also challenging. If the top result looks wrong, check the Medium and Low confidence answers, or try adding a letter pattern from crossing fills. Our cryptic clue guide has tips for reformulating tricky clues.