Crossword 247 - How to Play Crossword

Crossword puzzles are one of the most popular and oldest word games known to mankind. In fact, they can be traced back to at least the 19th century while their popularity throughout the 20th century and into the 21st has remained.

If you’re eager to join a community of 50 million people who play them daily (as well as many others who play them more casually), this guide on how to play crossword puzzles is just for you. Whether you’re a new crossword player or a seasoned player wanting to take your hobby online, the information you need will be found below.

Contents:

• Where to Play Crossword Puzzles
• How to Start a Crossword Puzzle at 247 Crossword
• Understanding the Layout of Crossword Puzzles
• Filling in the Crossword Puzzle
• Tips to Win a Crossword Puzzle
• How to Test Yourself Further as a Crossword Player

Where to Play Crossword Puzzles

When thinking about how to play crossword puzzles, the first thing you must do is find a place to play them.

The great thing about crosswords is that they are pre-made by a crossword compiler, meaning that there are no setup requirements. They have been played for many generations and are found in newspapers, magazines, and dedicated crossword and puzzle books around the globe. In fact, the New York Times Crossword is syndicated to over 300 companies around the world.

As with things in life, there has been a clear shift toward online activities. The benefits of playing crosswords online are clear. Firstly, anybody with a smartphone or PC can access them within seconds. Moreover, there is no need for a pen or to carry a crossword book. Meanwhile, it is far easier to undo a mistake on a digital crossword puzzle than scribbling out a wrong answer in the newspaper.

Perhaps the most telling benefit, though, is that (with the right crossword platform) there is an unlimited number of crossword puzzles that can be played. 247 Crossword is one of the best places to play crossword puzzles online as players can enjoy four difficulty levels:

• Easy: Roughly 10 words to guess, usually between two and six letters.
• Medium: Around 13 words to guess, usually up to eight letters.
• Hard: Roughly 24 words to guess, usually up to 12 letters per word.
• Expert: Around 40 words to guess, usually up to 12 letters per word.

There is also a Daily Challenge, which is a single crossword that all users can play against the clock before posting their time to the scoreboard.

How to Start a Crossword Puzzle at 247 Crossword

Starting a crossword puzzle at 247 Crossword could not be easier. Once you have opened this site on your device, you simply need to:

• Press the button that says “Play”.
• Use the left and right arrows to navigate between the difficulty levels.
• Click the box where the three star shapes are displayed.

It is that simple. Alternatively, if you wish to try a seasonal or themed crossword, 247 Crossword has you covered with Christmas, St. Patrick’s Day, 4th of July, and other fun options. Boredom is never an option.

Understanding the Layout of Crossword Puzzles

When you open a crossword puzzle game, you will be met with a grid of white boxes. In traditional printed versions, black squares are shown simply to provide a backdrop and break up the words. When playing a digital variant, though, you will only see the white boxes. It will look something like this:

The key things you need to know about the grid of boxes are:

• One letter must be added to each box.
• Words can run either horizontally (left to right) or vertically (top to bottom).
• When a box appears in two words (one horizontal and one vertical) the same letter must be used in both instances.
• The numbers that you see in some of the boxes align with the numbered clues.

When looking at the 247 Wordsearch layout, the highlighted yellow boxes indicate the word you are looking at. The clue for this word is shown at the bottom of the screen. In the screenshot above, the clue for 4. Down is “Goodbye for the present”. The dark yellow box is where the next letter you type will appear.

Elsewhere on the screen, you will see a clock at the bottom left to show how long this game has taken you. Hitting the pause icon will stop the timer but also hide the game. The bottom right shows the quickest time that you’ve beaten a crossword on this difficulty setting.

The home icon will take you back to the home screen but you can resume the current game by clicking ‘Play’ and then ‘Resume’. The sound icon toggles the sound effects on and off. The settings cog allows you to decide whether to show errors, it also allows you to turn the “skip filled squares” feature on or off.

Arrows displayed on either side of the clues will allow you to scroll through the list of clues. You can also click any box on the grid to see the clue linked to that word. When playing on PC, keyboard shortcuts can be used too.

Finally, the lightbulb icon in the bottom right will launch the ‘Reveal’ bar. From here, you can click one of three buttons to reveal a single letter, single word, or entire crossword puzzle.

Filling in the Crossword Puzzle

Now that you understand the crossword layout, boxes, and clues, it’s time to think about filling in the puzzle. Let’s take the following puzzle as an example:

To start, we’ve looked at 6. Across for two reasons. Firstly, it is a short word. Secondly, the clue is a fill-in-the-blank. The answer to this is “you”. As shown, the box with the six is currently highlighted. To fill in the word, we simply type the letters Y-O-U in order.

Completing this first word also gave us the third letter of 2. Down and 3. Down respectively. Meanwhile, 10. Across had the clue “Thomas The Tank”. This was “engine”, thus giving us another letter for 2. Down and 3. Down respectively.

Using the clues “add up to” and “born yesterday”, we are able to get the words “amount” and “young”. This subsequently gives us extra help for 7. Across. The clue is “2015 video game, [blank] Dawn”.

After filling in 11. Across “to stroke with affection” with the word “pet”, we also have the answers for 8. Down and 9. Down respectively.

For 1. Across, “Express”, the initial thought was “pay”. However, this shows as red. To delete the incorrect letter, we simply click the letter and press delete. Alternatively, it is possible to simply type the correct letter (in this case “s”) over the wrong answer.

Following a few more answers, the board is finished. Once complete, the game plays a congratulatory tune (if the sound is on) and gives you the chance to view the finished board or start a new game.

Tips to Win a Crossword Puzzle

Understanding how a crossword puzzle works is one thing, but tackling one is another challenge altogether. The best way to develop your strategy is to practice. The more time you spend completing crosswords, the more likely you are to become better at them.

In the meantime, though, the following tips can be very useful for a beginner who is not worried about the time:

• Quickly go through each clue on the puzzle in order. There will often be at least a couple of clues where the answers are very easy.
• Focus on easy questions like ‘fill in the blank’ clues as this can build momentum and change your mindset.
• Move on to the small words as filling in those will fill in some of the letters from other clues found in the crossword puzzle.
• Look for endings based on the wording of the clue. A verb, for example, will show that the word ends in “ing” while plurals will allow you to add the “s” in.
• Read the question again, especially words that could have multiple meanings or introduce some ambiguity.
• Guess a word if you need to but make a mental note that you’re not 100% sure. If it is correct, it'll provide letters for additional words.

If you are stuck, you can also ask a friend to see if they know the answer. When playing at 247 Crossword, you may additionally fill in a letter, word, or entire puzzle at the click of a button using the lightbulb icon mentioned above. Other cheats include using an online dictionary, scrabble word finder, or search engine. Ideally, you should try to avoid these outcomes - sometimes, though, it is the only way.

How to Test Yourself Further as a Crossword Player

The easy levels are perfect for younger players and beginners. However, as you get more experienced with crosswords, you will probably want a tougher challenge. You can do this in several ways, such as:

• Increasing the difficulty rating.
• Not allowing yourself to reveal the whole word and limiting yourself to single letters.
• Not moving onto the next clue until you’ve worked out the one you’re on.
• Imposing a time limit on yourself.
• Not allowing yourself to erase or amend answers.

Whether you want a challenge or a leisurely crossword puzzle, click ‘Play’ to get started now.

• Type on your keyboard to fill in cells
• Hit backspace to delete the current entry / previous entry
• Press Space to toggle the hint display
• Press Tab or Enter to move to the next clue
• Press Shift+Tab/Enter to move to the previous clue
• Use the arrow keys to move the focus around the board

• 1 second penalty for entering an incorrect letter when "lock answers" is turned on
• 30 second penalty for using a letter hint
• 3 minute, multiplied by the number of unsolved words, penalty for using the reveal all option
  
  Example:
  
  • Current Time = 5:18
  • 3 (minute penalty) x 3 (unsolved words) = 9 minute penalty
  • 5:18 (current time) + 9:00 (penalty) = 14:18 (total time)

DISCLAIMER: The games on this website are using PLAY (fake) money. No payouts will be awarded, there are no "winnings", as all games represented by 247 Games LLC are free to play. Play strictly for fun.