Mini Crossword guide

A guide to Mini Crossword on OverTime: moving around the grid, where to start, using crossing letters, and how your solving time is ranked.

How to play Mini Crossword

  • 5x5 grid
  • Across and down clues
  • New puzzle daily

Goal

Fill the five-by-five grid from the across and down clues as fast as you can.

Filling the grid

  • Select a square to start typing; the highlighted clue shows which entry you are filling.
  • Every square belongs to one across entry and one down entry, so each letter is checked twice.
  • Press Tab to switch the square you are on between the across and down direction when a clue will not come.
  • Short entries of three or four letters are the easiest way in, and their crossing letters open the longer ones.

Reading the clues

A clue matches its answer in part of speech and in tense - a clue in the past tense wants an answer in the past tense. An abbreviation in the clue signals an abbreviated answer, and a question mark usually marks wordplay rather than a straight definition.

Scoring

  • The clock is the score: a faster correct grid ranks higher.
  • Crossing letters are the fastest way in - fill the entries you are sure of and let them narrow the rest.
  • One grid per day for every player, resetting at midnight Melbourne time.

Before your first grid

Mini Crossword is a five-by-five grid with a few black squares. Numbered squares mark where entries begin. The Across and Down clues sit beside the grid on a wide screen, or below it on a phone.

Click a square to select it, and the squares of its entry light up. Click the same square again, or press Tab, to swap between across and down.

Type a letter and the cursor moves to the next square of the entry. Backspace clears a square and steps back, and the arrow keys move you around the grid.

Clicking a clue jumps straight to the first square of its entry. On a phone, tapping a square opens your own keyboard, so typing works as it does anywhere else.

A sound way to start

Read every clue once before you type. In a grid this small there are only a handful of entries, and one of them is usually a gift.

Fill the entry you are sure of first, then work the entries that cross it. Each letter you place sits in one across entry and one down entry, so a single answer unlocks several clues.

Use the clue list as a map. Clicking a clue is faster than steering with the arrow keys, especially once half the grid is full.

Reading the grid as it fills

When a clue will not come, look at the letters already crossing it. Two or three fixed letters in a five-letter entry narrow the field more than the clue does.

Match the clue in form. A plural clue wants a plural answer, and a clue in the past tense wants a past-tense answer.

Leave a doubtful square empty rather than filling it with a guess. A wrong letter can mislead the crossing entry and cost you more time than the gap.

Mistakes that cost time

Check Solution wakes up once every white square holds a letter. A failed check marks right squares in green and wrong ones in red, and the marks clear as soon as you type.

  • Hunting for errors by eye. A failed check costs nothing but the moment it takes, so let it point you to the wrong squares.
  • Opening the grid before you are ready. The clock starts when the grid appears, not at your first letter, and reloading the page does not restart it.
  • Giving up too soon. Give Up asks you to confirm, then reveals the answers and records the day as a loss.
  • Typing over a crossing letter you were sure of. Check which direction is active before you type, since the cursor follows it.

Times, streaks and leaderboards on OverTime

Your score is your solving time in seconds, and a lower time ranks higher. The boards cover today, this week, this month, this season and all time.

Ties go to whoever finished first. You can compare yourself with friends or with every player.

A solve on consecutive days grows your streak, and a give-up or a missed day resets it. Your letters are saved as you go, so you can leave the grid and come back.

Where to go next

Once the daily is done, Unlimited deals the grid of a past day without touching your stats or streak. Each round is a fresh grid, which makes it a good place to practise speed.

If you enjoy solving from letters and clues, WOTD gives you six tries at a five-letter word each day. Unredact has you guess words to uncover a hidden article.