Play Universal Online Crossword

Welcome to our daily Universal Crossword, designed for all English speakers. This puzzle features language-neutral words, accommodating both American and British English without cultural or spelling biases, and provides clues solvable through your own word knowledge. For example, we won’t use words like manoeuvre/maneuver due to differences in American and British English spelling.

A new version of this puzzle is coming soon. PLAY THE BETA VERSION →

Need help getting started? Jump to our helpful ‘how-to’ guide below ↴

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How to play Lovatts Universal Crossword

Getting Started

To get started, click or tap on the first square of a word space within the crossword grid. Once selected, you’ll notice that both the word space and its corresponding clue are highlighted, making it easy to keep track. Use your keyboard or device keypad to type in the answer.

To quickly toggle the word direction from Across to Down, or vice versa, click/tap on the active square cell or press the Shift key on your keyboard. Click or tap on any clue in the Clue Panel to highlight the corresponding word space in the grid.

The Clues

The clue panel position changes depending on the device you are using and its orientation. When playing on a desktop or laptop screen, the clue panel is located on either side of the crossword grid. For mobile or tablet devices, it will appear below the crossword grid. Scroll through the Clue Panel to view the complete list.

For further instructions on how to use our crossword grid, please refer to the keyboard shortcuts and grid user guide information below.

Universal Crossword Keyboard Shortcuts

Universal Crossword Puzzle User Guide

Quick Mode

Offers helpful tools such as Hints and Visual Guides to assist you in solving the crossword puzzle. Hints reveal a correct letter or word for the selected cell or word space. Visual Guides highlight cells in green to indicate correct letters entered in the word space. Cells with incorrect letters are shown in a contrasting shade.

Challenge Mode

Provides a more challenging puzzle-solving experience, as both the Hints and Visual Guide options are disabled.

To switch modes during a puzzle, click or tap the Menu button and select Main Menu. You can then re-enter the puzzle in the same or alternate mode and continue solving it from where you left off.

Delete/Change Letter

Click or tap on the letter you wish to delete. Once the square is highlighted, use the Backspace key to delete the letter or click/tap on the square and type in a new letter.

Timer

The Timer starts counting once you begin the crossword. If you don’t want to race against time, select Menu, then Hide to hide the timer. Click/tap Show to make the Timer visible again.

Pause

To pause the puzzle, click/tap the Timer (or the pause icon on your smartphone). Click/tap Resume to restart play.

Reset

Click/tap the Reset button (indicated by the circle arrow) to clear the grid and restart the crossword.

Hints

Click/tap the Hint button to see hint options in the top menu bar. (Click/tap the Hint button again to return to the Menu options).

Reveal: Provides a 5-second peek at the entire solution.
Check: Click/tap the Check button (tick icon) to show incorrect letters in red for 5 seconds or use the Clear button to remove incorrect letters.
Letter: Fills in the correct letter for the highlighted square.
Word: Fills in the correct word for the highlighted clue or word space.

If you use a Hint, you won’t receive a ranking.

Completion

Click/tap Continue to view your Scorecard with time, rank, and RETURN option to play again.
If “N/A” is shown in ranking, it means a Hint was used.