Built by puzzlers,
for puzzlers.
A small editorial team of professional crossword nerds, working seven days a week to bring you the fastest, most accurate clue database on the internet.
The crown jewel of crossword tools.
CrosswordKing started in 2018 as a spreadsheet on Graham's laptop. He was tired of typing the same clues into three different solvers and getting three different answers, so he built his own. Word got out. The spreadsheet became a website. The website became a small obsession of a community of solvers, constructors, and editors who care a great deal about precision, speed, and good wordplay.
Today our team indexes 2.1 million clues from 40+ daily puzzle sources, publishes the answers to every major crossword by 6 AM each morning, and runs the most-trusted crossword solver on the open web. We're not the biggest. We're the most careful.
Five editors. One obsession.
Every clue you read on CrosswordKing has been checked by at least one of these humans.
Graham Vale
Editor-in-ChiefGraham started constructing crosswords for his high school newspaper in 1987 and never stopped. His clues have appeared in The Times of London, The Wall Street Journal, and the legendary Listener. He has a particular fondness for cryptic wordplay and the kind of long entries that feel impossible until they don't. Off the grid, you'll find him tending his vegetable garden in the Cotswolds.
Mara Ellis
Senior Linguistics EditorMara holds a PhD in historical linguistics and spent six years as a senior editor at a major American daily before joining CrosswordKing. She specialises in wordplay, etymology, and the kind of devious clues that make solvers groan happily. If you've ever wondered why a particular word entered English in 1547, Mara has a thirty-minute answer ready.
Ren Park
Digital Tools EditorRen is the team's secret weapon. A software engineer who fell into crosswords during a long flight delay in 2021 and emerged a convert, Ren builds and tunes the algorithms behind our solver, anagram tool, and pattern search. They hold the unofficial team record for the fastest USA Today daily solve at 1:43 — a number they'll mention only if directly asked.
Sofia Marquez
Daily Puzzle CuratorSofia runs the daily puzzle desk and is the reason answers appear here within minutes of each puzzle going live. She spent eight years as a features editor at a Spanish-language newspaper in San Diego, where she also curated the daily crossword section. Sofia is meticulous about citation, archive integrity, and never having the wrong answer for the wrong day.
Theo Camden
Themed Puzzle EditorTheo wrote sketch comedy in New York for half a decade before turning to crosswords full-time, which they describe as “the same job, just smaller jokes per square inch.” Theo handles our themed challenges and Sunday-style puzzles, with a soft spot for pop culture, music, and the occasional groan-worthy pun. They will defend a 'Q' in the corner to the death.
Four steps from puzzle to published.
The same workflow every morning, seven days a week, before most solvers have finished their coffee.
Ingest
Each daily puzzle arrives in our queue the moment it's published. Sofia kicks off the run.
Solve
Ren's tools tear through the grid in seconds. Every answer gets two independent passes.
Check
Mara and Theo review tricky clues, theme connections, and any cross-references with our archive.
Publish
Graham signs off and answers go live, indexed, and searchable. Usually before 6 AM Eastern.
Three rules we never break.
Accuracy over speed.
We'd rather publish an hour late with the right answer than five minutes early with the wrong one. Every clue gets two independent passes before it goes live.
Always free, always open.
No paywalls, no signup walls, no “premium” features hiding behind a credit card form. The whole archive is free, forever. We keep the lights on with light, polite advertising.
Respect for the source.
Every clue we publish is properly attributed to its puzzle, constructor, and publication. We're a research tool, not a knock-off — and we love the puzzles we solve.
Got a clue we should know about?
Spotted a wrong answer, a missing puzzle, or a tip for the team? We answer every email.