How to Select Crossword Puzzles Online

Crossword puzzles appeal to people from all walks of life. In fact, it's estimated that roughly 50,000,000 Americans alone regularly select crossword puzzles as a daily pastime. Crossword puzzles have been around for a long time, too, with the earliest version being discovered as an inscription on an ancient Egyptian tomb. However, crossword puzzle enthusiasts have Arthur Wynne to thank for the modern day form, which he introduced in 1913. Since then, crossword puzzles have appeared in virtually every daily newspaper. True aficionados know how to select crossword puzzles online to get their daily--or hourly--fix.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Consider what kind of puzzle you want to solve before you begin to search for crossword puzzles online. Do you wish to select a theme-specific puzzle? Do you want to try your hand at solving a crossword puzzle in a different language? Deciding these factors beforehand will allow for the most efficient search results.

2. Use a search engine that indexes Web pages by popularity and content, such as Google, to find the best quality search results to select from.

3. Enter an appropriate keyword-driven search phrase to find the kinds of online crossword puzzles you're looking for. For instance, "Spanish crossword puzzles" or "sports crossword puzzles" are much more specific terms than simply, "crossword puzzles."

4. Practice solving different online crossword puzzles to see which forms of play you like best. For instance, some online crossword puzzles allow you to reveal a single letter or series of letters as a clue, while others are a bit more challenging.

5. Create and label a folder in your bookmarks or favorite places to store links to your favorite online crossword puzzles. Doing so will enable you to find them again without repeating the search.

6. Trust the folks at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament to direct you to some of the most popular online crossword puzzles (see Resources below).

Tips & Warnings

• If you right-click on a link from your search page for online crossword puzzles, you can open a new browser window to display the link page. That way, you won't wander away from your search results and have to start the search over again.

Resources

• The American Crossword Puzzle Tournament website for an online directory