How to Select Online Crossword Puzzle Helps

If you're a online crossword puzzle lover, chances are you possess an expansive vocabulary. Still, a certain word or phrase may elude you at the critical moment during your daily online crossword puzzle exercise. Should you call for a lifeline? You bet! Learning how to find and select the right online crossword puzzle resources helps to make your play even more satisfying.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Use specific keywords when searching for crossword puzzle assistance online so you can select the most targeted resources for your needs. For instance, if you need help with words that are similar in meaning, then conduct a search containing the words "online thesaurus."

2. Don't get annoyed by sneaky abbreviations and acronyms appearing in your online crossword puzzles. It helps to use The Internet Acronym Server to solve this predicament (see Resources below).

3. Get unstuck by using the letter pattern finder at the AMO's Online Crossword Puzzle Dictionary (see Resources below). By using an asterisk to represent wildcard letters, you can search for all words that have one or more defined letters in a certain position. For example, '***ist' will bring up a list of 6-letter words with "ist" in the last 3 positions.

4. Translate words into another language if you're not familiar with a foreign phrase called for in the puzzle: Use the multi-language search tool on AllWords.com (see Resources below). The tool translates English into Italian, French, Dutch, Spanish and German.

5. Remember to bookmark websites and tools to help solve crossword puzzles as you use them, so you don't have to hunt them down again in the future.

Tips & Warnings

• Certain words, especially foreign words, appear frequently in crossword puzzles. For instance, "agua" and "eau," the words for water in Spanish and French respectively, come up with regularity. It helps to select such words and save them in a text file to refer to when solving crossword puzzles online in the future.
• It helps to know that many online crossword puzzles allow you to save the puzzle you're working on even if you haven't finished it, so you can come back to it later.

Resources

• The Internet Acronym Server website for an acronym finder
• Find the word that fits at AMO's Online Crossword Puzzle Dictionary
• AllWords.com to search for foreign words and phrases