A crossword puzzle is a word game played on a grid of white and black squares, where you fill in words by solving clues. Each white square holds one letter, and the words intersect, sharing letters where they cross. The black squares separate the words and give the puzzle its distinctive pattern.

Here's how it works: clues are numbered and divided into “Across” (words going left to right) and “Down” (words going top to bottom). A clue might say “5 Across: A yellow fruit (6),” which means you need a six-letter word for a yellow fruit, and banana fits perfectly. When you fill in that answer, some of its letters become part of the Down words that cross it, which helps you solve those clues too.

Crossword puzzles were invented in 1913 by journalist Arthur Wynne and quickly became one of the world's most popular word games. They appear in newspapers, puzzle books, and apps. Solving them requires vocabulary knowledge, pattern recognition, and sometimes clever thinking, since clues can be tricky or use wordplay. A clue like “Royal headwear” might mean crown, but it could also mean tiara.

People solve crosswords for fun, to learn new words, or to keep their minds sharp. Many solvers tackle the same puzzle each day, building up their skills from Monday's easier puzzles to Saturday's challenging ones.