Crosswords

This guide has been developed to help you solve crosswords.

Online resources

• We link to a range of resources including dictionaries and thesauri

Print resources

• If you would like to borrow books from the library that will help you solve puzzles, try catalogue searches for Crossword puzzles and Crossword puzzles glossaries vocabularies etc

Oxford English Dictionary

This searchable online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary can be used at our libraries or by entering your card number and PIN.

Here are some examples of how you can use the OED:

1. You are looking for a 6 letter word. You know R is the first and third letter, and the clue is "unusual"

• Go to advanced search bottom left
• In first search box type in r?r??? and select lemmas from the drop down menu
• In the second search box, type in unusual and select definitions from the drop down menu

2. The clue is Surrey racecourse, you know the first letter is e and the answer is 5 letters long

• Go to advanced search bottom left
• In first search box type in surrey and select full text from the drop down menu
• In the second search box, type in e???? and select lemmas from the drop down menu

Online Crossword Solvers

• Crossword Solver from Allwords.com
• Crossword Solver from XRefer Plus (can be used at our libraries or by entering your card number and PIN)
• a2Z Wordfinder
• Crossword Puzzle guide from infoplease.com

Online Crosswords

• Chicago Sun-Times (United States)
• Houston Chronicle (United States)
• The Mirror (United Kingdom) includes cryptic and quick crosswords
• The Seattle Times (United States)
• Stuff (New Zealand)
• Sydney Morning Herald Cryptic Crossword (Australia)
• This is London (United Kingdom)