About Let's Do Crosswords

Let's Do Crosswords is an independent editorial site about solving crosswords. It has three parts. The beginner course is twelve short lessons that take a new solver from an empty grid to a first cryptic. The solving guides each cover a single technique or reference table, with worked examples. The glossary defines the words solvers and setters use about the puzzle itself.

How the guides are written

Every example clue on this site is original. We do not reproduce clues from published puzzles, and we do not publish answers to any newspaper's crossword. Where a guide relies on a convention, it links to the publisher or reference work that sets it, such as the crossword pages of The New York Times and The Guardian, the Chambers and Merriam-Webster dictionaries, and the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Both British and American conventions are covered. Where the two differ, the guide says so rather than picking one and calling it the rule.

Corrections

If a definition is wrong, an example clue does not parse, or a link has died, please tell us. Corrections are made to the article itself.