Mini Crossword

A crossword you can finish in a break

Eight short words, three letters and up, placed on an 11×11 grid, each crossing at least one other. What you get is a compact cluster rather than a page of squares. That is where the "mini" comes from. The grid it sits on is not tiny; the puzzle inside it is.

The default word list is deliberately easy — CAT, DOG, SUN, MOON, STAR, TREE, FISH, BOOK — with clues to match. Replace both with your own.

Your own words are the point

A generic mini crossword is a two-minute diversion. Rebuild the same grid from this week's spellings, or a set of French nouns, or the key terms from a science topic, and it becomes revision people will actually sit down and do.

Write the words one per line and the clues as WORD=clue. Keep the words short: three to six letters place far more easily than long ones, and a list of long words will simply fail to cross often enough to make a grid.

Writing clues that are worth reading

A definition is the safe option and usually the dull one. "Pet that purrs" beats "a small domestic animal". It gives the solver something to picture.

For revision, make the clue do the teaching. If the answer is PHOTOSYNTHESIS, a clue naming the inputs is worth more than one naming the word class. The solver has to hold the whole concept to reach the answer, which is exactly what you wanted them to do.

Keep the letter count in mind. Two crossing letters make a hard clue easy, so an eight-word grid forgives more than it looks like it will.

The placement settings

Words are placed by search. The generator tries arrangements and keeps one where the intersection rules hold. You can insist that every word crosses another, set how many crossings each needs, and raise the backtracking effort so the search works harder before it gives up on a list.

Raising the requirements makes a denser, better-connected grid and makes failure more likely with an awkward word list. If a list will not place, shorten the words before loosening the rules.

On the form

Title, word list, clue list, grid size, minimum word length, maximum words, the intersection rules, backtracking effort, and the solutions toggle. A4 or US Letter.

Using it

Eight clues is five minutes. That makes it a starter, or something for an early finisher, or a break in a long session. Long enough to be a puzzle. Short enough that nobody is still hunched over it once the lesson has moved on.

For a bigger grid, the full crossword generator takes a longer word list and more space.

Print at 100% on A4 or US Letter.