How the Korean crossword works

A board of white and black squares. Wherever white squares run together, one word goes in, and the definition printed beside the board tells you which word. That definition is called a clue. Read it, work out the word, write it one syllable per square, and fill the board.

The form goes back to a word puzzle printed in a New York Sunday paper in 1913. In Korean it is called sipjamalpuri, the cross word game. Newspapers and magazines have carried it for a century, and these days it turns up in classroom worksheets and activity sheets as well, because recalling a word from its meaning is exactly the exercise a vocabulary learner needs.

How the board is laid out

White squares are yours to fill. Black squares are walls between answers. Two or more white squares in a row hold one across answer, and the same going down holds a down answer. The square where an answer starts carries a small number that matches the clue list.

How you fill it

Work between the across clues and the down clues, putting in whatever you are sure of. Where an across answer meets a down answer, the two share that square, so getting one right hands you a free syllable in the other. That sharing is the real hint, which is why the order you attack the clues in changes your speed so much.

When it ends

When every white square is filled and every across and down answer matches its clue, the board is done. There is no clock and no required order.

From here on, this is what this particular app does. Crossword apps differ here, so it is worth one read.

The boards are built in advance

Boards are not generated when you visit. They were all built when the app was compiled and frozen into a file, which is why yesterday's board is still there today and why our tests can re check every board against the rules. Today's board is picked from the date, so everyone who visits on the same day gets the same one.

There are three levels. Easy uses five and six cell boards with answers drawn only from levels one and two of the learner vocabulary list. Medium is six cells and hard is seven, and both reach level three words. How familiar the words are moves the difficulty more than the size of the board does.

Every square is checked twice

No square in these boards belongs to just one answer. Every white square sits in an across answer and a down answer at the same time, so you can always confirm a square from the other direction, and a wrong syllable shows up quickly because it breaks a second word.

Answers run from two to four syllables. The black squares are arranged so the pattern is unchanged when you turn the board halfway round, which is the long standing newspaper convention.

One clue, one word

While building the answer bank, whenever two words carried an identical definition we dropped both. So a clue never splits between two possible answers. We also dropped definitions that contain the answer word itself, because a clue that hands you the answer is not a clue.

One honest note. If you cover the clues and look only at the grid, there is usually more than one way to fill it from the bank, because the bank holds over sixteen hundred two syllable words and the crossings alone do not narrow that far. What pins the answer down is the clue, not the grid.

Typing, clearing, checking

Tap an empty square to select it, and the whole answer is highlighted. Tap the same square again to switch between across and down. Typing a syllable moves you on, backspace clears and steps back, and the arrow keys move around the board.

The check button marks only the squares you filled that do not match the answer. Empty squares are not counted. Show the answers fills the board in, and pressing it again brings your own letters back. What is not here is also worth stating. There is no timer, no score, and no attendance streak.

Your letters stay on this device

What you type is written to this browser's storage and never sent to a server. It survives a refresh or closing the tab, and clearing your browser data clears it. There is no account and no sign in.

Printing gives you a worksheet

Each level has its own print page, six boards to a set. You choose whether the answer key prints, so you can run off question sheets and answer sheets separately. The printed page drops the buttons and the ad slot and keeps the boards and clues. Nothing is downloaded; it uses your browser's own print.

These are things you do with your own eyes. The app does not find them for you, but once you have them they work on any crossword.

Short answers first

Two syllable answers have fewer candidates and they open crossings fast. On a first pass, read only the two syllable clues and enter what you are sure of. Four syllable answers come to mind far more easily once two of their squares are already filled.

Only write what you are sure of

A guess you leave in place confuses every answer that crosses it. In these boards every square is checked twice, so one wrong syllable blocks a whole second word. If you are unsure, leave it empty and move to the next clue.

Read the part of speech from the clue

The way a definition ends tells you the shape of the answer. A definition that ends in doing something is a verb, and the answer usually ends in da. One that ends in being some way is an adjective. One that ends in a word for something is a noun. Fixing the last syllable first cuts the candidates hard at every crossing.

Count the crossings backwards

When an across answer will not come, look at the down answers that pass through it first. Two of them fix the first and third syllables of the across answer, and once the first syllable is fixed the candidates usually drop below ten. Counting crossings often beats rereading the clue.

Use the fact that these are learner words

Every answer comes from a vocabulary list built for people learning Korean. That means no technical jargon, no dialect and no archaic forms, only words in everyday use. Reaching for an obscure word is usually the wrong move here; try the common one first.

Read the first words of the definition

Because these are dictionary sentences, the opening usually names the category the word belongs to. A definition that starts with a vessel for holding something means the answer is a kind of vessel; one that starts with a person who does something means a job or a role. Narrow the category first, then fit it to the syllable count.

The board is full but nothing happens

Press the check button and it marks the filled squares that do not match. Reread both answers that run through a marked square. It is nearly always the one you entered without being sure.

The clue feels too short

Definitions are quoted from the dictionary exactly as they stand, so some are short and some are long. We do not rewrite them to suit the puzzle. When a short clue blocks you, fill a crossing answer instead and take the syllable from there.

Two answers seem to fit

You may think of two words with the right length and the right shared syllables. Read the clue to the end. Words sharing a definition were removed from the bank, so a clue points at one word only.

You would rather solve on paper

Open the print page for the level you want and print. With the answer key on, the answers follow the questions. For a class, print one run with the key off and one with it on.