Daily Brains · one cryptic crossword clue a day, about a minute to crack.
Twisty is the cryptic-crossword puzzle in Daily Brains (/daily). Each day the whole world gets the same single cryptic clue, labelled 1 Across, with its letter count. Type the answer into the crossword boxes and check it. A cryptic clue has two halves: a plain definition at one end and wordplay that builds the same answer from the rest. Twisty is built for people who have never solved one, with a hint ladder that walks through the clue step by step and a beginner's guide with a worked example.
STORY & LORE
The clue bank
Twisty ships with 230 original clues covering nine kinds of wordplay: anagrams, hidden words, charades, containers, reversals, homophones, deletions, double definitions and &lit. Each clue stores its answer, letter count, definition, wordplay type, the pieces of the wordplay and a plain-English explanation. Clues are kept Ximenean: the definition is at the start or end, every letter of the answer is accounted for, and the vocabulary is everyday.
Schedule
The bank is dealt in cycles. Each cycle is one seeded shuffle of all 230 clues, dealt seven to a Monday-to-Sunday week, and each week's seven are sorted easiest first. Monday is gentle and the weekend is the stiffest. One cycle lasts about seven months with no repeats, and every player gets the same clue on the same local day.
Checked by machine
scripts/test-twisty-clue.mjs checks every clue: the answer matches the letter count, the definition sits at one end, anagram fodder uses exactly the answer's letters, hidden words really run through the clue, charade and container pieces assemble into the answer, reversals and deletions produce it, and each homophone has a sound-alike indicator. It also deals 260 days of puzzles and confirms the deal is deterministic, repeat-free within a cycle and easy-to-hard across each week.
HOW IT PLAYS
Solving
Type with the on-screen QWERTY keyboard or a physical keyboard. Letters fill left to right, Backspace steps back, the arrow keys move between boxes, and tapping a box jumps to it. Press Check (or Enter) when the boxes are full. A wrong check shakes the grid and costs 20 points, up to a total of 200. The clock starts on your first keystroke or hint, not when the page opens, so reading the guide is free.
Hint ladder
Hints are a menu, not a forced sequence, and each costs points. Highlight the definition (−100) runs a highlighter over the words that define the answer. Name the wordplay (−100) stamps the type on the clue and explains what that type does. Reveal a letter (−150) can be used repeatedly but always leaves at least one box for you. Explain the whole clue (−400) shows the full parsing. Giving up shows the answer and explanation and counts as a loss.
Scoring
Score = 1000 − hint costs − 20 per wrong check (max 200) − a time penalty of 1 point per 3 seconds after the first 30 (max 200). A solve never scores below 50. Solving without any hint is a clean solve (🟢), which counts as a perfect day. Giving up scores 0 and resets the streak.
Sharing
The share line is spoiler-free, for example “🧩 Twisty #22 · solved in 0:48 · no hints 🟢”, with one 💡 per hint taken or 🏳️ for a give-up. Under it is a row of squares, one per letter: 🟩 for letters you solved, 🟨 for revealed letters, ⬜ for letters still missing when you gave up. The score and the link come last.
How cryptic clues work
The ? button opens a built-in guide. It explains definition plus wordplay, walks through the example “Players upset meat (4)” = TEAM, and gives a one-line example of each of the nine wordplay types and the common abbreviations (O = nothing, I = one, L = learner, R = right…). It opens automatically on your first visit.
HINTS
| Hint | Cost | Shows |
|---|---|---|
| 🖍️ Definition | −100 | Highlights the definition end of the clue |
| 🔖 Wordplay type | −100 | Stamps the type (anagram, hidden…) with a one-line how-to |
| 🔤 Reveal a letter | −150 each | Fills one box, leftmost wrong box first; repeatable |
| 📖 Explanation | −400 | The full parsing of the clue |
| 🏳️ Give up | score 0 | Answer and explanation; counts as a loss |
WORDPLAY IN THE BANK
| Type | Clues |
|---|---|
| Anagram | 53 |
| Double definition | 38 |
| Charade | 34 |
| Homophone | 28 |
| Reversal | 21 |
| Container | 20 |
| Hidden word | 17 |
| Deletion | 17 |
| &lit | 2 |
REWARDS
| Event | Reward |
|---|---|
| Solve the clue | 15 Tickets |
| Clean solve (no hints) | +25 Tickets |
| Untwisted (first solve) | 🧩 Bronze · 10 Tickets |
| Clean Solve (no hints) | 🟢 Silver · 20 Tickets |
| Getting the Knack (3-day streak) | 🔥 Bronze · 15 Tickets |
| Setter's Nemesis (7-day streak) | 🖍️ Gold · 40 Tickets |
| Grand Cruciverbalist (30-day streak) | 👑 Legendary · 100 Tickets |
VERSION HISTORY
- Launch version in Daily Brains: one cryptic clue a day from a bank of 230 original clues.
- Hint ladder (definition, wordplay type, reveal a letter, full explanation), give-up, timer and score out of 1000.
- Built-in “How cryptic clues work” guide with a worked example.
- Streaks, statistics, spoiler-free share line and cloud-mirrored progress.