Crittografato (Cruciverba Lab)

About Crittografato (Cruciverba Lab)

Crittografato is the clue-free crossword familiar from Italian puzzle magazines, rebuilt for the browser by Cruciverba Lab. The grid is filled with numbers; each number hides one letter, and the key below the grid shows which ones you have found. Three letters start in plain sight, and you look for a word that is almost readable, fill in the missing letter, and watch it appear in every square with that number.

When every number has a letter you press Verifica. It only says whether the whole key is right or wrong, not which letters are off, and each wrong check adds a minute to the clock. A correct key is worth 600 points plus a time bonus of up to 400, full if you finish within six minutes and falling to zero at 25. Hints reveal the letter under the cursor at the cost of part of the 600.

The grids are built by the same program that fills the site's daily crossword, checked to have a single solution, and then read by an editor who rates the difficulty from 1 to 5. There is one grid a day with a leaderboard; past grids are in the archive (the last three days with a free account, all of them with Premium) but do not score. It suits solvers of Italian crosswords who enjoy pattern spotting more than definitions.

How to play Crittografato (Cruciverba Lab)

1. Open today's grid and press Inizia a giocare; the clock starts.
2. Start from the three revealed letters and look for a word you can almost read.
3. Type the missing letter: it fills every square with that number, and the key below records it.
4. Repeat until every number has a letter, then press Verifica to check the whole key.
5. If it is wrong, find the word that does not read as a word and fix it; each wrong check adds a minute.

Tips

• Short words and common endings like -ARE, -ERE, -ZIONE give letters away quickly.
• Italian uses only 21 letters, and a grid usually uses 16 to 20 of them; the counter shows how many are left.
• Double letters are common in Italian, so look for repeated numbers side by side.
• Check every word before pressing Verifica, since a wrong check costs time on the bonus.

Questions