Pocket Grids

About Pocket Grids

Pocket Grids was made by Michael Pauley for a Reddit games hackathon in September 2025 and runs inside Reddit posts, on the website and in the Reddit app. The idea, as the maker put it, was a crossword that fits the pace of scrolling: open the post, solve in under five minutes, share and move on.

The daily puzzle is a 5x5 grid with a handful of across and down clues and a few black squares. It is posted at 1 PM UTC with its number and date in the title, so everyone solves the same grid that day. A timer runs while you solve; you can pause, check a letter, word or the whole grid, or reveal answers if you are stuck, and the game remembers where you were. Streaks and achievements reward coming back each day, and past dailies sit in an archive you can work through, marked not started, active or done.

What sets it apart from the newspaper minis is the community side. A builder lets anyone make a grid from scratch or start from a pre-filled one with suggested clues, preview it and post it, and the subreddit fills with these community puzzles between dailies. You can follow the makers you like.

It suits anyone who already does a mini crossword with their morning coffee and wants one more, free and without a newspaper subscription.

How to play Pocket Grids

1. Open today's Pocket Grid post in r/pocketgrids and press Play Puzzle.
2. Tap a square or a clue to choose an across or down answer.
3. Type letters into the grid; the highlighted clue shows which entry you are filling.
4. Use check or reveal from the hint menu if you are stuck.
5. Fill every square correctly to finish and keep your streak.

Screenshots

Tips

• Solve the short three- and four-letter entries first; they fix the letters of the long ones.
• Turn on auto-advance in the settings so the cursor jumps on after a correct letter.
• Work back through the archive of dailies on days you want more than one grid.

Questions