Quick Cross (USA TODAY)

About Quick Cross (USA TODAY)

USA TODAY Play is the newspaper's puzzle hub, home to the daily USA TODAY Crossword, sudoku and Quick Cross, its small crossword for when you are short on time. The puzzle is published online every day and also appears in the USA TODAY PLAY app, which describes Quick Cross as fast, bite-sized crossword challenges and lets you play past puzzles from the archive.

Each Quick Cross is dated, and answer sites list them day by day, for example on 26, 27, 28, 29 and 30 September and 1 October 2026, so everyone who plays on a given date solves the same grid. Like the main USA TODAY Crossword, it leans on pop culture and current events rather than old crosswordese.

You can play on the web without an account; a free account saves your progress. Everyone gets a limited number of free puzzles a week, while a USA TODAY Play subscription adds unlimited puzzles, streaks, hints and reveals across Crossword, Quick Cross and Sudoku, the archive, and no ads. The site is not available from some countries, including the EU.

It suits commuters and newer solvers who want a quick, current crossword, and regular USA TODAY Crossword players who want a warm-up.

How to play Quick Cross (USA TODAY)

1. Open Quick Cross on puzzles.usatoday.com or in the USA TODAY PLAY app.
2. Pick a square or clue and type your answer.
3. Switch between Across and Down to use crossing letters.
4. Finish the small grid; most solves take a few minutes.
5. Go back to earlier dates in the archive if you missed a day.

Tips

• Start with pop-culture and fill-in-the-blank clues; they tend to be the quickest.
• In a small grid nearly every letter is crossed, so check each guess against the other direction.
• Create a free account if you want your progress saved across devices.
• Try the full USA TODAY Crossword afterwards for a longer solve.

Questions