Introducing Cross Tiles: A crossword puzzle for the rest of us

Crossword puzzles are fascinating, but they can also be frustrating. How many times have you solved half of a puzzle, but then become stuck on the rest? Waiting for the solution to be published the next day is not satisfying. Trying to get a glimpse of just one answer that you need, without seeing the rest of the solution, is difficult, if not impossible.

For this reason, we offer the Cross Tile puzzle. Cross Tile puzzles are regular crosswords with the addition of solution tiles. We don’t tell you where the tiles go in the puzzle. But they provide building blocks to help you get through those tough sections.

Consider the example Cross Tile puzzle below. You can solve this like a traditional crossword puzzle. You can also start to position the solution tiles in the puzzle to form words. Or best of all, you can combine the two techniques.

Let's say you see the clue “Yellowish Brown”. The answer could be beige. It could also be tawny, cedar, khaki, or wheat, among other choices. Before diving in with your pen or pencil, you scan the solution tiles.

There, you find two pieces that combined form the word beige.

Now, you may not know that an “erg” is a unit of work. We certainly did not before we constructed this puzzle. You may not be a…