Penny Dell Brain Booster Crosswords
Penny Dell Brain Booster Crosswords
Penny Dell has been printing puzzle magazines for decades, and the Brain Booster crosswords carry that house style: clean grids, direct clues, ordinary vocabulary.
What makes this version work online rather than on paper is what happens when you get stuck. Progress is saved, so a puzzle left half done is still half done tomorrow. And the reveal option will fill an answer you cannot get, which means no grid ever ends as a dead end you abandon and never return to.
That combination is the difference between a crossword you finish and one you quietly give up on, and it is why this is a good series for someone building the habit.
How to play
- Click a square to select it. The clue for that entry is highlighted.
- Click the same square again to switch between across and down.
- Type your answer. The cursor advances by itself.
- Arrow keys move square by square and Tab jumps to the next clue.
- Reveal will fill in a word that is giving you difficulty.
- Progress saves automatically, so you can leave and come back.
How to play Penny Dell Brain Booster Crosswords
The first pass
Read the across clues in order and write in only what you are sure of. Then do the same with the downs. What you are collecting is not answers, it is crossing letters, and six certain answers scattered across a grid are worth more than one solved corner.
Using reveal well
Reveal is a tool, not a failure. The useful way to use it is on a single answer in a section that has closed completely, which unlocks the crossings and lets you solve the rest yourself.
The wasteful way is revealing several answers in a row early, because you lose the crossings you would have earned and the puzzle stops teaching you anything.
Saved progress
Because the grid persists, the best move when a section resists is to stop. A crossword read again after a break resolves in a way very little else does, and there is no cost to walking away.
Tips and strategy
Getting in
- Fill in the blank clues first. One answer, no misdirection, and free crossings.
- Three and four letter answers are the scaffolding. Place them and the long entries stop looking impossible.
- Clues naming a specific thing, a river, a currency, a card game, have exactly one answer.
Reading clues carefully
- Match the grammar. Plural clue, plural answer. Past tense clue, past tense answer. This is where wrong answers survive longest.
- Abbreviated clues want abbreviated answers, and that tells you the length before you count squares.
- A question mark at the end means wordplay rather than definition.
How players lose
- Defending a plausible answer that has no crossings supporting it.
- Revealing early and losing the letters that would have solved the rest.
- Solving one corner completely before moving on, which wastes the crossings you just earned.
The dailies are Thomas Joseph Crossword and Sheffer Crossword, and the full set is on the newspaper crosswords page.
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Frequently asked questions
Is my progress saved?
Yes. The grid persists, so a puzzle can be left half finished and picked up later.
How hard are the Brain Booster crosswords?
They are on the gentler side. Clues are direct and the vocabulary is everyday, which makes them a good place to build the habit.
What does the reveal option do?
It fills in an answer you cannot get. Used on a single entry in a stalled section it unlocks the crossings and lets you finish the rest yourself.
Who publishes these puzzles?
They come from Penny Dell, a long running puzzle publisher, and are distributed by Arkadium.
Is it free?
Yes. No download, no account and no payment.