If you are a puzzle enthusiast, you know how important it is to go back to your roots, or some of your most favorite, simple in nature puzzles, like the crossword puzzle. These simple puzzles have been around since ancient times, with the first ancestor of the crossword puzzle appearing in the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii. Most of us, however, were first introduced to the crossword puzzle in newspapers all over the world. When most people think of a puzzle, this is their first thought since for many individuals, this was their first introduction into the world of puzzle games.

Today, however, the concept of the crossword puzzle has revolutionized and evolved into an online phenomenon that is known by all. It was once even a concern that the crossword puzzle could become endangered with print newspapers starting to become obsolete but our current technology has protected and changed this puzzle, making it instead more available to everyone online in different forms and at various different sources. Best of all, these crossword puzzles are available to anyone who has an Internet connection for absolutely free. Gone are the days of being forced to buy a morning paper or book of crossword puzzles to enjoy this pastime since many online sites have dedicated themselves to having at least one free daily puzzle available to the public. Most of these free online crossword puzzle sites have a database of over 1,000 puzzles, keeping someone busy for hours, if not days.

This does eventually leave the question of how does one find the best free online crosswords puzzles sites. The prospect of finding a site to your liking can be a bit overwhelming, since there are millions of crossword puzzle sites available. For example, if you type in “Free Online Crossword Puzzle”, in Google, you can easily find over three million sites in search results. I’ve taken some time to review the largest crossword sites on the web to help you find the right one. And here they are - the five best online crosswords that you will find meet the needs of yourself and your family, all of them providing puzzles online at the great low price of… well, free!

#5 OnlineCrosswords.net

http://onlinecrosswords.net/

A great online crossword puzzle site that is completely free to the public - OnlineCrosswords.net. This site focuses on everything that has to do with crosswords including daily crossword puzzles, a clue database for solving crosswords, daily solutions to the most popular newspaper crosswords, a database of over 8,500 crosswords, and a section on popular crossword books that every crossword puzzle enthusiast should consider having in their collection. Each day on this online site, seven new crossword puzzles are added to their database, giving puzzle enthusiasts a plethora of puzzles that, like all the other puzzles on the site, can be printed out or played online. Most beginning to intermediate puzzle players will enjoy this site since most of the puzzles are of moderate difficulty and all use the American style grid. These puzzles can typically be completed within a half hour to two hour time period, allowing the player a quick crossword puzzle to work on at slow times during the workday.

The only disadvantage of using OnlineCrosswords.net is the fact that the site is a bit difficult to navigate. Much of the site seems to be under construction since new features are constantly being added, making it difficult to find puzzles other than their seven new puzzles that are being added daily. These puzzles work great but if you want to search for other puzzles, you are currently out of luck since their database seems to be down for maintenance. In the future, the site is hoping to add the ability for crossword puzzles to be translated into French and Spanish for more usability. If you are looking for a quick crossword puzzle that can be a light challenge, this is the best site for you. However, if you are wishing to spend hours on a site going through an extensive database of puzzles, you may want to consider some of the other sites from this list.

#4 WebCrosswords.com

http://webcrosswords.com/

Web Crosswords is a simple, user-friendly crossword site that offers a free online crossword puzzle daily. Even though the site does not have a very large archive, up to two weeks, most of the puzzles offered are challenging and the site’s clean, easy to use interface will allow players to go through these puzzles within a day to few days with little trouble, allowing them some quick, challenging fun. Each puzzle that is offered is in the American grid style format, which may be a bit boring to some users.

For those who play on USA Today, you will notice that the user interface and options are very similar, since Web Crosswords allows you to pause, print, solve the puzzle, print the puzzle with entries, reset the puzzle, change the difficulty, and give feedback. Since the site does not offer a lot of variety, many advanced puzzle enthusiasts my find themselves bored with this site, but beginners or those with moderate experience can easily have a few hours to a day of fun on the site, depending on their crossword skills. Just remember to mute the sound if you are deciding to play this crossword puzzle at work, since most of the sounds are quite noticeable.

#3 Miss O & Friends Crossword

http://missoandfriends.com/

Before going much further, readers need to know that Miss O and Friends is an online site for girls of all ages and has a variety of different online games available for children to play. One of the most popular games, geared toward children of all ages, is their crossword puzzle. Unlike most children’s online puzzle sites, kids receive specialized reward points for completing the entire crossword puzzle, encouraging children of all ages to critically think through each of the clues to the challenging puzzle. The one drawback to the crossword puzzles available on Miss O & Friends, however, is that the site does not provide hints to solve the clues or an option to solve any of the clues or the full puzzle. Other than the typical “I’m done” button, the sites’ only other helpful option is a spell check, which removes incorrect letters by marking them in red. Some individuals and children may find this discouraging, but the site probably does this to encourage their players to finish the puzzle without cheating, since children do not receive any points or credit for the puzzle unless it is complete.

As would be expected, all of the crossword puzzles provided on this online site are free and do not even require you to have an account with Miss O & Friends to enjoy. All the puzzles that are provided use the British style grid, giving the online crossword puzzle a clean, simplistic look. Since the site is for girls of all ages, puzzles are divided into four difficulties: easy, average, hard, and challenging. These challenge levels are differentiated from one another by the amount of clues and difficulty of clues provided to complete the puzzle, with each of the clues being about topics that interest children or are part of a child’s normal life. Along with child friendly topics and a colorful, user-friendly site, children are also able to create their own crossword puzzles, allowing them to challenge their friends and family. This family-friendly site is a great choice for parents who would like to introduce their children to crossword puzzles in an online format that is friendly for children, and free. 

#2 USA Today

http://puzzles.usatoday.com/

For many, USA Today is one of the old staples that almost every enthusiast knows. Most individuals have at one point played one of the crossword puzzles in this American newspaper, or seen its crossword that appears in multiple other newspapers – online and in print. Not only is their crossword popular, it is one of the most easy to use, challenging crosswords puzzles that you will find online. Each day, a new free crossword puzzle is added to their site, all of them having a specific theme in which all clues somehow relate. If you do not like the puzzle that is available that day or wish to try another puzzle, years worth of daily puzzles are available online for those who enjoy these free online puzzles. Most beginners will find their crosswords to be a bit of a challenge, making them sometimes one of the longest to solve. Most advanced crossword puzzle experts will probably finish these puzzles within a few hours to a day. If you get too frustrated with the puzzles or one of the clues, however, you can always get extra hints by having the puzzle offer you letters or just the full words to help you move on with the puzzle.

The drawback of USA today is that all the crosswords are in an American grid style. This can be a bit disappointing, but it is almost expected since this is an American newspaper. Compared to most other online crossword puzzle sites, however, the USA Today has good standings, since few sites offer the same rich set of options to their players. When you start these puzzles, you have a choice of choosing either regular or master difficulty. Once you have decided, you are introduced to an interactive puzzle where you can bounce across the puzzle with a mouse or keyboard, letting you move across the puzzle quickly. From there, you can decide to use the puzzle’s built in timer, as well as at any time save your puzzle, reset it, change your skill level, mute the built in sounds, show clue bubbles, or change the font. If you find a problem with the puzzle or feel something needs to be said, each puzzle has a way to provide feedback. With all the variety offered with the USA News free crossword puzzles, you cannot go wrong with these daily interactive crossword puzzles.

#1 Best Crosswords

http://bestcrosswords.com/

Just as this site claims, Best Crosswords is at this moment the best free online crossword puzzle available for crossword enthusiasts of all skill levels. Within each of the site’s four major sections, there are databases of thousands of puzzles, allowing puzzle enthusiasts to constantly keep themselves entertained with new, challenging puzzles. As well as official content being added daily, international and custom made content is also added constantly to help keep the site interesting. Just like many of the other good online puzzle sites, the game board can easily be manipulated with a mouse or keyboard.

On this crossword site, there are three types of crosswords that players can choose – guest constructor, casual interactive, and competitive. Within these three types, there are even more option, including British and American grid styles, as well as straight or cryptic clues. If this is not enough, new puzzles are added to each section daily, such as seven new American puzzles being added to the casual interactive online section. Since three difficulty levels are provided for each puzzle (easy, moderate, and hard), Best Crosswords is the ideal place for all puzzle enthusiasts to experiment and find any crossword to meet their skill level. And if you wish for game play that is a bit more competitive, Best Crosswords provides a competition mode where players can race to get the best scores and times on multiple crossword puzzles.

With these great options, anyone who loves to play crosswords puzzles can easily find a free online crossword web site that is to their own personal liking and skill level. Dozens of puzzles are being added daily to all of these sites combined, giving everyone more options than they had ever dreamed for free, giving everyone a fun, enjoyable crossword experience. You can play online or quickly print out a crossword puzzle for anytime you are on the move. Good luck solving crosswords!