What is Minute Cryptic?
Minute Cryptic is a daily cryptic crossword clue site. Each day presents one clue with its answer length in brackets and the setter credited below. The home screen shows a streak tracker for recent days, a feed of archived clues for members, and a Start here section offering three free courses that teach cryptic techniques from the ground up.
How to play Minute Cryptic
- Open minutecryptic.com and read the clue at the top of the page with its enumeration in brackets.
- Press play to solve. No account is required; creating one only saves your progress.
- Check the streak strip under the clue to see recent days and access the full history via See all.
- If cryptic wordplay is unfamiliar, start Course 1 (letterplay) from the Start here block. It covers The Basics, Anagrams, Selectors, Hiddens, and Reversals, with a Clue Mix section that unlocks after completing the others.
Why the single-clue format works
A full cryptic crossword requires committing to an entire grid. Minute Cryptic offers one clue a day, with the setter’s name and the answer length shown in brackets. If the wordplay is unclear, the site provides a teaching path rather than only revealing the answer. Its three free courses are Letterplay, Wordplay, and Weirdplay, covering anagrams, selectors, hiddens, and reversals.
Letterplay begins with The Basics, followed by Anagrams, Selectors, Hiddens, and Reversals. A Clue Mix section comes after those lessons but is locked.
The Explore puzzles row also includes a Minis tab. Its feed shows a Mini preview for a single across clue.
The home screen shows the streak status and begins with “you are starting a new streak.” Inside a course, each technique has a progress bar and a fraction: The Basics is 0/1; Anagrams, Selectors, Hiddens, and Reversals are each 0/3; and Clue Mix is 0/4 under “Locked for now.” The message says you must complete the five techniques above before you can mix them.
Course 1 sets the sequence. The Basics has one lesson, each of the next four techniques has three, and Clue Mix stays locked until all five are complete. The order is required.
Previous clues in the feed are marked “for members,” while the current day’s clue has no such tag. You should not expect to access yesterday’s clue without a membership.
Is Minute Cryptic a crossword? The site calls itself a free daily cryptic crossword clue. It publishes one clue each day, with the enumeration in brackets and the setter’s name. Minis appear separately in the Explore puzzles row.
Do you need an account? No. You can create one to track your progress, but it isn’t required to solve the clues.
Are the courses free? Yes. The announcement card describes three free cryptic courses; weirdplay is the third and newest.
Who writes the clues? Each clue credits its setter. The feed includes several entries marked “By Member,” along with other setter names, so community contributors are part of the roster.
Does it track a streak? Yes. The home screen shows your current streak status and a strip of recent days, followed by a See all link.