How to Solve a Scandinavian Crossword (Arroword)

The grid is the clue list

In a traditional crossword, a numbered clue list sits beside or below the puzzle, and every answer is linked to it by a number. In an arroword, there are no numbers and no separate list. Instead, some squares of the grid hold a short clue, and the rest hold single letters. A clue square is visually different from a letter square, so you can sweep your eye across the grid and immediately see where the questions are.

This is why the format suits a screen so well. There is nothing to scroll between: the question, the answer length and the crossing letters of an answer are all within a few squares of each other.

Read the arrows, not the numbers

Every clue square carries one or two small arrows at its edges. An arrow points along the row or column where its answer will be written, starting with the square immediately next to the clue. A right-pointing arrow means the answer runs left to right; a down-pointing arrow means it runs from top to bottom.

When a clue square has an arrow on its right edge and another on its bottom edge, it is holding two different questions — one answer runs across, one runs down, and both start from the same corner square. In ScandiCross you can tap the part of the clue square you want: the upper part selects the across answer, the lower part selects the down answer. The clue banner below the grid then shows which question you are answering.

Start with the most constrained words

The quickest way into any crossword is to find the answers that have the fewest unknowns. In an arroword that usually means looking for short answers whose squares are already partly filled by crossings, or for answers you are confident about at a glance.

A practical order that works well:

• Scan the clue squares for anything you know instantly, and write those first — even if they are not connected to each other.
• Return to the words that now have letters revealed by those first answers. A two-letter or three-letter answer with two known letters is often obvious.
• Leave the longest answers until last; they collect the most crossing letters, so they become easier as the grid fills.
• If a word refuses to resolve, move away from it entirely for a while. One answer elsewhere can unlock three crossings at once.

Use crossings as confirmation, not as guesses

Because the grid is fully covered — clues and letters, no decorative empty space — almost every answer crosses at least one other. That is a gift: a crossing letter you already trust confirms whether your answer fits. If a crossing letter contradicts an answer you were sure about, one of the two words is wrong, and it is usually worth checking the one you wrote more hastily.

Resist filling a whole word with guesses. A single wrong letter will quietly poison several other answers, and untangling that is slower than leaving the word blank for one more pass.

When you are stuck, use the hints deliberately

ScandiCross has a set of hints, and the order you use them in decides how much of the puzzle you actually solve. Start with the smallest intervention and only escalate if it fails.

• Reveal a letter — shows one letter of the selected answer. Often enough to break a deadlock.
• Reveal a word — fills the whole selected answer. Use it when a clue means nothing to you and no crossing is helping.
• Highlight errors — marks the letters you have written that do not match the solution, without telling you the right ones. This is the most useful hint in the set, because it finds the wrong turn you took ten minutes ago.
• Clear errors — removes every incorrect letter in one step after you have seen where they are.

Every letter a hint reveals is tinted in the grid, so you always know which squares you did not earn yourself. Erasing a hinted letter puts the square back to normal.

Writing answers by hand

On a phone or tablet you can switch to pen mode and write each letter directly into its square, the way you would on paper. Recognised letters stay visible as handwriting on the grid rather than being replaced by typed text, which is the part tablet users tend to miss most in other crossword apps.

Two habits make handwriting recognition reliable: write one letter at a time, and keep the letter large enough to fill most of the square. If a letter is not recognised, the ink disappears rather than leaving a misleading mark, so you can simply write it again.

In pen mode, tapping a clue jumps to the first empty square of that answer, which keeps your hand moving without reaching for the keyboard.

Correcting mistakes without losing work

Crossword solving involves a lot of changing your mind, so the erase gestures are worth learning early.

• Double-tap a square to erase just that letter and keep the box selected.
• Press and hold a square to erase the entire word it belongs to — the quickest way to abandon a wrong answer.
• Undo steps back through your last changes, including erased words.
• Clear all wipes the grid when you want a completely fresh attempt at the same puzzle.

All three erase gestures work in both keyboard and pen mode, and the erase button in the top bar removes the letter in the selected square.

A routine that works

If you want a repeatable method rather than a set of tricks, this one covers most grids: read every clue square once without writing anything, then fill the answers you are certain of, then work outward from those crossings, then use error highlighting before reaching for any reveal. On the harder levels the last two steps do most of the work.

Finish with the timer stopped and your time recorded — comparing your medium times across a week is a surprisingly good measure of how much the format has clicked.