The first ever crossword. Pics/Wikimedia

Now, Ganguli might still subscribe to the old-school method of cracking crossword puzzles with a pen or pencil on a newspaper. But there are also multiple online sites that offer the same thrill. We curated a list of such pages to mark the 150th anniversary of the first crossword. Go through it and give the sites a shot, but not before taking a crack at the day’s crossword puzzle that’s printed a few pages after the one you’re reading.

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A puzzling journey

This website has a puzzle called The Daily Commuter Crossword, which indicates how numerous office-going people spend their journey to work in trains and buses solving these literary codes. This one’s easy enough to attempt (we were able to finish it in less than 20 minutes). For example, the four-letter answer for ‘Kismet’ was, of course, ‘Fate’. Head here if you are a beginner and want to get hang of things before moving on to more difficult puzzles.

Log on to: mindgames.com

Easy as pie

Rohan Ganguli

There are different levels of crosswords on this site, and we opted for the easy one, which, too, is beginner-friendly. But you’ll need some knowledge of geography to complete it, because the clues include options like ‘Honolulu’s island’ and ‘Nevada/California lake’. Otherwise, the clues were as straightforward as ‘Rudolph’s red feature’ (nose) and ‘Shakespearean verse’ (sonnet).
Log on to: wordgames.com

Popping in

What’s more apt than a dictionary to have its own crossword? Merriam Webster has an excellent option on its website, which forces you to rack your brain a fair bit. It includes clues that have pop-cultural references like ‘Renee’s Chicago role’ (Roxie) and ‘Macy Gray’s hairstyle’ (Afro). And one feature that sets it apart from other options is that if you type a letter on a wrong square, it will be coloured in red instead of black, indicating that an error has been made.
Log on to: merriam-webster.com

Stan, the man

There are different crossword puzzle setters who publish daily on this page, and we tried Stan Newman’s version. He is a New York-based puzzle-creator who’s been the editor of the Newsday daily crossword puzzle since 1992. His clues often involve historical references, such as ‘Lincoln’s nickname’ (Abe), and American inputs including ‘Potatoes from a Northwestern state’ (Idahoes). Otherwise, the difficulty level is moderate, with some words making you scratch your head.   
Log on to: arkadium.com