Cryptic clue FAQ

A cryptic clue is a tiny puzzle disguised as a sentence. Every clue contains two ways to reach the same answer: a straight definition (usually at one end) and wordplay (an anagram, a hidden word, a reversal, a homophone…). Once you learn the conventions, one clue is a few minutes of wordplay — enough for a coffee break.

Yes — every cryptic clue, every archive entry, and the full explanation is free to play, with no paywall on clues. A free account syncs your streak and progress across devices, and puts you on the leaderboard.

At midnight US Pacific. The countdown on the home page is computed on the server, so daylight-saving switches are handled for you — just keep the page open or refresh.

On a regular clue you get two nudges: Reveal definition highlights the definition half of the sentence, and Reveal a letter drops one correct letter into the answer boxes. Each hint counts against par — the fewer you take, the better your score. Guests get 8 hints and 3 full reveals (Give up) per day; a free account raises that to 50 hints and 10 reveals. Limits reset at midnight US Pacific. In Learn, Show indicator replaces Reveal definition so you can study the device.

Par is the expected number of hints for a clue of its difficulty. After you finish, your result is Clean (no hints), Within par (hints ≤ par), or Over par (hints above par).

A personal monthly deck of clues picked for you. Each month you get a batch of roughly 500 clues drawn from the library — refresh as often as you like, filter by clue type, and never hit the same clue twice before the deck cycles. Practice wins do not count toward the leaderboard.

Yes — the Archive lists every past daily clue. Solved ones show the answer in the list; open that day’s /clue page (or Review) for the full breakdown. Unsolved ones can be picked up any time.

The Board shows two player rankings — this week (resets Monday at midnight US Pacific) and all time — plus the most attempted clues. Only registered solvers are ranked; daily and bonus wins count, practice does not.

No. Guests can solve everything. Your progress is remembered on this device via a persistent cookie, and if you sign up later, everything you solved as a guest moves to your account automatically. An account also syncs your streak, unlocks Streak Freeze, and raises hint/reveal daily limits.

Registered players get one Streak Freeze each calendar week (US Pacific). If you miss a single daily clue, the freeze fills that gap automatically so your streak keeps going. The Me page shows freezes remaining — when one is left, your streak is protected.

Your daily cryptic-clue streak lights squares on the Icqu mark: one square at 3 days, two at 7, three at 14, and all four at 30.

For gameplay help, privacy questions, or account deletion, email icquclue@foxmail.com. Account mail (activation and password reset) comes from no-reply@icqu.net — that address does not take replies.