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The crossword desk

Free daily 4x4 nano crossword

The world's smallest daily crossword: a 4x4 grid with no black squares, free to play in your browser. Sixteen squares, eight interlocking answers, and most people are done inside a minute.

The short version

The nano crossword is a free daily 4x4 with no black squares. No account, no paywall, a fresh grid every day that resets at midnight US Eastern. Figure on under a minute. Play today’s nano crossword.

01 How the daily nano crossword works

Sixteen squares, four across clues and four down clues. Tap a square and type; tap again to switch direction. Because there are no black squares, every row and every column is a complete four-letter word, and every single square belongs to two answers at once.

That double-checking is what makes the nano forgiving: one confident answer hands you a letter in all four of the clues running the other way. Check flags anything wrong so you can course correct, and Reveal fills the grid if you would rather see it and move on.

02 Free, and new every day

Like every game here, the daily nano crossword is free, needs no account, and runs on your phone or desktop with nothing to download. One fresh 4x4 each day, the same grid for everyone, resetting at midnight US Eastern.

03 The smallest of three daily crosswords

The nano is the quick end of a set. If a 4x4 leaves you wanting more, the free daily mini crossword is a 5x5 that takes a couple of minutes, and the free daily midi crossword grows through the week from a 7x7 to a 9x9 Sunday. All three are free, all three are new every day, and you can see them together on the daily crosswords page. There are more daily word games alongside them, and the full library sits on the Greatest Games homepage.

04 Nano crossword FAQ

The smallest crossword we print: a 4x4 grid with no black squares at all. Every row and every column is a four-letter word, so sixteen squares carry eight interlocking answers.
Yes. The daily nano crossword is free to play in your browser. No subscription, no paywall, and you don't need an account.
Most solvers finish in well under a minute. It is the quickest puzzle on the site, and it is meant to be.
Because that is the whole game. Black squares let a normal crossword break a row into shorter pieces. Take them away and every one of the sixteen squares is checked twice, once by its across clue and once by its down.
Yes. A fresh 4x4 goes up every day and resets at midnight US Eastern, and everyone plays the same grid.
Size and shape. The mini is a 5x5 that uses black squares; the nano is a 4x4 that uses none, so it is both smaller and more tightly interlocked.

Start playing today.

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