Wordle creator launches Parseword, a cryptic-crossword spin

Josh Wardle, with help from a few others, has launched Parseword, a new daily, digital spin on cryptic crosswords. The game is available today and is free to play. Cryptic crosswords have been popular in the United Kingdom for over a century but have not made the same leap to the United States, where the concise crossword remains dominant.

Concise puzzles offer vague clues that rely on solving connecting entries—for example, “A four-letter word for got up” could be woke or rose, and surrounding answers confirm which fits. In cryptic crosswords, clues contain the answer and are deciphered through wordplay and rules.

Wardle is hoping Parseword will teach players how to solve those clues while focusing on the clues themselves rather than the act of filling an empty board. Wardle, who in 2022 sold Wordle to The New York Times for a dollar amount in the low seven figures, created Wordle originally as a bonding exercise for his partner and found maintaining its sudden success exhausting.

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