CodyCross & the pleasure of a theme.

CodyCross is a themed crossword built by Fanatee, a Brazilian studio that has — with very little fanfare — produced what I’d argue is the best themed mobile crossword in existence. Every level is built around a topic (Planet Earth, Tourist Adventures, Inventions, Library, Sports), every clue ties into that topic, and the whole structure feels like an extremely well-edited trivia magazine that you happen to solve rather than read.

I’ve been playing it since 2020. I have, at the time of writing, completed every level released before 2022, and I’m currently three levels into the Streaming Wars pack from 2025. The game has changed surprisingly little in five years, which I count as a virtue. Most mobile puzzle games go through three redesigns before they figure out who their audience is. CodyCross figured it out in 2017 and has been content to keep serving them.

i How CodyCross actually works

Each puzzle is a small crossword grid — usually five to eight clues — on a specific theme. The clues are themed but the answers are not always: the clue for Planet Earth, Group 2 might be “Marsupial known for jumping,” and the answer is KANGAROO, which goes into a slot in the grid. Solve all the clues in a puzzle and you also unlock a hidden seven-letter “password” derived from the crossings. Solve enough puzzles and you unlock the next group; enough groups, the next pack; enough packs, you’ve given the studio about thirty hours of your life.

The design’s genius is that the difficulty is in the cluing, not the grid. Grids are small enough that you can always make progress; clues are themed strictly enough that you’re always learning something. It’s the only crossword I’ve ever played where I’ve come away knowing more about Mongolian geography than I did before.

ii The pack hierarchy

CodyCross packs are not all created equal. I’ve solved most of them; here’s my ranking.

• Planet Earth (the original). Still the best. The clues are broader, the grid is gentler, and it’s the right place to learn the conventions. Start here.
• Inventions. Excellent. Heavy on dates and inventors’ surnames; a useful tutorial in cross-checking.
• Library. A literature pack with surprising depth. Mostly fair; occasionally too dependent on knowing the original-language title of a French novel.
• Tourist Adventures. Lots of city-name geography; if you travel, you’ll fly through it.
• Seasons, Circus, Medieval Times. Solid. Themed cluing without obscurities.
• The newer packs (Streaming Wars onwards). Reaching. Some of the cluing leans on contemporary pop culture in a way the older packs don’t, and the difficulty curve is uneven.

The difficulty is in the cluing, not the grid. That’s why CodyCross teaches you something every day.

iii How to solve faster

Three habits that’ll cut your solve time in half, in approximate order of how much they help.

• Read every clue before you solve any of them. Themed crosswords reward knowing what the theme is. Two minutes of reading saves five minutes of guessing.
• Solve the shortest clues first. Three- and four-letter answers are usually the connective tissue; locking them in opens up the longer ones with the right crossings.
• Use the password as a crossword. The hidden seven-letter password gives you a letter from each clue’s answer. If you’re stuck on one clue, the password letter is sometimes enough to crack it.

iv The free-to-play economy, honestly

CodyCross gives you a small daily allowance of “tickets” that you spend on hints. The game is fully playable without spending money — I’ve never bought tickets — but the pacing is built around the assumption that you might. If you find yourself running out of tickets, you’re solving more than the game is built for, which is a luxury problem.

The optional ad-removal purchase is, in my view, the only thing worth buying. Ads on a crossword break concentration; removing them costs about the price of a coffee. I don’t usually recommend paying for free apps, but this is the exception.

v If you like CodyCross, also try…

The closest comparison is the Daily Themed Crossword, which we review separately. It has the same single-grid-per-day pacing but skews more general-knowledge than CodyCross’s topical approach. The other comparison is the growing class of midi-sized daily grids; if that’s your size, midicrosswordanswers.com is where I check the solution when I’m short on time.

For a wider view of where themed crosswords sit in the puzzle landscape, the field guide’s crossword section places CodyCross in context.