October 19, 2026 · by farrudeveloper

What are arrow words and how do you solve them?

Arrow words explained from scratch: how to read a clue square, what the bent arrows on the edge mean, the clues that keep coming up and where to start on a grid.

Arrow words are a crossword with the list of clues taken away. There are no numbered "across" and "down" columns beside the grid: every clue is written inside a square of the grid itself, and a small arrow shows where the answer starts and which way it runs.

It sounds like a layout tweak, but it changes how the puzzle plays. A standard British crossword has plenty of black squares, and many letters belong to only one word. An arrow word grid is dense: almost every white square is part of two answers at once, one across and one down. Every word you get hands you letters for the words that cross it, which is why an arrow word puzzle tends to "unzip" once you get going.

You will find them in puzzle magazines and the weekend papers, sometimes under the name arrowords or Scandinavian crosswords, because it is the dominant style in Scandinavia. In Spain they are autodefinidos; in France, mots fléchés, where they are more popular than the classic crossword.

A few numbers about a real grid

Rather than talk in generalities, here are the figures from the first thirty grids in our printable arrow words:

• One square in four is a clue square (23 to 24 %, depending on the level).
• Between 71 and 77 % of the white squares belong to two words. In other words, three letters out of every four you write count twice.
• Six answers in ten have three or four letters. The average answer is under five letters long.

That last point matters more than it seems. Arrow words are not won by knowing obscure vocabulary. They are won by placing lots of short words quickly and letting the crossings do the rest.

How to read a clue square

A clue square holds one or two clues. When it holds two, it is split by a line, and the rule never changes:

• the top clue is for the word running to the right;
• the bottom clue is for the word running down.

The arrow is drawn in the first square of each answer, on the side it comes in from: ▶ if the word runs to the right, ▼ if it runs down. If you are ever unsure which word a clue belongs to, find the arrow. The arrow is what counts.

The arrows that bend

The edge of the grid is what confuses people at first. Along the top row and down the left-hand column, squares alternate between clue and letter, and that is where the arrows turn a corner:

• the top clue in a square on the top row gives the word that runs down the column to its right;
• the bottom clue in a square on the left-hand column gives the word that runs across the row below it.

It is easier to see with a real example. This is the top-left corner of puzzle 1 on the easy level, already solved (the numbers in brackets are clue squares):

[1]  H  [2]  A  [3]
 M   E   A   N  [4]
[5]  A  [6]  S   E
 C   R   A   W   L

• [1] holds two clues. On top, "LISTEN": the arrow bends and the answer, HEAR, runs down the column to its right. Underneath, "UNKIND": the arrow bends towards the row below and the answer is MEAN. The two share the E.
• [2] says "REPLIES", and ANSWERS runs down the column to its right from the top row. [3] does the same with "PUT ON CLOTHES": DON.
• [4], inside the grid, is an ordinary split square: "NOT IN" on top (→ OUT) and "OTHERWISE" underneath (↓ ELSE).
• [5] is on the left-hand column: "CREEP" runs along the row below, and it is CRAWL.
• [6] has "FEELING" (→ SENSE) and "ORGANISE" (↓ ARRANGE).

Once you can read that, you can read any grid. The rest is practice.

The clues that keep coming up

Arrow words have a vocabulary of their own. Because the grid needs so many three-letter words and English only has so many, the same ones come round again and again with near-identical clues. In our thirty grids the most frequent are:

• "EMPLOY" → USE (nine times)
• "HAD A MEAL" → ATE
• "EPOCH" → ERA
• "COMMERCIALS" → ADS
• "OCEAN" → SEA
• "GLIDE ON SNOW" → SKI
• "OLIVE ___" → OIL
• "PUB BEER" → ALE

And a few conventions worth knowing:

• A blank, ___, is a fill-in-the-gap clue. "OLIVE ___" is OIL; "___ ACID" might be AMINO.
• The clue matches the answer's grammar. A plural clue wants a plural answer; a past-tense clue ("HAD A MEAL") wants a past-tense answer (ATE).
• "FOR ONE" flags an example. "ROBIN, FOR ONE" is BIRD and "KILT, FOR ONE" is SKIRT: the answer is the category, not the example.

Where to start on a grid

1. The short ones you know for certain. One quick pass over the whole grid filling in only the obvious. With six words in ten at three or four letters, that pass places far more than you expect.
2. Then the ones that already have letters. A hard clue with two letters in place stops being hard.
3. If one will not come, move to the word that crosses it. In arrow words you are never stuck on a word; you are stuck in an area. Leave it from another side.
4. Count the squares. If you are torn between two answers, the one that does not fit is out.

Once you have the hang of it, our arrow word tips go a step further on speed.

Where to practise

There are sixty grids in three levels in our printable arrow words: you can solve them right there in your browser, with checking and a timer, or print them on A4 with the answers on a separate page. The easy level is a good place to learn the arrows without fighting the vocabulary.

And if you get hooked, the MenteBrillante app has a new arrow word puzzle every day in three levels, with a league and a leaderboard by time.