Gambit has released a fun twist on a crossword puzzle – one that has no clues! As odd as that might sound, Clueless Crossword Party! is nearly a complete success in thoughtful lexicon entertainment. The premise is surprisingly simple: instead of traditionally numbered spaces on the crossword board (the first letter of the word that […]
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Review: Clueless Crossword Party!

Apr 27th 2013 by
CluelessCrosswordParty

Gambit has released a fun twist on a crossword puzzle – one that has no clues! As odd as that might sound, Clueless Crossword Party! is nearly a complete success in thoughtful lexicon entertainment.

The premise is surprisingly simple: instead of traditionally numbered spaces on the crossword board (the first letter of the word that extends Across or Down), every letter space is consistently numbered.

For example, you think “S” might be number 17 everywhere on the crossword board, and seeing word, “A – 17 – K,” you tap the 17 square and then your letter choice (in this case S). If you’re right, all 17 tiles will drop off the entire board to reveal each S. If you are wrong (say the word was “ARK”), then you incur a penalty.

Since there are no clues provided, you don’t start with a blank board, but an incomplete board instead. Although I haven’t played that long, my guess is that the puzzles become harder because you’re provided with fewer words on the board.

There are three game modes:

  • Classic – time free where more points are accumulated by scoring combos
  • Blitz – timed game where incorrect guesses result in time penalties
  • Mini – a 5×5 game grid for quick play (which is surprisingly hard)

While the concept and idea are great, there are a few things on which to improve. First the font on the game board is hard to read (the handwriting font isn’t easy on the eyes), and the design of the keyboard, from which you select your letters, is too tight (I easily select a wrong letter – a sentiment echoed in the App Store reviews).

Although Clueless Crossword is an accurate title (not sure about the Party!), I think the developer should have named it Clueless Crossword Cryptogram instead since the substitution of letters for numbers of a cryptogram describes it better.

Gambit’s Clueless Crossword Party! is available in the App Store as a universal Lite Version (free) and $0.99 universal version (here).

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Clueless Crossword Party! was purchased by this contributing author.

Screenshot of play
Screenshot of play
Directions
Directions


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