Crosswords in brief
The first crossword is generally credited to Arthur Wynne, an English-born journalist who published it in the Sunday supplement of the New York World on 21 December 1913. In France, the first grid appeared in 1924 in Le Dimanche illustré, and the writer Tristan Bernard helped popularise the genre with his witty clues.
The principle has not changed: numbered clues, across and down, point to words that intersect in a grid. Every letter you find is used twice, and one sure answer helps unlock its neighbours.
What crossword solvers enjoy
Crosswords bring together several pleasures, which online word games tend to offer separately:
- The clue: working out what it describes, seeing through a figurative meaning or a pun.
- The box count: a fixed number of letters rules out most candidates.
- Crossing letters: one known letter is often enough to make the word appear.
- Vocabulary: precise synonyms, rare words, word families.
No SIWA game is a crossword grid, and its word games use French. Each keeps one or two of these pleasures, in a short daily format.
Comparison: what each SIWA game shares with crosswords
| SIWA game | In common with crosswords | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Motamo | Clue, length and a known letter | No grid: five words in a chain |
| Prefixo | Short clues and letter counts | The five words share a prefix |
| Synonymo | The synonym clue | Three synonyms of the same word |
| Melimelo | A clue pointing to a word | The word's letters are given, jumbled |
Motamo: definitions and interlocking letters
Motamo is the SIWA game that comes closest to a grid. You get the first letter of the chain and five definitions, one per French word. Each word starts with the last letter of the previous one: as in a crossword, an answer you find gives you a letter of the next.
The definitions run to two or three sentences. The first sentences are deliberately cryptic, the last ones put you more directly on track, so everyone can solve at their own pace. The word's length is shown, and a wrong guess leaves the correctly placed letters in place.
Prefixo, Synonymo, Melimelo: three more reflexes
Prefixo shows a prefix, such as RE, SUR or ANTI, and five definitions of two to four words, like the clues in a magazine grid. Each answer starts with that prefix, already in place, and its length is shown: all that remains is to find the end of the word. You choose the order of the definitions, just as you jump from one clue to another in a grid.
Synonymo uses the most common crossword clue of all: the synonym. A target word appears with three rows of boxes; each expects a synonym whose first letter and length are given. The game does not reward an abundance of ideas but precision, exactly as a box that is too short rejects a correct word. Tries are unlimited: after a wrong guess, the correctly placed letters show in green.
Melimelo gives five short clues, of one to three words, and the letters of each answer in a jumble. It is the most accessible game in the selection: the clue points the way, the anagram confirms it.
For an overview, our guide to the daily word game presents all of SIWA's word games.
How it differs from a newspaper crossword
A crossword is often finished over several sittings; SIWA games are played in 1 to 5 minutes. There is no grid to fill, but words to find one by one, with immediate feedback: a wrong guess is flagged and correctly placed letters stay on screen.
If you are stuck, a joker reveals a letter you do not have yet, at the cost of a few points. Each grid changes at midnight, in your local time, and it is the same for everyone that day. Everything is free, in the browser, with nothing to download and no sign-up.
A possible routine: Motamo for definitions, Synonymo or Prefixo for vocabulary, then Melimelo to wind down. A free account keeps your streaks and opens the archives of past grids. Since the answers are French words, these games also make a pleasant daily exercise for advanced learners of French.