The Scrabble® Resource Book:

The Ultimate Bingo and Hook Guide
(Coming Soon!)

The Scrabble Resource Book is based on the principles of a reverse dictionary.

Reverse Dictionary FAQs: What is a reverse dictionary & how is it used?

In a true reverse dictionary, words are alphabetized in reverse order backwards from the end. Thus a word such as “zareba” (which ends in “a”) appears near the beginning of a reverse dictionary, while a word such as “adz” appears near the end. The words themselves are printed with their letters in normal order; only the alphabetization is reversed.

Miscellaneous Scrabble® Brand Crossword Game Links

Click here for the homepage of the North American Scrabble Player’s Association.

Click here for the homepage of Hasbro’s official website for the Scrabble® Brand Crossword Game

Online Scrabble® Games

Click here for free Scrabble games from Pogo (free if you don’t mind a lot of advertisements).

Click here for free Scrabble games from Lexulous (requires registration).

Online Word Finders List

There are many online Word Finders; the more popular ones are presented here.  In each case, click on the name to be directed to the site.

Of key concern to Scrabble® players is whether or not the sites are based on Scrabble’s Official Word List (OWL3).  Those that are not are of limited value to Scrabble® players because words found would have to be authenticated elsewhere before being used in a game.

A2zWordFinder: Useful word pattern tool, but is not based on OWL3.

Lexical Word Finder: Useful during a game of Scrabble® to find highest scoring word based on what’s already on the board, but is not based on OWL3.

More Words: Works as a reverse dictionary, but is not based on OWL3.

Scrabble Word Finder: Useful during a game of Scrabble® to find highest scoring words (100 possibilities provided) based on what’s already on the board, but is based on an outdated OWL.

Win Every Game: Very useful prefix and suffix finder, and a great anagrammer, , but is not based on OWL3.

Word Find: Works as an anagrammer, but not based on OWL3.

Word Finder: Works as an anagrammer, but not based on OWL3.

WordSolver: Works as an anagrammer, but not based on OWL3.

Crosswords Facts & Trivia

  • The first known crossword puzzle was created by Arthur Wynne, and he is usually credited with inventing the modern crossword. His puzzle appeared on December 21, 1913 in New York World. Click here to view it.

  • The first crossword puzzle book (compiled by Margaret Petherbridge and published by Simon & Schuster) appeared in 1924, and this book quickly became a bestseller, initiating a nationwide craze.

  • The term “Crossword” first appeared in a dictionary in 1930.

  • In 1998 the US Postal Service issued a stamp to commemorate the first crossword puzzle. This stamp was on of the most popular ever, with a total of more than 18 million saved (that is, purchased but not used). Click here to view the stamp.

  • Today more than 50 million people in the United States work crossword puzzles regularly.

  • Crosswords exist worldwide with versions created and published in a variety of languages, including Japanese, French, German, Italian, Swedish, Spanish, and others.

  • The term “cruciverbalist” was coined in 1981 to refer to a crossword puzzle enthusiast. Though a recent addition to English, the term is gaining acceptance.

Online Crossword Puzzle-solving Aids

Click here for a word finder from AllWords.com. Very useful if some letters are known.

Click here for a word finder from FindTheWord.info. Very useful if some letters are known.

Click here for a crossword clue and word finder from OneAcross.com. You can enter clue and word length to see possible solutions.

Click here for OneLook.com. This search engine indexes more than 1,000 dictionaries. (Try its reverse dictionary feature to find just about any catagory imaginable.)

Click here for Quinapalus.com. Its Word Match feature is a powerful puzzle-solving tool.

 

Miscellaneous Crossword Links

Click here for the homepage of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Click here for the Index to articles and news clips from the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Click here for a comprehensive set of links from the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament.

Click here for the homepage of the National Puzzler's League.

Free Online Crossword Puzzles

Click here for a free daily crossword from NY Times. (Registration Required.)

Click here for a free daily crossword from the LA Times.

Click here for a free daily crossword from the Washington Post.

Click here for a free daily crossword from USA.

 

More about author Paul Hellweg

Click here for More about author Paul Hellweg


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