Minute Cryptic

Minute Cryptic serves one cryptic crossword clue a day. The clue sits at the top of the home screen with the answer's enumeration in brackets and a credit line naming that day's setter, several of whom are credited as members rather than staff. Under it run a streak strip covering the recent days, a feed of earlier clues tagged for members, and a Start here block offering three free courses that teach cryptic technique from the ground up.

1. Open minutecryptic.com. Today's clue is the first thing on the page, with its enumeration in brackets and the setter credited beneath it.
2. Press play to solve it. No account is required; the site only asks you to create one so it can keep your progress.
3. Check the streak strip under the clue, which lays out the recent days and a See all link.
4. If cryptic wordplay is new to you, open Course 1, letterplay, from the Start here block. It leads to a technique menu of The Basics, Anagrams, Selectors, Hiddens and Reversals, with a Clue Mix section held back until those are done.

A cryptic crossword usually wants a whole grid's worth of commitment before it gives you anything back. Minute Cryptic cuts that to one clue a day, credited to a named setter and shown with its enumeration. And when the wordplay stays opaque, the site's answer is a teaching path rather than an answer key: letterplay, wordplay and weirdplay, broken down into anagrams, selectors, hiddens and reversals.

The home screen reports the streak state, opening on you are starting a new streak, and inside a course each technique carries a progress bar and a fraction, The Basics at 0/1 and Anagrams, Selectors, Hiddens and Reversals each at 0/3, with Clue Mix at 0/4 sitting under a Locked for now heading that says you will be ready to mix techniques once you have worked through the ones above.

Daily clue

One cryptic clue a day, credited to its setter and shown with the answer's enumeration in brackets.

Courses

Three free learning paths named letterplay, wordplay and weirdplay. Letterplay opens into The Basics, Anagrams, Selectors, Hiddens and Reversals, then a locked Clue Mix.

Minis

The Explore puzzles row carries a Minis tab, and the feed carries a Mini preview entry pointing at a single across clue.

• Course 1 tells you where to start. The Basics is a single lesson and each technique after it is three, and Clue Mix stays locked until the five are cleared, so the order is a rule rather than a suggestion.
• Earlier clues in the feed carry a for members tag while the current day's clue does not, which is worth knowing before you go looking for yesterday's.