Midi Crossword

Le Midi Crossword occupies the mid-size slot among crosswords, between the mini grid and the daily grid. The board carries black squares and numbered cells, and the page states that size follows the days of the week: seven by seven Monday through Thursday, eight by eight on Friday and Saturday, and nine by nine on Sunday, all laid out with 180-degree rotational symmetry. Clues are aligned to the left of the board, divided into ACROSS and DOWN, with a pauseable timer at the top of the screen, an icon for a trophy, a calendar, and a dark theme. A right-hand column expands to show How to play, Settings, Scoring, FAQ and About, and a button marked with a checkmark sits above the clue list, though the page does not say what it triggers.

1. Click a cell to take focus: the active cell turns orange, the current entry is shaded purple, and its clue is highlighted in the left-hand list.
2. Fill in the current entry, cell by cell. The page lists no keyboard shortcuts and no toggle between horizontal and vertical.
3. Use the crossings rather than forcing a clue: each cell belongs to both a horizontal and a vertical entry.
4. Keep an eye on the button marked with a checkmark above the clue list, and on the Scoring panel in the right-hand column.
5. Finish the grid with the header timer as the only judge, noting that it includes a pause button.

The format is the main selling point. A mini grid finishes before your coffee cools but only allows short, characterless words; a full daily grid asks you to set aside a real block of time. Le Midi aims for the middle, with enough squares to hold six- or seven-letter entries, ones that have personality and that are genuinely satisfying to find, without demanding half an hour. And because the size increases through the week, the same daily puzzle gradually becomes a weekend appointment, which is an elegant way to build a routine.

The board gives no yes or no feedback while you type; it simply follows the cursor. Clicking a cell turns it bright orange and the entire current entry a pale purple, while the matching clue lights up in the left column. No letter is accepted or rejected on the fly, no error counter appears, and the only moving number is the header timer. A button marked with a checkmark waits above the clues.

Core play

A single default daily crossword interface (the Midi grid), with no alternate play modes. The page presents the puzzle board (sizes vary by day: 7×7 Mon-Thu, 8×8 Fri-Sat, 9×9 Sun), ACROSS and DOWN clue lists, a pauseable header timer, a right-hand column with How to play / Settings / Scoring / FAQ / About, and a checkmark button above the clues, but no additional modes or mode selector are shown.

• The board size follows the day of the week, from seven by seven early in the week to nine by nine on Sunday. A Sunday grid is not just a larger Tuesday grid: it contains more long entries and more crossings where one mistake can spread.
• On a grid this size, long entries carry the puzzle: they cross the most perpendicular words, so each correct letter there pays off multiple times elsewhere.
• Bars of black squares cut the board into quarters connected by narrow passages. Clearing one quarter and then following the letters that pass through the choke points is better than attacking the whole grid at once.