You know three letters of an eight-letter word. The crossing clues aren't helping. You're about to spend a hint. Before you do: pattern search solves this in about ten seconds.
What pattern search is
Pattern search lets you enter the letters you do know, with a ? in place of each unknown letter. The search returns every answer in our database that matches that exact pattern.
Example: you have _ A _ _ _ _ _ D. Enter ?A??????D and you'll see candidates like VANISHED, BALLOONED, HARDWIRED — then match against your clue to find the right one.
How to build the pattern
- Count the total letters in the answer (the grid tells you this)
- Replace each unknown letter with ?
- Keep every letter you do know in its exact position
- Enter the full pattern in the search bar
So if you have a 7-letter word and you know letters 2, 5, and 7 are A, S, and D: enter ?A??S?D. The search does the rest.
When pattern search is most useful
Mid-puzzle: After filling a few crossing answers, you'll often have 3-4 letters from intersections. That's usually enough to narrow a word down to 1-3 candidates.
Hard worlds: Science Lab, Making a Documentary, and La Bella Roma have the most obscure vocabulary. If you don't know the domain, pattern search plus the clue text will usually get you there without spending a hint.
Multi-word answers: CodyCross sometimes has two-word answers. If you know one word but not the other, search for the known word with wildcards for the other (e.g., MOVIE ????? for "Movie Star").
Pattern search vs. clue search
If you remember part of the clue text but not the answer, use regular text search. If you have letters from the grid but can't identify the word, use pattern search. They solve different problems.
The fastest approach when you're stuck: try the clue text first. If that doesn't return an obvious result, switch to the letter pattern. Most stuck situations resolve in under 30 seconds using one of the two.
Try it now
Go to codycross-answers.com/search, type a pattern like C?A?I?MA, and see what comes back. (Answer: CHARISMA — "Compelling Attractiveness Charm" from Planet Earth, Group 1.)