Crossword Challenger Answers — 2018
104 puzzles published in 2018.
Every Puzzle Page Crossword Challenger answer published during 2018 — 104 solved grids in total. Each date below opens the completed board for that day, together with every answer word the grid contains.
This is one year of the full Crossword Challenger archive, which runs from 2018-01-06 to 2026-08-30. You can also browse all 20 Puzzle Page games.
2018 Crossword Challenger Answers
How Puzzle Page Crossword Challenger Works
The hardest crossword tier in Puzzle Page. Larger grids, more cryptic phrasing and fewer gimme clues than the daily crossword.
Tips for Puzzle Page Crossword Challenger
- 1
Do a first pass and only write in what you are certain of — guessing early is costlier here because corrections cascade.
- 2
Challenger leans on general knowledge: place names, historical figures and older vocabulary appear more often.
- 3
When a clue reads oddly, suspect wordplay rather than a definition.
- 4
Leave long entries until their crossings are in. The extra grid size means more crossings to exploit.
- 5
Challenger grids run larger with fewer black squares, so a wrong answer propagates further. Confirm a long entry on two crossings before committing it.
- 6
Scan for entries with a strong pattern — a Q, an X, or a double letter — and anchor the grid on those before filling the open middle.
Puzzle Page Crossword Challenger Facts
| Puzzle type | Crossword Challenger |
|---|---|
| Year | 2018 |
| Puzzles this year | 104 |
| Full archive | 1,269 puzzles |
Puzzle Page Crossword Challenger Questions
Why can I not finish Challenger when I finish the daily crossword?
Are Challenger answers verified the same way?
How many Crossword Challenger answers are in this archive?
How much harder is Challenger than the daily Crossword?
Do Challenger and the standard Crossword share answers?
Why does one date show more than one puzzle of this type?
3 Tips for Puzzle Page
The board is the whole puzzle
Every answer is built from what the level actually shows you and nothing else. Counting that first rules out most of what comes to mind, which is quicker than trying words and being rejected.
Place the longest answer first
Long answers use up the awkward letters and leave a set that spells the short ones out for you. Starting long is consistently faster than sweeping for three-letter words.
Neighbouring levels are the best hint
Difficulty climbs gradually rather than in jumps, so the levels either side of a hard one reuse its patterns. They are more useful than any hint the game sells you.
How to Solve a Puzzle Page Level
The order that clears a board fastest.
Read what you are given
Letters, tiles or clues — count them before you start. That constraint is the strongest filter you have.
Anchor with the answers you are sure of
Each confirmed answer narrows the ones it touches, so the easy entries are worth the first minute.
Work outwards
Follow the chain from what you have placed rather than jumping around the board.
Verified Answers, Not Guesses
How we verify these answers
Every answer on this page is read from the game's own puzzle data rather than retyped from another site, and is checked against what the board actually provides — so nothing listed can use a letter the level does not give you. The counts shown are computed from the stored data, not typed in by hand.
Reviewed by Priya Raghunathan, Word Games Editor at Puzzle Solved. The full checking routine is in the methodology, and the standards every page is held to are in the editorial policy.
Last checked — Aug 25, 2026