DecodeCross Studio
A crossword search puzzle with a hidden message decoder. Players find the words, extract one letter from each, and reveal a secret phrase. Three layers of puzzle solving on a single beautiful page.
How to Play — DecodeCross
EXAMPLE PUZZLE
The example image couldn't load. Read the steps on the right.
This is a real DecodeCross puzzle on the sports theme. Follow the walkthrough on the right to solve it.
Let's solve this puzzle together
This puzzle hides a secret message inside a crossword. Don't worry, it's easier than it looks. We'll walk through it one piece at a time, like solving it with a friend.
1
Look at the word list
Under the crossword you'll see 20 words: SCOREBOARD, TOURNAMENT, SWIMMING, MEDALIST, OLYMPICS, RECORD, RELAY, and more.
Some words have a dark circle with a number on the left and a tiny "pos N" label on the right. Only those words will help you decode the message. The other words (with empty dotted circles) are just there to fill out the crossword. Ignore them for now.
2
Pull one letter from each numbered word
For each numbered word, look at its "pos N" label and count from the left to find that letter. Let's do all nine together:
Word 1 SCOREBOARD, pos 8 → S-C-O-R-E-B-O-A-R-D = A
Word 2 TOURNAMENT, pos 10 → T-O-U-R-N-A-M-E-N-T = T
Word 3 ENDURANCE, pos 2 → E-N-D-U-R-A-N-C-E = N
Word 4 OLYMPICS, pos 5 → O-L-Y-M-P-I-C-S = P
Word 6 TEAMWORK, pos 5 → T-E-A-M-W-O-R-K = W
Word 8 SWIMMING, pos 3 → S-W-I-M-M-I-N-G = I
Word 9 MEDALIST, pos 5 → M-E-D-A-L-I-S-T = L
Word 17 RECORD, pos 4 → R-E-C-O-R-D = O
Word 19 RELAY, pos 5 → R-E-L-A-Y = Y
You now have these letters: A, T, N, P, W, I, L, O, Y. They look scrambled, but that's fine — the decode box will put them in the right order.
3
Drop the letters into the decode box
At the bottom of the page is the Hidden Message Decoder with 9 empty boxes. Under each box is a tiny number — that's a word number. It tells you which word's letter goes in that box.
The first box already shows a P as a hint. The numbers under the row, reading left to right, are: 4, 9, 1, 19, 2, 17, 6, 8, 3. Let's fill in every box:
Box 1 → word 4 (OLYMPICS pos 5) = P
Box 2 → word 9 (MEDALIST pos 5) = L
Box 3 → word 1 (SCOREBOARD pos 8) = A
Box 4 → word 19 (RELAY pos 5) = Y
Box 5 → word 2 (TOURNAMENT pos 10) = T
Box 6 → word 17 (RECORD pos 4) = O
Box 7 → word 6 (TEAMWORK pos 5) = W
Box 8 → word 8 (SWIMMING pos 3) = I
Box 9 → word 3 (ENDURANCE pos 2) = N
Read the boxes left to right
P L A Y T O W I N
🎉 The hidden message is PLAY TO WIN
⭐ Easy vs Hard mode
Easy mode shows the "pos N" labels so the solver knows exactly which letter to pull from each word. Hard mode hides those labels — the solver has to figure it out themselves by looking at the highlighted intersection cells in the grid. Switch modes anytime in the Difficulty panel on the left.
🎯 Why this puzzle is special
Most word search books give you one thing to do. DecodeCross gives you three layers: find the words, pull out the letters, decode the message. That means your customers feel they get way more value per page than a normal puzzle book.