FIRSTS: a mini crossword built for swiping
Word-game news · Nov 2026
On 3 November 2026, UK independent studio Bleppo Games announced FIRSTS, a new mini crossword designed from the start for phones and browsers. It launches on iOS, Android and web browsers on 26 November 2026. The headline idea is simple: solve crossword-style clues by stringing letters together in a hexagonal grid, swiping or tapping instead of typing into a traditional grid.
What FIRSTS actually is
FIRSTS is a daily mini crossword, but the board does not look like a newspaper grid. Answers are built by joining letters in a hexagonal grid. When an answer is solved, its letter tiles fall away, so later clues are worked from a smaller set of letters. The first letter of each answer sits on a blue tile, giving players a starting point without giving the answer away — and giving the game its name.
Why the swipe matters
Most crosswords on a phone are a paper format squeezed onto a small screen: tap a square, bring up a keyboard, type, repeat. FIRSTS is built the other way round. Swiping or tapping through letters keeps the puzzle in one view and keeps the pace closer to a quick daily game than to a long sit-down crossword. For players who like Wordle-style daily rounds, that shorter, phone-first shape is the point — a crossword you can finish in a spare few minutes, not a puzzle that needs a desk.
Hand-written, not generated
Bleppo Games says every daily puzzle is written, debated and edited by its two co-founders, Samuel Johnston and Mark Wainwright, with no generative AI involved. That matters for a crossword more than for most word games: a clue is only fair if a human has judged how it will read to another human. The studio's earlier daily games, Word Salad and Number Salad, built their audience the same way — Word Salad alone is reported to have reached around 100 million views on TikTok — so the human-authored angle is also the studio's track record, not just a launch claim.
What to play while you wait
FIRSTS does not arrive until 26 November, but the skills it rewards — spotting a word from a few letters, working from a first letter, and clearing a board piece by piece — are easy to practise here. Try the letter wheel in Wordscapes, where swiping letters fills a crossword above the wheel, or take on all four boards in Play Quordle, where every guess has to serve four words at once. Both are free, in your browser, with no account needed.
Frequently asked questions
When does FIRSTS launch? 26 November 2026, on iOS, Android and web browsers, according to the announcement.
Is FIRSTS a Wordle Find game? No. FIRSTS is Bleppo Games' game. Wordle Find is independent and unaffiliated with Bleppo Games.
Do I need to type answers? No — the announced design uses swiping or tapping letters in a hexagonal grid instead of typing into a grid.
Keep reading
Source: Capsule Computers, “Classic Crossword Modern Makeover — Creators of Hit Game ‘Word Salad’ Announce ‘FIRSTS’”, published 3 November 2026: capsulecomputers.com.au
Wordle Find is independent and unaffiliated with Bleppo Games. FIRSTS is Bleppo Games' title, and no daily official answers are published here.