Favorite Word Puzzles

We need some absorbing pastimes. These are word games, that don't require subscriptions and are available online.

• Fill-Ins is from the Washington Post games collection, and basically, you are presented with an empty American-style crossword puzzle grid, and a drop-down list of available entries (no clues). The puzzles get more difficult through the week: the earliest in the week you are given two different letters and you must place the rest, to make words. Moderate difficulty puzzles have one or no letters provided: if there are no letters, you have to look for the longest word, and the most difficult are those with no long entries. Absorbing!!

• CodeWord, another WaPo game, is an empty British-style grid that uses all 24 letters, and your job is to put the letters in to make words. The game provides one or two letters in advance, and you use those to identify words, rather like a cryptoquote. It's a toughie!