Crossings

A new Crossings trip every day

Everyone gets the same two countries each day, and a new pair arrives at midnight your time. Monday and Tuesday are easy, with two or three well-known countries between the ends. Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday are medium, and Friday and Saturday are the longest trips of the week.

You get one try a day: run out of guesses and the day's game, and your streak, are over. If you're stuck, you can give up and see the way through, and that ends the day's game too.

Link the ends on consecutive days to build a streak, then share your result. A shared result shows how many guesses you took and a square for each, never the countries.

How to play Crossings

1. You get two countries, shown on the map. Your job is to travel from one to the other overland.
2. Name the countries in between, one at a time, in any order. Each one you name appears on the map in its color.
3. You win as soon as the countries you've named link the two ends, border to border. Any route counts, not just the shortest.
4. You have a few guesses more than the shortest route needs. Run out before the two are linked, or give up, and the map shows a way through.

What the colors mean

• Green ✓: the country is on a shortest route that's still open. One fewer country to go.
• Amber ~: it's one country out of the way. A route through it is one longer than the shortest.
• Red ✕: further off, or no route goes through it at all, like an island.

Each color is judged by the guesses before it, so a country that was off the way can turn useful once you've named the ones around it.

What counts as a border

Borders are the ones countries control on the ground today. A few crossings count as land: the Channel Tunnel (United Kingdom to France), the Øresund Bridge (Denmark to Sweden), and the causeways to Bahrain and Singapore. Territories such as French Guiana, Gibraltar and Hong Kong count as countries, with borders of their own, so French Guiana borders Brazil but France doesn't. Small enclaves don't make shortcuts: Spain doesn't border Morocco through Ceuta. Kosovo, Palestine, Taiwan and Western Sahara are countries of their own here. That's a choice for the game, not a statement about any claim.

Tips

• Start from the ends. Name a neighbor of each end, then work toward the middle.
• Watch for water. The straightest line isn't always the way: a sea or a gulf can mean going round.
• Big countries are shortcuts. Russia, China and Brazil border a lot of countries, so a route through one is often shorter than it looks.
• Type a few letters. The list finds countries by any part of their name, and by other names like UK, Ivory Coast or Holland.