Privacy policy

The short version

Icqu Cryptic is a free daily cryptic crossword clue. You can play the whole site without an account. If you do sign up, we ask for one thing: an email address. We use it to activate your account and sign you in — we do not sell it.

What we collect

Guests: nothing that identifies you. We assign a random anonymous identifier so the site can remember which clues you have already been dealt, and your solve history is stored against that identifier.

Registered users: your email address, a one-way hashed password, an optional display name, and the avatar you pick. We also store your solve history — which clues you played, whether you won, how many hints you used, and how long it took — because that is what powers streaks, accuracy, and the leaderboard.

Essential cookies

The site sets only cookies it cannot run without: a session cookie so you stay signed in, an anonymous visitor cookie so a guest keeps their progress, a short-lived captcha cookie to make the login form harder to automate, and a short-lived cookie during password reset.

These cookies are our own (first-party), are not used for cross-site tracking, and you can clear them at any time from your browser.

Aggregate traffic analytics

We load privacy-friendly traffic-analytics services after each page has finished loading, to see aggregate page views and referrers. They may set their own cookies or similar technical identifiers to count visits, but they do not receive your email address, solve answers, or any other identifying data from us.

Because their scripts load only after the page is idle, a slow or unreachable CDN never blocks the puzzle from opening.

Advertising

If advertising appears on the site, it sits only in the footer of non-solve pages and is loaded after the clue has already been delivered. Ad providers may set their own cookies to serve relevant ads — we never show ads mid-solve, and we never share your email or solve history with them.

What we do not do

We do not sell or share your personal data with advertisers. We do not email you marketing you did not ask for — email is only used for account activation and sign-in. We do not use the analytics or advertising services to build a cross-site profile of you.

How long we keep it

Solve history is kept so your streak and stats keep working; it is tied to your account or to your guest identifier for as long as that identifier exists. The session cookie expires on its own, and the anonymous identifier is dropped after a few months of inactivity.

Your controls

You can play without registering at all. If you have an account, you can change its email address or request deletion from your account page. After you submit, we complete the deletion within two weeks; you can keep using the account, and you can cancel the request, until then. When we finish, the account and every solve, hint, and deal record tied to it are removed.

Clearing your browser cookies resets the anonymous visitor experience, which also forgets that identifier.

Children

Icqu Cryptic is a word puzzle for a general audience and is not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal data from them.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that affects you, we will update this page and the date below. The site is small, so changes are rare and usually mean doing less, not more.

Contact

Deleting or changing your email is self-serve on your account page — you should not have to ask. If you cannot get in, or you want to ask about this policy or the game, email icquclue@foxmail.com.