The Proof Desk · Crossclimb
How to solve today’s Crossclimb puzzle — September 11, 2026
duplixo publishes its own free daily Crossclimb — same rules, unlimited practice — alongside the solving method below. This is not the official LinkedIn puzzle, and duplixo is not affiliated with LinkedIn. For the exact daily board, play on LinkedIn; to learn the method or get unlimited practice, you are in the right place.
How to solve today’s Crossclimb
duplixo’s free daily Crossclimb for September 11, 2026 is a medium four-letter ladder. Every word keeps the letter A in the second slot, so the climb turns on its other three letters. Five graduated hints sit below; the worked solution is revealed further down whenever you are ready.
Need a nudge? Five graduated hints
Hint 1 Where to begin Reveal
Solve the clues you are surest of first and pencil them in — the order can wait. Remember the golden rule: from any rung to the next, exactly one letter changes and the word stays four letters long.
Hint 2 A fixed anchor Reveal
Look at the second letter of the answers: it is A in every rung. A letter that barely moves is a strong frame to test your ordering against.
Hint 3 A linked pair Reveal
The rung clued “to grow smaller, as the moon does” and the rung clued “the long hair along a horse neck” differ by a single letter, so they stack directly together.
Hint 4 The two ends Reveal
Of the five rungs, the one clued “goods for sale, as in silver-” belongs at one end of the run and the one clued “a day on the calendar, or a fruit” at the other. Anchor those and the middle falls into line.
Hint 5 The mystery bookends Reveal
The top word is one letter from that first rung — the price of a bus or taxi ride. The bottom word is one letter from the last rung — a valley, especially up north. Set them and the climb is complete.
A worked solution: our daily Crossclimb, solved
Reveal the solved ladder Hide the solved ladder
Today’s Crossclimb ladder, top to bottom: FARE → WARE → WANE → MANE → MATE → DATE → DALE. The ringed letter in each row is the single letter that changes from the row above. The top and bottom rows are the two mystery words that bookend the climb.
How Crossclimb works
Crossclimb is a word ladder. You are given 5 clued rungs, all words of the same length. Solve each clue, then stack the rungs so that every word differs from the one above it by changing exactly one letter — same length, nothing added, removed or rearranged. There is one correct ladder, which reads the same forwards or backwards.
Two extra rows bookend the climb: a top and a bottom mystery word, each one letter different from the rung it touches. They stay hidden until the five rungs are linked, at which point the single changing letter at each end gives them away. A well-formed Crossclimb can be reasoned out entirely from the clues and the one-letter rule — no guessing required.
Today’s board, by difficulty
| Indicator | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Estimated solve rate | 66% |
| Typical solve time | 1:05 |
| Estimated fastest solve | 0:60 |
| Likely to need a hint | 33% |
| Trickiest step | Ordering the WAN run |
| Difficulty vs a typical board | Easier · 41th pct |
How we build this. The Crossclimb board on this page is generated by duplixo and run through our solver to confirm it is valid before it is published. The figures above are modelled difficulty indicators for that board — derived from its structure, not measured from player sessions or taken from the official LinkedIn puzzle.
Why today’s Crossclimb was tricky
| Date | Puzzle | Result |
|---|---|---|
| September 11, 2026 | No. 614 | 66% solvedToday |
| September 10, 2026 | No. 613 | 74% solved |
| September 9, 2026 | No. 612 | 64% solved |
| September 8, 2026 | No. 611 | 76% solved |
| September 7, 2026 | No. 610 | 71% solved |
| September 6, 2026 | No. 609 | 68% solved |
| September 5, 2026 | No. 608 | 73% solved |
| September 4, 2026 | No. 607 | 71% solved |
Crossclimb answer FAQ
Can a Crossclimb have more than one solution?
No. Every daily Crossclimb is built so that the five rungs lock into a single one-letter-change ladder, read top to bottom or bottom to top. We check the chain before publishing — each consecutive pair differs by exactly one letter and the five rungs have only one valid order — so the ladder above is the only answer.
Do the words have to change by exactly one letter each step?
Yes. Every word on the ladder is the same length, and each step changes exactly one letter in place — you never add, remove or rearrange letters. The single letter that changes between two stacked rungs is what links them, and it is ringed in the solved ladder above.
What are the top and bottom words in Crossclimb?
The top and bottom rows are the two mystery words that bookend the ladder. Each is one letter different from the rung it sits beside, so once the five clued rungs are linked in order, the bookends can be reasoned out and revealed to finish the puzzle.
Is this the official LinkedIn Crossclimb board?
No. duplixo publishes its own free Crossclimb board every day, with the same rules and unlimited practice, plus this how-to-solve guide and a worked solution. It is independent of LinkedIn and not affiliated with it. For the exact official daily puzzle, play on LinkedIn; to learn the method or practise without limits, you are in the right place.
Learned the method? Now beat the clock.
The clues today were fair — most solvers had all five rungs filled quickly. The real knot, as ever in Crossclimb, was the ordering: with only one letter changing between neighbours, it is easy to wedge a rung into the wrong seat and stall.
The way through is to treat the two odd-ones-out as anchors: the rung clued “goods for sale, as in silver-” belongs at one end, the rung clued “a day on the calendar, or a fruit” at the other, and the middle threads between them in a single order. Lock the ends first, then the two mystery bookends drop into place. If you spent longer dragging than deducing, you were in good company.