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 set a random identifier in a cookie so the site can remember which clues you have already been dealt, and your solve history is stored against that anonymous 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.

Cookies

We only set cookies that the game cannot run without. The essentials are: a session cookie so you stay signed in, a guest cookie so an anonymous visitor keeps their progress, and a short-lived captcha cookie that makes the login form harder to automate. If footer ads are switched on, Google AdSense may set its own cookies for those ads — they never appear on the solve page. We also load two traffic counters (51.la and Baidu Tongji) after the page has finished loading; they may set their own cookies to count visits.

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 — mail is only used for account activation and sign-in. If ads appear, they sit in the site footer after you have left the clue, never mid-solve.

Analytics

In production we use 51.la and Baidu Tongji to see aggregate page views and referrers. Their scripts are injected only after the page load is idle, so a slow or unreachable Chinese CDN should not block the puzzle. They collect typical web-analytics signals (page URL, referrer, rough device/browser) — not your email or solve answers.

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 guest 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 guest 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.