Two Numbers, Two Questions
As you solve on Klew, the app keeps two scores, and they answer two different questions.
- Points answer how much have you played, and how well. They only ever go up. This is your "kept showing up" number.
- Skill rating answers how good a solver are you. It can move up or down, and it is comparable from one solver to the next no matter how much each of you plays.
You earn both on the same solve. They just measure different things.
How Points Work
Every solve earns points. A few things decide how many:
- Size and difficulty. Bigger, harder grids are worth more. A 5x5 mini is worth about ten points; a 13x13 Sunday weekly is worth roughly ten times that. A tougher puzzle of a given size is worth more than an easy one.
- Speed. Beat the puzzle's par time and you earn a speed bonus. The further under par, the bigger the bonus.
- A clean solve. Finishing with no Check and no Reveal is worth a little extra.
- Your streak. Keep solving day after day and every solve earns a small bonus that grows the longer the streak runs, up to a cap.
Used Check or Reveal? The solve still counts and still earns points, just at a reduced rate, with no speed or clean bonus.
Points never decrease. A fast mini always pays out in points, even on a day it leaves your rating where it was.
How the Skill Rating Works
The skill rating is the competitive number. It works like a chess rating (an Elo rating, if you have heard the term), with one twist: you play against puzzles, and the result of each game is your time.
Every puzzle has a rating
Each graded puzzle gets a rating from its difficulty, on a scale from 800 to 2400. In practice the size does most of the work: today's minis sit around 1050, 9x9s around 1350, 11x11s around 1500, and 13x13s around 1600.
Your result is your time against par
Every graded puzzle also has a par time, the time a solid solver should take. Minis usually have a par around 30 seconds, 9x9s about two minutes, 11x11s about three, and 13x13s about five.
Your result on a solve is a score from 0 to 1, based on how your time compares with par:
- 4x faster than par, or faster: 1.00
- 2x faster than par: 0.75
- Right at par: 0.50
- 2x slower than par: 0.25
- 4x slower than par, or slower: 0.00
Each doubling of speed adds a quarter point. The score tops out at 1, so a solve can't count for more than "four times faster than par."
Your rating sets the bar
Before the solve, the gap between your rating and the puzzle's rating sets an expected score. Against a puzzle rated the same as you, the bar is 0.50, a par solve. Against a puzzle rated well below you, the bar is high: Elo expects you to crush it. Against a puzzle rated above you, the bar is low.
After a clean solve, your rating moves by the difference between your score and that bar:
- Beat the bar, and you climb. The further you beat it, the more you climb.
- Finish at or under par but short of the bar, and your rating holds. You will see +0.
- Finish slower than par, and you slip a little. More on that below.
The size of each move is set by a factor called K. It is 64 for your first ten rated solves and 24 after that, so one solve can move a settled rating by at most 24 points.
Why a Fast Mini Can Show +0
This is the part that surprises strong solvers, so here it is plainly.
A mini is rated around 1050. If your rating is 1500, Elo expects you to beat that mini by a lot: the bar is about 0.94. To move up even one point, you need a time roughly 3.6x faster than par. On a mini with a 28 second par, that is under about 7.7 seconds. A 12 second solve is excellent, and it is still short of that bar, so your rating holds at +0.
The higher your rating, the closer the bar gets to the score's ceiling of 1.00. Past roughly 1300, a mini needs a near-record time to move you up, and higher still, no time can. The bigger grids are different: they are rated closer to you, so a good time beats the bar and you climb. At a high rating, the 11x11 and the Sunday 13x13 are where your rating grows.
When this happens, the finish screen tells you. After a held or small move, it shows the time that would have moved you up on that puzzle, for example: Held. At your level, minis move you up under 0:07. If no possible time would do it, it says so, and points you to the bigger grids.
Where Losses Come From
Since June 23, 2026, a solve at or under par never lowers your rating, no matter how far above the puzzle you are rated. Before that date, a strong solver could lose a point or two on a quick mini that was not quite quick enough. That was not fair, so we changed it and recalculated everyone's rating from their full history.
Losses now come from one place: finishing slower than par. The slip depends on how much slower you were, not on your rating, and it is the same on every size. For a settled rating:
- At or under par: never negative
- 25% slower than par: about -2
- 50% slower than par: about -3 or -4
- Twice par: -6
- Four times par or slower: -12, the most a settled rating can lose on one solve
So the line that matters for holding your rating is par. Beat it and you are safe. Beating the bar is what moves you up.
The Fine Print
- Only clean solves move your rating. Use Check or Reveal and your points still grow, but your rating holds steady. Easy mode (letters that turn red as you type) counts as clean.
- Each puzzle counts once. Re-solving a puzzle does not change your rating again.
- Only graded puzzles count. A puzzle needs a difficulty and a par time to be rated. Some constructor puzzles don't have them yet, and solving those leaves your rating as it is.
- Very short times don't count. Solves under 3 seconds are not rated.
Provisional, Then Settled
Everyone starts at 1000, marked provisional. For your first ten rated solves your rating moves in big steps, so it can find your real level quickly. After ten, it settles and changes in smaller, steadier amounts. You will see "provisional" next to your rating until then.
The Tiers
Your rating maps to a named tier, so you always know what you are climbing toward:
- Novice: below 1000
- Solver: 1000 and up
- Regular: 1300 and up
- Sharp: 1600 and up
- Expert: 1900 and up
- Cruciverbalist: 2200 and up
Where to See Them
- On your profile and stats page: your lifetime points, your rating, and your tier.
- After a clean solve: the finish screen shows the points you earned, how your rating moved, and, when it held, the time that would have moved it.
- On the leaderboards: per-puzzle solve times, and global Standings that rank solvers by rating.
The Short Version
- Want points? Show up every day, go for clean solves, and climb the size ladder.
- Want rating? Solve clean and stay under par so you never slip. To climb, take on the bigger grids, where your rating has room to grow.
Two numbers, one habit: solve today's puzzles, and watch both of them tell the story of how you are getting better.
Klew is built in Charleston, South Carolina, for solvers who care about a clean grid.