The show was created by its namesake, Merv Griffin, who died shortly after beginning production on the series.
The answer boxes denoting the number of letters in a word was shown with a crossword clue and a dollar value.
If the contestant misspelled the word, did not come up with the correct solution, or failed to give an answer, the amount of the clue was deducted from their score.
If a spoiler gave a correct solution to the clue, he/she immediately traded places with one of the front row players.
The player standing at the front row podium with the highest money total when time ran out at the end of Round 3, regardless of whether his/her score was positive or negative (the latter occurred once during the show's run), won the game and whatever money was in the podium, and advanced to the bonus round.
In the event of a tie, one final tiebreaker clue was played to determine the winner with all players and spoilers involved; the first to solve it correctly won the game.
In several episodes (five of which aired in double-run markets in late September 2007), there were alternate "Crossword Extra" rules.
Beginning with the episode aired November 1, 2007, the Getaways were eliminated, and additional Extras were added (based on the original format).
In the closing round, the winning contestant attempted to fill in the remaining spaces of the show's crossword puzzle within ninety seconds.
The contestant received a Croton watch in the event he/she won the main game with no money and lost the Bonus Round.
Crosswords was sold to approximately 100+ markets and aired during the 2007-2008 season, usually placed in mid-morning or early afternoon slots.
In addition, the series was either packaged with other game shows such as Temptation (a one-season revival of Sale of the Century) in some markets while others aired an hour-long block (two episodes).
The show's earlier episodes, with a top payout of just over $4,000, were on par with Game Show Network's earlier original programs (through 2002) – although these increased to a more respectable $10,000 range by the end of the run; despite the low clue amounts, some contestants won five-figure sums in the main game alone (for example, contestant Bruce Haights, an executive assistant from Indiana, won $11,550 and two trips in his podium).
In the markets that aired Crosswords (plus some that did not carry the series, including West Palm Beach, Florida CBS affiliate WPEC; sister station WFLX had carried Season 1), stations were given a choice of three programs to air as part of a Program Partners "Daytime Plus" package.
The other two choices were reruns of Style by Jury, a Canadian makeover series, and Inside the Box, a pop-culture based game show that had run for one season in 2006.
[1] Most of the stations carrying Crosswords immediately dropped the series after the hiatus was announced, including the two largest markets of New York and Los Angeles.
Crosswords was officially considered cancelled in February 2009, and around the same time the "Daytime Plus" experiment ended when Program Partners pulled Inside the Box from its affiliates.