Privacy Policy

Effective: 2026-07-16 · Controller: the operator of ClueKiln · Contact: [email protected]

We collect little, and we'd rather explain it plainly than bury it. We do not sell your data.

What we collect

Your account. Sign-in is handled by our provider, who holds your email address. We store an account identifier, your display name, your time zone (so "today's puzzle" means your today), and whether you've opted in to being named on public leaderboards.

Your play. Which puzzles you opened and when; your solve times, outcomes, and whether you used the in-app assists; the puzzles you liked.

How you solved. We record the sequence of moves you make while solving — the marks you place, undo, and check, and their timing. This is what lets you watch your own solve back, and it is how we tell a real solve from a scripted one. It covers only your interaction with the puzzle itself.

Your country and language. We record the country your connection comes from (our hosting provider tells us this; we never see or store your IP address) and the language your browser asks for (the Accept-Language it sends to every website anyway).

We use these for one thing: deciding which languages to translate ClueKiln into. We keep only the current value for each — one country, one language, overwritten whenever it changes. There is no location history, and nothing here can be used to work out where you have been.

We do not run advertising trackers, third-party analytics, or fingerprinting, and we do not collect your location beyond your country and the coarse time zone your browser reports.

Fair-play checks, and your right to a human

We check submitted solves automatically. If a solve's timing looks machine-made, it is set aside: it doesn't count towards leaderboards, embers or your stats.

You will be told, and you can contest it. Solves that have been set aside appear in your stats with a button to ask for a review. A person then looks at the solve — including the recorded moves, which is the evidence that distinguishes an honest solve from an automated one — and either reinstates it or explains why not. You get the outcome and the reason.

Where the law gives you a right to human review of an automated decision (including GDPR Article 22), this is how you exercise it. You can also write to [email protected].

Repeated confirmed cheating can remove a player from the leaderboards for a period. It does not stop them playing, and it can be appealed.

Why we're allowed to hold it (GDPR/UK GDPR)

Public ranking is the only thing we ask consent for. Turn it off and your name disappears from public boards immediately, including from past ones.

Advertising and affiliate links

There are no ads today. In future we may carry affiliate links (for example, to puzzle books at online retailers) or advertising to support the site. If we do:

• we will say so here before it starts;
• anything that is not strictly necessary will ask your consent first, properly, with a real choice;
• we will not sell your personal data.

How long we keep it

Your solves and history stay while your account exists — the archive is meant to be permanent. Delete your account and we delete your profile, solves and likes; figures that identify nobody (a puzzle's solve rate) remain.

Your rights

Access, correction, deletion, portability, objection, withdrawal of consent, human review of an automated decision, and complaint to your supervisory authority. Write to [email protected].

Children

ClueKiln is not for under-13s. If we learn we hold a younger child's data, we delete it.

Where data lives

Our hosting and sign-in providers may process data outside your country; where required, transfers rely on the safeguards the law requires for them.

Changes

If we change this in a way that matters, we'll say so on the site.