Cookie Policy
Last updated: 10 September 2026
The short version: one value to remember your choice, Google Analytics only if you say yes, and marketing cookies only if you say yes to those separately. You can change either at any time.
1.What Cookies Are
Cookies are small text files a website stores in your browser, and “local storage” is the browser’s equivalent for slightly larger values. Under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations 2003, anything that is not strictly necessary for the site to work needs your consent before it is set. This page lists everything we use, by category, and how to change your mind.
2.Your Choices
When you first visit, a banner offers three options: Accept all, Essential only, or Manage to switch analytics and marketing on or off separately. Nothing optional is set until you choose. Declining is as easy as accepting, and pressing Escape counts as “essential only”.
You can change your choices at any time with the button below or the “Cookie settings” link in the footer of every page. Withdrawing consent removes the cookies that were set while it was in place.
If your browser sends a Global Privacy Control or Do Not Track signal, we treat that as “essential only” and never show the banner at all. You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings without affecting anything on this Site.
3.Essential (Always On)
These are needed for the Site to work and do not require consent.
| Name | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|
wrf-consent (local storage) | Remembers which cookie categories you accepted or declined, and when. | Until you clear your browser data or change your choice |
__session | Set when you open the crossword: a random identifier with nothing personal in it, so your half finished grid and the puzzles you have completed can be found again on your next visit. For our own staff the same cookie also carries their sign-in to the site’s admin area; for everyone else it holds only the crossword identifier. | One year |
wrf-crossword:* (local storage) | A copy of your crossword letters in your own browser, so a page refresh loses nothing. | Until the puzzle is finished or you clear your browser data |
The Site sets no other first-party cookies. There are no login cookies for visitors: the crossword identifier carries no account and no personal details.
4.Analytics (Optional)
If you accept analytics, we load Google Analytics 4 to count page views and see which pages people find useful. Google signals and advertising personalisation are switched off, and we strip query strings from the page addresses it reports so that nothing personal reaches Google. If you decline, the Google script is never requested.
| Name | Set by | Purpose | Duration |
|---|---|---|---|
_ga | Google Analytics | Distinguishes one browser from another with a random identifier | 2 years |
_ga_<id> | Google Analytics | Keeps the session state for the current visit | 2 years |
Google’s own description of how it uses data from sites like ours is at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites.
5.Marketing (Optional)
Marketing cookies let us measure whether our advertising on other platforms brings people here, and show our content to people who have visited before. They are set only if you accept the marketing category.
No marketing pixels are in use at the moment. When we add one, for example from LinkedIn or Google Ads, we will list it here with its cookies and duration before it goes live, and your existing choice will continue to apply.
6.What We Do Not Use
- No cookies of any kind for people who choose “essential only”, beyond the one that remembers that choice.
- No email open or click tracking.
- No fingerprinting or other cookie-less tracking techniques.
- No sale of data to anyone, ever.
7.More Information
How we handle personal data more generally is in the privacy policy. Questions go to hello@whiterabbitfoundry.com.