Cruciverbalist

I generally really like this app! It doesn’t have quite as many features as Phil, but since Phil is web-based and I can’t use it on my iPad this is a great alternative. However, there is a bug where every time I try to fill in a square on the bottom half of the grid, the whole grid slides down toward the bottom of the screen behind the keyboard. This isn’t a dealbreaker because when I close the keyboard I can see the whole grid again, but it is really annoying and it would be nice if this could be fixed. Other than that it’s great! UPDATE: the developer was super quick to respond and fix the issue! Changed my rating to 5 stars :)

I wanted an app that would let me construct crosswords on my phone, and this does the trick. It comes with a functional word list preloaded, and the standard sizes. I have only encountered one bug, which is that sometimes the app makes duplicate versions of the puzzle with the same name. I assume it’s linked to the autosave, and it’s better than losing work, but it’s a little tedious to go through and figure out which is the newest version. Obviously it’s not as fully featured as a desktop program, which is fine, but there are two limitations that are real drawbacks. 1. The app only accepts entry-only text files for custom dictionaries, so no custom scored lists or .dict files 2. It can only export as pdfs - no .puz files.

When I had a PC, I had a crossword maker program that actually made newspaper-worthy puzzles. Now I have an iPhone and, thinking this app was like the old program, I got it. There are differences. Before, the game provided CW grids. Now, I have to design the grid and avoid creating layouts with too many short words. Before, the game had thousands of words and clues included. Now, this just has words and I have to come up with clues - a bummer if the only word is one that you don’t know offhand. Before, the game actually assembled the puzzle and made sure all the words fit. Now, after putting a word by hand in the puzzle, it does help you pick out words, but conks out of the letter combo is not in the giga-thousand word list. I gave this four stars rather than less because if you’re like Will Shortz, it won’t sell you short. In the hands of a literary muggle, it’s more of a toy Harry Potter wand than one issued to a Hogwarts grad.