Crossly

I only play this with people I know, who agree to use only their minds as a resource. No looking things up on the internet, in books, or asking other friends. The app works well, but starting a match can be a little finicky. We agree to never use peeks, but the stealing mechanic is fun. All of that is overshadowed by the feeling that the puzzles are simply bad. They seem to be programmatically generated from a database of clues and answers. You end up with puzzles that lack cohesion and are often too difficult due to too much esoterica, rather than being difficult due to cleverness. On top of that, the answers can be poorly constructed and often break NYT crossword conventions.

This is simply the only competitive crossword app of its kind, and it does the job splendidly! There are occasional errors and quite a few very hard questions, but that’s why you have two people playing and it makes it truly competitive, no matter your level. There should more people playing this!

App is a lot of fun! I love making crossword puzzles competitive. Interface is beautiful and gameplay is awesome! My only critique is that I really wish the puzzles would have themes to help your brain connect with the clues! Some of the clues can be very broad and a lot of times only include one single word as a clue. If there was a theme to the specific puzzle it would make it fun to complete the entire thing and also make it a little easier to keep a thought track and not have 6 answers to the same clue to guess. Difficulty levels would be nice as well or some sort of rank. :) good app. Look forward to updates and changes