Puzzazz Crossword & Puzzle 4+

Best UI + Sudoku, KenKen, more

Puzzazz

Designed for iPad

    • 3.9 • 105 Ratings
    • Free
    • Offers In-App Purchases

Screenshots

Description

Puzzazz’s ad-free bookstore has more FREE puzzles than ever, including new daily KenKen® and hand-crafted Sudoku puzzles. Solve the NYT Crossword¹ in the only app that presents the print edition faithfully—NYT editor Will Shortz says it’s the only app which is “able to handle almost any New York Times crossword trick.” Puzzazz’s award-winning TouchWrite™ handwriting recognition makes solving more fun, especially on small screens, the perfect icing for our unique, optimized user experience designed by puzzle lovers for puzzle lovers.

Puzzazz is “snazzy” (says the New York Times), “groundbreaking” (says WIRED), and “TouchWrite is an awesome technology” (says GeekWire). Reviewers think it is “fantastic,” the “best way to do the NYT,” and “Hands down the best crossword puzzle app.”

Browse our selection of more than a hundred ebooks of great hand-crafted puzzles of all types. Try the free puzzles in each ebook and then buy the rest if you like what you’ve solved. Puzzle ebook sales not only benefit our authors, but they allow us to keep the app free and ad-free with high-quality puzzles for everyone.

▶ We’ve got oodles of puzzles

Browse through thousands of puzzles by world-class authors–some of the best you’ll find anywhere—and solve hundreds of free puzzles. Try before you buy because every ebook starts with free puzzles!

From the NYT — Just enter your nytimes.com Crosswords subscription credentials to get started. Puzzles will download automatically each day when they are released.

From the web — Open puzzles directly from the web or email to solve in Puzzazz.

▶ The reviews are stellar

“The people at Puzzazz have been working hard on cultivating quality puzzles and developing TouchWrite, a groundbreaking new technology for doing puzzles on the screen.” —Wired

“Best APP Ever! The TouchWrite technology is perfect, especially when I use it on the phone.” —Jackleroy

“Fantastic puzzle app! Some things are actually better than solving on paper.” —Wendell O

“Best puzzle experience out there! The TouchWrite software alone puts Puzzazz way ahead of the field. I also love the selection of books—something to satisfy all types of puzzlers.” —puzzlefan1001

“Best way to do the NYT!” —derekallen7

“I specifically subscribed to NYT Premium crosswords because this app supports them.” —hightemp

▶ Our experience is optimized for you

Puzzazz is built with an eye toward how you solve puzzles, from our patent-pending TouchWrite handwriting recognition and Bluetooth keyboard support to on-screen keyboards designed specifically for different types of puzzles. Use your Apple Pencil or 3D Touch to quickly switch between “pen” and “pencil” input. If you’re left-handed or color blind, you’ll appreciate that we haven’t ignored you. Plus, Puzzazz supports Split View and Slide Over, allowing you to Google a clue (or watch a movie!) while solving a puzzle.

You can always see the complete puzzle, plus both Across and Down clues at the same time, no matter how you orient your device or which options you choose (like showing Answer Boxes). Puzzazz supports all of the tricks authors and editors like to use, like unusual grids or clues. You’ll appreciate automatic clue and cross-reference highlighting, easy rebus (multiple letter) entry, and the built-in hinting (with smart hinting for cryptics). Take notes on a clue or mark a cell. Time yourself if you want (you can compare your times on the puzzle leaderboards). Rate puzzles you solve and see how your ratings compare with others’.

Puzzazz’s powerful puzzle engine makes it the best app for all types of puzzles, many previously available only on paper, Puzzle types include crosswords, cryptic and variety crosswords, diagramless crosswords, acrostic, cryptogram, word, Sudoku, KenKen, logic, Mentagy, mystery puzzles, and many more. And check out the spectacular Year of Puzzles, Maze of Games, Cryptic All-Stars, and Variety Show.

¹ NYT Crossword subscription required

What’s New

Version 6.2.1

Bug fix release.

6.2: Our popular Free Daily Sudoku puzzles now have a better difficulty ramp up from Monday to the weekend, matching the increasing difficulty of our Free Daily KenKen puzzles. We've improved the puzzle layout on newer iPhones with larger screens, and we adjusted the keyboard layouts to improve usability on all iPhones. We just released some new Sudoku and KenKen books. Check them out! To accommodate more new books, we've reorganized the bookshelf categories slightly.

Ratings and Reviews

3.9 out of 5
105 Ratings

105 Ratings

ChampAmp6V6 ,

Overall great, but I wish it would do something when I win!

Enjoy the user interface and especially touch write with my Apple Pencil, works very well. However, once I finish a crossword, I wish it would play some music or do something visual or both indicate that I won… The New York Times crossword app does this as well and I like it… I like your app that’s amazing volume of puzzles. Just give me a Tada or something when I win lol…. I need that positive reinforcement. Also, is your integration with the New York Times permanently broken?

Keep up the great work… And maybe think about giving me some sort of spinning widgets and cheesy music when I win…😎.

Developer Response ,

There is a tiny bit of music (we kept it super short). Go to settings to turn it on or choose one, or tap on the musical note in the red or green bar.

On the NYT, if you have access to a .puz file of a NYT crossword, you can import it into Puzzazz and solve it. As far as direct downloads go, the NYT stated in 2021 that they were dropping support for the Across Lite app. Despite the fact that we're not the Across Lite app and have nothing to do with that app or the company that created it, they blocked us as well. We wish it wasn't the case.

brucery ,

Great for US and UK store crosswords and more

I enjoy using Puzzazz on a daily basis. First of all, it's a very good app for solving crosswords -- I find it very easy to solve with the user interface, much easier than alternatives. It has handwriting recognition for those who like that, but even my slow typing is better than my bad handwriting. Puzzazz also does a great job with tricky crosswords that use "rebuses" (more than one letter in a square to solve).

Puzzazz lets you solve puzzles that you buy in the app (I highly recommend the UK-style cryptic crosswords from The Nation), it lets you solve your NYT puzzles in Puzzazz (NYT puzzle subscription required), and it even lets you import other .puz file crosswords into the app from independent crossword creators.

For an app that brings a crossworder joy on a daily basis, it's a wonderful bargain and I can't recommend it enough.

PS-reader ,

best crossword solving app

This is the best crossword and other puzzle app, in my opinion. The UI is really good - you can see the clues list and the grid in portrait mode even on a mini iPhone screen! And entering letters is very smooth with keyboard or pencil (or finger). It plays a nice hurrah sound when you finish. The puzzle books are good quality. I just wish it synced progress and/or imported puzzles between devices (could use iCloud???). For that reason, I still use the Standalone Crossword app sometimes, but it is unpleasant. Otherwise, Puzzazz would be 5 stars.

App Privacy

The developer, Puzzazz, indicated that the app’s privacy practices may include handling of data as described below. For more information, see the developer’s privacy policy.

Data Not Linked to You

The following data may be collected but it is not linked to your identity:

  • Purchases
  • Identifiers
  • Usage Data
  • Diagnostics

Privacy practices may vary, for example, based on the features you use or your age. Learn More

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