Crosswords

Crosswords is an HTML5 application that lets you enjoy crossword puzzles from a number of online sources. It can also load puzzles in the popular Across Lite .PUZ format. Crosswords was originally written for Ubuntu, but it should work on any platform with a modern browser.

Features

Lets you play puzzles from the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Independent, and others.

Loads puzzles in the Across Lite .PUZ format.

Checks your answers, provides hints, or shows the solution when you get stuck.

Saves your progress.

Adaptive layout adjusts to screen size.

Panable and zoomable grid helps you see puzzle on small screens.

Keyboard navigation of grid for desktop use.

Running It

As an HTML5 application, Crosswords should run just about everywhere. The best way to get it depends on how you will be using it.

On Ubuntu Touch devices

Crosswords is available through the official app store. Touch here on your Ubuntu device to view and install it from the app store scope.

On Android devices

You should be able to install this APK on any relatively recent version of Android. If you have problems, please let us know.

On the desktop

Download and extract this tar file to a location of your choosing. The included crosswords script will open a window with the app loaded. This script requires Python, GTK, and WebKitGTK.

Alternatively, you can just open www/index.html in your favorite browser. Note that some of the puzzles will not be able to be downloaded due to cross-origin restrictions. You may be able to work around these by adjusting your browser’s settings.

On the web

You can try Crosswords right away in your browser—just click here. I’ve trimmed the source list down to those that will work under the cross-origin scripting restrictions in a web environment. To get the rest, you’ve got to download it yourself.

For development

Crosswords is being developed on Github, so the easiest way to get it on your computer is to clone the git repository:

git clone https://github.com/rschroll/crosswords.git

If you’re not a git person, you can download Crosswords as a zip file.

Crosswords is built with the Riot Javascript library, and it requires the Riot compiler. For more details, see the README.

Reporting Bugs

Bugs are tracked on the Github issues page. Don’t be shy—I enjoy getting bug reports. It’s the best way for me to know that people are using my software.

License

Crosswords is copyright 2014-2015 by Robert Schroll and others. It is released under the GPL.