Free Crossword Puzzle Maker

In this fast, high-tech world we live in, it’s surprising that people still care about crossword puzzles. But people do, and many are even willing to invest in something that stimulates the brain in a way that watching TV never could. The appeal of crosswords is universal, and they are not just for retired people looking for a hobby. Crossword puzzles are great for teaching your kids vocabulary and spelling. For the rest of the population, crosswords help to keep the brain sharp.

Anyone who’s ever tried completing the New York Times crossword puzzle can say that it is fun but also frustrating. Match challenge to ability by creating your very own crossword puzzles. You can make your own either manually (hard) or using very handy tools found on the web (easy and fast). Later in this article we’ll take a look at some of the many free crossword puzzle maker found on the internet.

What are Crossword Puzzles?

Crossword puzzles are word puzzles. They are made up of letters that when combined together in a specific pattern form words and phrases. Unlike Scrabble, however, you cannot make up words on the fly. The words are already there, you just have to figure out what they are. The words/phrases are answers to clues and questions that come with the puzzle.

The first crossword puzzle that incorporated features we know today was published in the New York World newspaper by British journalist Arthur Wynne in 1913. The puzzles spread to other newspapers and became so popular that in the 1920s, the New York Public Library complained about puzzle fans hogging library resources.

In general, crossword puzzles are arranged in a rectangular grid made of white and colored squares. Words are usually arranged from left to right and top to bottom. The colored squares essentially serve as grid and word divisions. Players must fill all the white squares with letters to form words/phrases. Often, white squares are numbered to signify that the word begins in that cell.

To solve the puzzle, you will need to crack a set of clues and questions. Clues often tell you the number of words, the number of letters and the word direction, like coordinates on a map. For example, “5-Across” means the word begins at cell number 5 in a horizontal direction. On the other hand, “5-Down” means the word begins at cell number 5 in a vertical direction. If you are interested in our free crossword puzzle maker program, trying it won’t cost you a dime.

Types of Crossword Puzzles

Acrostic puzzles
Acrostic puzzles are made of clues and answers. But instead of just answering questions and fitting words on the grid, the solver needs to crack the primary text or quotation. The text is represented by numbered blanks and spaces.

Arroword
The Arroword is also called the Scandinavian Crossword. It’s a unique crossword variant that contains arrows inside the grid. It also does not have as many colored squares as the standard crossword puzzle.

Cipher Crosswords
Cipher crosswords resemble code breaking more than traditional question-answering crosswords. Clues for each cell are given, instead of clues for a full word. If you are an expert cryptographer, solving cipher crosswords will be easy for you. This is one of many puzzle types you can create using our free online crossword puzzle maker software.

Crossnumbers
There are word puzzles and there are number puzzles. Instead of words, crossnumber or cross-figure puzzles use numbers. Crossnumbers make use of general and mathematical clues to which the answers are always numbers. Create this type of puzzle and print them out using free printable crossword puzzle maker on our website.

Crusadex
Crusadex or Cruzadex is also known as fill-in crosswords. It is composed of a grid and a list of words. Unlike regular crosswords, there are no clues as to where the words go into the grid. The goal is to fit together all the words on the list so they make sense.

Diagramless
Diagramless crosswords are also known as skeleton or carte blanche (white card) crosswords in the United Kingdom. The colored squares and numbered cells are often missing, adding to the challenge. To solve the puzzle, the solver needs to answer the questions/clues as well as fit the words together so that white cells and colored cells conform to the preset pattern.

Where to Get a Free Crossword Puzzle Maker

There are many websites offering free crossword puzzle maker to make your own crossword puzzle. Most are free, but some are commercial and contain additional features. Whatever program you use, creativity is the key to making a great crossword puzzle.

Discovery Education’s PuzzleMaker
Discovery’s PuzzleMaker is a puzzle generation tool that creates custom word lists, word searches, crisscross puzzles, mazes, letter tiles, cryptograms and math puzzles online or for printing. It is available online for free, but you can also purchase a CD ROM for use at home or in the classroom. The PuzzleMaker grid can measure up to 40 x 40 square.

Free Crossword Puzzle Maker
This crossword puzzle website is as simple as you can get. For an instant crossword puzzle, just type in the words you want (one per line) in the box provided and press “Create Puzzle.” If you want to customize the grid, click the down arrow to enter the number of columns and rows you want in the boxes to make your own crossword puzzle.

Other Places to Try Free Crossword Puzzle Maker

Edhelper.com
Edhelper requires you to register as a member to be able to use their puzzle creation program. Like similar free crossword puzzle maker, you must enter the words, clues and directions in the appropriate boxes. If you don’t want to start from scratch, you can use the vocabulary tool to pick words and clues. You can also select more than one puzzle type as the end result.

EclipseCrossword.com
EclipseCrossword is a download-and-install free crossword puzzle maker, so you won’t be able to use it online. It is simple and fast to use, however. Just enter a list of words and clues, and the program does the rest. EclipseCrossword boasts four million downloads from its website.

Armoredpenguin.com
Armoredpenguin helps you create more varied crossword puzzles with different difficulty levels. The site has many options for customizing your puzzle. You can make puzzles harder by using the alternate input form and creating words that are misspelled. With this free crossword puzzle maker you can also set the puzzle color and background color, HTML font style, font size, grid lines, aspect ratio and puzzle format. Larger and more complicated puzzles can take some time to generate, however.

The crossword puzzles we know today have been around since 1913. Arthur Wynne, a British journalist, published the first ever crossword puzzle (then called word-cross) in the Christmas edition of the New York World on December 21. The New York Times crossword was not born until 1942, however. In fact, the publication once derisively called [...]

The enduring crossword puzzle continues to charm and challenge up to this day. Originally called word-cross, the crossword puzzle we know today was first created by British journalist Arthur Wynne in 1914. It appeared in the Christmas edition of the New York World newspaper and was published on December 21. The crossword quickly spread to [...]

Since Arthur Wynne first published the word-cross in 1914, the puzzle name has been changed to “crossword” and people all over the world have created different versions. Wynne himself even experimented with a circular puzzle before settling on the rectangular grid format we know today. Solving crossword puzzles is fun, but nothing beats making your [...]

Crossword puzzles can seem like word games from a forgotten age, gathering dust in a closet stuffed with Cluedo and Scrabble. Surprisingly, a lot of people are still devoted to solving crosswords, and many of these people are not even baby boomers. Many educators teach children spelling and vocabulary using crosswords. Others use crosswords puzzles [...]