Puzzazz Crossword & Puzzle App Reviews

If you buy you’re subscribing to them sending exhortations to vote for their candidates. Only company I’ve seen do that. I voted for the candidate they want but hate the idea that companies are going to start sending us political emails. So I deleted this app, unsubscribed from their emails and switched to black ink. It works just as well and is politics free

I generally liked the app. Used it daily. Then I got a vile political e-mail from the app with partisan puzzles. Not how I like to relax at the end of the day. App deleted.

Took me long time to figure out cryptic crosswords, but this app is sooo much fun and highly recommended!! The authors are amazing and really write such quality puzzles!! Like nothing I’ve ever experienced!!! Five stars!! Looking forward to the pleasure and fun this app gives!! Great work!!!!

I've set the writing speed to slow, I've read the docs on how I should write the letters (which is a HUGE strike against the app - I have to write letters a specific way?) and it simply doesn't work. No matter what I do, chances are if I need a straight line anywhere in the letter, it's gonna show up as an "I" and if I need something round, it's gonna be either an "O" or an "S". Apps like GoodNotes allow you to lift your pencil from the "page" - ie: normal writing - so it's certainly possible from a technical standpoint. Why we're stuck with something like TouchWrite that simply does not work is beyond me. If the devs want to address this or point out what I might be doing wrong, I'll consider revising my rating but as it stands, the app is literally unusable with an Apple Pencil.

I am glad I can do puzzles daily in retirement. This is budget friendly for me.

Not sure if the issue below was ever addressed - I gave up on that. But I’m increasing my rating anyway because I’ve enjoyed the diagramless puzzles. New issue: Free Daily Sudoku has been broken for several days. Prior comments: I loved this app until I began trying to open many of the puz files I've collected over the years. It imposes limits on what files you can open. No NYT before 2013, and apparently no WSJ at all? I guess I just have to wonder every time I go to open a puzzle whether Puzzazz will accept it.

Puzzazz remains the app of choice for downloaded crosswords. Unfortunately, the NY Times no longer allows their puzzles to be downloaded to Puzzazz, so the app description is outdated in that respect. Plenty of other constructors download in .puz format, so there is more than enough to work on. My only gripe with the app itself is that it doesn't sync across devices. If they could solve that, this would be a 5-star review. Come on guys, it can't be that hard!

Puzzazz is great for doing cryptic crosswords on. I’ve never encountered a bug on the app. It’s super easy to browse and buy more puzzles. User interface is easy to figure out, and the layout is great. My only request: can we have a dark mode option?

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.

Ease of use = 0. Looked at the handwriting recognition guide and as soon I saw that they suggest you write the letter E like backwards 3 I came here to leave this review. Shameful. Lots of potential in the app, but the fact that I can’t just sit down and intuitively write with the pencil is pathetic.

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…😎.

I’m was no longer able to download/open puzzles from Brendan Emmett Quigley; they always worked before (for years) and they open in the “Crossword” app. I got a message saying to contact the author, which I did. Author said Roy would look into it - I missed the reply message. Roy did respond and fixed the problem in a timely manner. Thank you very much!

You can let the app developer know that this app doesn’t comply with Google’s embedded webview policy.

This is the best app for crosswords I’ve ever found. It’s very intuitive and easy to use. It makes my crosswords even more fun because it has all the preferences I could want, and it presents the grid just as it is in print. It’s really the best crossword app on offer, and I’ve tried a LOT of them.

I somehow only discovered Puzzazz a year or so ago, but since then it's been steadily feeding my cryptic crosswords addiction, and will do so until I run through the rest of its collection (an alarmingly close prospect). I dip occasionally into some of the many other kinds of puzzles it supports, typically regular crosswords and cryptograms, and I'll probably branch out more once I run out of the cryptics. Fortunately, I can also import cryptics from elsewhere on the web, although the tools to do so are clumsy. Speaking of which, tools and controls in general are the iffiest part of this app. I wouldn't go so far as to call the user interface unusable, but it is uncomfortable. Buttons are laid out in awkward formations. It's difficult to see whether I'm writing in "pen" or "pencil," and I almost never manage to hit the control to switch between them on the first try. The handwriting recognition gets it wrong just a little bit too often to leave it turned on. And so forth. A small number of improvements could make the app vastly easier to use, but it's clear they're not going to happen at this stage. And yet that's a relatively minor point, because the app is certainly usable, and more importantly, it can handle a remarkable range of puzzles, including a surprising amount of support for the unexpected curve balls puzzle builders like to throw at you. Its puzzle collections are easy to purchase and reasonably priced. (Why, though, why, why can it sync your purchases to other devices, but not your puzzle progress?) All in all, a bit of a pain in the neck to use but makes up for it by being terrific where it counts the most.

Some freely puzzles. Would prefer subscription available to cover all puzzles. I’m waiting for it!

I was an hour into a 5-hour flight when I discovered my ebook hadn’t downloaded correctly. Thank goodness my Puzzazz books worked perfectly. I recommend Puzzling Pairs, Drop Quotes, and Show me the Vowels to help the time fly.

I have just started using this app and find it delightful. There is one improvement I would like to see - having the option to see one clue at a time. This would allow the keyboard to be bigger and allow more room for the grid as well. The NYTimes crossword app does this and on an iPhone with its screen it’s much easier to use.

I've been looking for a crossword app that works with Apple Pencil. Although this app offers writing recognition, it is FRUSTRATING to use. Resting your hand on the screen (which is natural) switches to another clue. Touching the Apple Pencil to the box switches between the horizontal and vertical clues. The app also has a hard time recognizing my writing, even after modifying my strokes per the suggestions in the help section. I hope they continue to update this app with better writing functionality. This app could be so great!

I saw an article online that said you could use the Apple Pencil with the crossword puzzles but you can’t. It doesn’t show what you’re writing it just guesses a random letter and puts it in the square. I don’t get why it’s so hard to make a crossword app that u can use the pencil in

It’s great for crosswords. Adding dark mode would bump this up to five stars in my opinion

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.

I've tried many xword apps, and this is the best. I love the Touchwrite handwriting system. Stable, supports all kinds of variations and special features, occasional freebies... It has everything.

I find it clunky and hard to navigate. I cannot move very easily between across and down or between clues. Have to find and click on the arrows rather than swiping which is much more intuitive.

This is the best crossword puzzle app I have found. I like that you can see the whole puzzle and the keyboard at the same time, unlike other puzzle apps. You can try out a puzzle book before purchasing and there is a variety of difficulty levels. They have all sorts of word puzzles to choose from, though I personally just like crosswords. My only fear is that I will run out of crossword books! Thank you for making this perfect app!

Vastly superior to Across Lite. Thank you Roy!

Downloaded to solve NYT crosswords, but the app does not support signing into NYT with a Google account. Attempting to do so gives a disallowed_useragent error so I can't use my existing subscription.

All my purchased KekKen games disappeared after the last update! How do I recover them? Was unable to select a subject in the drop down bar to submit this to the developer. This is my first glitch in this app - otherwise - I LOVE THIS APP!

I have used Puzzazz for years as my go-to crossword app, on both an aging iPad and my iPhone. Works great. And I am a big fan of drawing the letters with my fingers (though there is a keyboard available as well). It works great for the New York Times puzzle, as well as puzzles I download from independent creators. It also works for a bunch of other kind of puzzles… But I haven’t tried much of that yet.

I've stopped using all the other apps for puzzles. No matter what your style, this app will work well for you. The support is fantastic.

Great app. Still think the Rebus key should be smaller and Backspace larger.

It's one giant advertisement. Don't waste your time.

The support for puz files is also amazing! I’m primarily a keyboard user, but the note taking is simple and the answer entry fairly straightforward. I only have a few improvements I would make: • Add more cell markup options (maybe 8 other colors for shading? For sudoku, I like both center and corner notes too, but that sounds harder from a software perspective) • Add more varied puzzle books! I haven’t found any killer or sandwich sudoku books yet (please prove me wrong, I have cash in hand!) and the Maze of Games is an amazing conversion, so I know this software can handle it! • An idea of what books have been added when so I can see the cool new books I’m missing.

This app is great!

I use this for The NY Times crossword and it works great

The app itself is well-designed and useful, but the unique Year of Puzzles book is what gets this five stars. I am in the midst of solving it and it is an absolute blast—so clever and different. I’ve grown a bit tired of the daily NYT Crossword, and this is the antidote. It will really get the juices flowing. Check it out!

I’ve been using Puzzazz for ages, and realized I’d never told anyone how GREAT it is. We especially love the cryptic crosswords, because it gives us the divisions and clue types if we need them — but only if we need them.

Don’t even bother if you are left handed and using the TouchWrite feature. All in all, bad experience

I have at length looked for tutorials of how to use the Apple Pencil with the different puzzles on Puzzazz but have yet to find one, and while most of the writing technique is pretty intuitive, I’m extremely frustrated that there is not an easily find-able guide to how to write letters and numbers for each type of puzzle and what might be the most efficient way to use the Pencil on each puzzle. The only reason to use this app is because you want to utilize your Pencil while playing games making the omission of a help section especially problematic, hence the one star review. It would be a five star review if this matter was addressed.

It took a little practice with the Apple Pencil to get the letters right consistently but it works great now! I love the variety of puzzles and the fact that I can do one or two in each book before deciding whether to buy the book or not. I’ve always enjoyed crossword puzzles in paper form but not so much on the iPad until I discovered Puzzazz. Being able to write in the answers as opposed to typing on a little keyboard, makes it perfect for me.

I got this specifically to use with my pencil, but the letter recognition is still so poor and extremely frustrating. The crosswords specifically barely recognize letters unless it’s an L, O or I. I followed instructions with how to best write out letters but it still barely worked. 90% of the time trying to write a letter just made the box switch from the across clues to the down clues.

Idk why they stopped updating KenKen, but I enjoyed it while it lasted. The sudoku is pretty good too. Expensive to buy all the packs though.

A month ago I would have rated this puzzle app 10 stars. Not now. Daily puzzles stopped on 4/1/18. Deleted (which deleted all puzzle history) and reinstalled and still won’t restart daily puzzles. Please fix. UPDATE. Zero stars. No response from developer.

I enjoy using this app for the most part, but the free daily sudoku and kenken puzzles aren’t working. The newest ones are from April 1st. Are you not planning to update them anymore? Update: The available free puzzles are slowly dwindling away with no new ones added. Very disappointing. :(

I love this App. Loved the Sudoku. April 1 ended the puzzles. What happened?

Puzzazz offers great puzzles and a variety of ways to solve them. If you want to type in the answers you can. I prefer to use the TouchWrite method using my finger for crosswords. The developer is incredibly responsive and helpful. Great app!

About the only real suggestion I have for the developers is that I wish there were puzzles besides crosswords for the Puzzle Downloads area. Otherwise, this app is perfect. You don't have to waste money on books that aren't at your level because you can try a puzzle(s) for free in each, and the $3 asking price a toss is quite reasonable for the quality of the brain teasers you get. Thumbs up!

This app has lots of bugs and is frustrating to use. Seems it always wants to take you to a different cell as soon as you attempt to put a number down in the daily sudoku game.

I liked the old Puzzazz with the free puzzles. The new one is great but I miss the puzzles that curved -- not spirals.