Crossly

The crosswords could be better. The words don't always make sense, like I got ohos as a word that means surprised sound I also got "randr". But most of them are good. The app however is so far super. I think I would prefer a little color. Maybe the text box or the gray boxes could be a light blue. I love being able to play with friends though and that I refreshed automatically.

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!

Our family always has head-to-head matches going on, and it’s been really fun. There’s a lot of friendly rivalry that goes on inside the games and in real life as a result. Sometimes the clues don’t make sense or I’m pretty sure the words don’t exist. But for the most part this is a very enjoyable app.

Great puzzle game for friends!