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A crossword compiler for UK setters, in your browser.

Crossmith generates and fills British blocked and barred grids, helps you write and check the clues, and prints, exports or publishes the finished puzzle as a link solvers can play on any device. It works without an account; sign in to keep your puzzles on every device.

Your puzzles

No account needed to start. Your puzzles stay in your browser until you sign in.

Shape mode: a filled 13 by 13 grid in the middle, the mode rail on the left, and the Rules tab on the right saying the grid follows every rule of a UK blocked grid.

For setters

Everything between a blank grid and a finished puzzle, in one workbench. The grid sits in the middle and the tools for each job sit beside it.

  • A professional filler

    Autofill and guided fill work from a scored word list of about 494,000 entries. The default Everyday British list has 54,181 words that are common in published crosswords, and you can add themed lists or your own.

  • Blocked and barred grids

    Draw a UK blocked grid or a barred one, or generate it. Crossmith checks the rulebook as you go: symmetry, connected lights, minimum entry, unchecked letters.

  • Tools for the clues

    A dictionary and thesaurus beside every clue, wordplay tools for anagrams, hidden words, reversals, charades, containers, deletions and homophones, lists of abbreviations and indicators, and your own clue database.

  • Exports Crossword Compiler users know

    Print and PDF, Word, .ipuz, .puz, Crossword Compiler XML and .jpz, and import of .ipuz and Crossword Compiler XML files, with batch export for a week of puzzles.

  • Publishing

    A link, an embed code and a QR code for any puzzle, or a public page in a numbered series with a profile, a schedule, an archive and an annotated solution.

  • Help with clues from AI

    Optional suggestions for quick-crossword clues and theme-word lists. You choose what to use, and nothing is sent until you agree.

Clues mode: the grid on the left, a list of Across clues with a box for each clue and its enumeration, and the Reference tab on the right showing definitions and synonyms for ALPHA.
Clues mode, with the dictionary and thesaurus beside the clue. How clues work
A 12 by 12 barred grid in Shape mode, with thick bars between squares instead of black squares, and the barred rulebook's options on the right.
A barred grid, with its own rulebook. Barred grids
The Export window: buttons for Print or PDF, Word, .ipuz, .puz, Crossword Compiler XML, .jpz and text; grid image options; and copy to the clipboard.
Print, PDF, Word, pictures and the files other crossword software reads. Printing and exports
The Publish window: a series name and kind, a title, difficulty, who can find the puzzle (public, unlisted or private), when to publish, and a preview of the public page.
Publishing to a public page in a numbered series. Publishing and series

For solvers

Free crosswords from independent setters, in your browser.

Every public puzzle opens in the browser on a phone or a computer, with no sign-in. Type from the keyboard or the phone keyboard, check or reveal a letter, a word or the whole grid when the setter allows it, and your progress is kept in your browser. When you finish, you can read the setter’s explanations of the clues, if they wrote any. Puzzles come in quick, cryptic, mini and jumbo series.

Browse crosswordsSearch the archiveNew to cryptics? The glossary

For teachers

Quick crosswords on a theme, free, for the classroom.

Choose a size, tick a theme list such as Animals, Food and drink or Sport so the filler can use those words, and let Crossmith fill the grid. Write the clues, then print the puzzle for the class or send pupils a link that opens on their phones. Printing, PDF, share links and the player are free, and pupils need no account.

Getting started

Free and Pro

Crossmith is free to set, solve and share. Pro adds the professional tools.

Free

£0

  • The editor, the rulebook, word tools, clues, the clue database and the player
  • Share links, short links and cloud sync
  • 10 grid generations a day, then a reminder
  • Print and PDF with a small “Made with Crossmith” line
  • Public puzzles in numbered series
  • 20 AI answers a month

Pro

£8 a month

or £72 a year (save £24, 25%). Prices include any taxes.

  • Unlimited grid generation
  • Guided fill, theme words, locks and every autofill option
  • Word, .ipuz, .puz, Crossword Compiler XML and .jpz export, imports, batch export and packs
  • Editor-ready and review print layouts, with no branding line
  • Private, unlisted, scheduled and prize publishing
  • Your own word lists, personal word scores and new barred puzzles
  • 300 AI answers a month

Nothing you make is ever locked away: on Free, or if Pro ends, every puzzle still opens, edits, prints and syncs. Compare Free and Pro in full

Start your first puzzle

Choose a size and a pattern, and the editor opens on your grid. There is nothing to install.

Your puzzles

Crossmith is made by PVT Digital Ltd. Questions? Write to hello@crossmith.com or read the help guide.