Two Crossword Apps Go Head to Head

Crossword puzzles are great time-wasters. But, we have come a long way from paper crossword puzzles, so I am going to be talking about two iPhone and iPod Touch crossword puzzle apps.

Crosswords ($9.99)*

Crosswords is definitely the most feature-rich of the two. It supports both landscape and portrait modes, and even includes a small, medium and large keyboard. Because they created their own keyboard, they were also able to ad features like holding down the backspace button to delete a clue or the whole puzzle. And, if you hold down on any key, you can put in numbers (instead of having to switch to another keyboard). Although that is very nice, it actually can end up taking longer than just switching to another keyboard. But, it’s not very often that you need numbers in crossword puzzles.

Crosswords gives you three was to go through the clues: the Clues view, the arrow buttons, and just tapping. The Clues view gives you a list of all of the clues (sorted by number and direction), and even shows you the letters you currently have filled in for that clue. Crosswords also gives you a few ways to cheat. If you click on Hints, you can choose shows certain errors and reveal certain clues. If you don’t want to cheat, but want to know if you have any letters wrong, just click Info, and you will see how many errors there are, but not where they are. One nice feature that Crosswords gives you is the ability to put multiple letters in one square. If you play Sudoku, this will be very familiar to you. However, it comes at a price, because you really need two hands for it. You have to hold down on a box, and then click on a little [+] button a little ways away from it. When you hold down on a box, you also will see a loupe, which is perfect for those with bad vision.

The process of downloading puzzles in Crosswords is easy…to easy. I only say this because you can’t download specific puzzles“you must download all puzzles for a certain day. Well, all of the puzzles that you have told Crosswords to download in its preferences. Sure, you could change it to only do one source, download the puzzle, and then change it back. Or you could download all the puzzles for a specific day, but that’s no fun. Sources-wise, Crosswords has many“even a New York times premium subscription. And, you can also sort your puzzles by Date, Provider and only Recent.

Crosswords provides many nice features that some people will like. It downloads from many sources and is pretty easy-to-use. It’s $9.99 price tag may turn off some crossword fans, because they just wouldn’t use its fancy features. But those who do crossword puzzles a lot will probably find it worth it.

Grade: B

2 Across ($5.99)

2 Across definitely has the nicest interface of the two. But, it does not have as many features. It does do a couple nice things that Crosswords doesn’t though. Instead of only having a clues view and a grid view, 2 Across also has a Split view, where you can see both. 2 Across also allows you to slide to go to the next and previous clues. To go to the next clue, just slide your finger to the right (on the clue bar). And to go to the previous clue, just slide left. Because of the size of Apple’s keyboard, 2 Across allows you to hide it by simply clicking on the Pen toolbar icon. When you have the keyboard visible, instead of having the toolbar item for the difference views, you have one for switching from pen to pencil mode.

2 Across’ clues view does not give you as much information as Crosswords’ does. You can click on a clue to have it selected, but then you have to go back to Grid or Split view to edit it. It tells you if you have completed a clue by greying it out, but it doesn’t tell you what letters you have completed in other clues. If you click on the Check toolbar icon, you can choose to check or reveal the current letter, word or the whole grid.

2 Across’ puzzle downloading experience is much better than Crosswords’. First of all, you can choose to add a specific puzzle from a specific source by just clicking the [+] button. However, this comes at a price“no batch downloading. In both apps, you only get one way to download your puzzles, and neither way is the best way, but I think that this way is better. Most of use do not do more than one puzzle a day. 2 Across also gives you more choices for sorting your puzzles. If you click on the sort button, you can choose primary and secondary sorting methods! So, if you have completed the same amount of two puzzles, they will sort using the secondary method. If you click the Edit button, you can also move your sources…even if you have them sorting already. I guess if you want to fine tune the sorting, this is helpful.

2 Across may not be the most feature-rich crossword puzzle app, but it looks great and is perfect for the amateur puzzler. It is also $4 cheaper than Crosswords, making it even better for someone who isn’t completely crazy about crossword puzzles.

Grade: B-

*The version of Crosswords that is being reviewed is 1.5. It is not in the App Store yet, but it will be soon.

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