KrossWordz - 1.7.2

If you are a Mac OS X crossword junkie, there are two excellent products out there that are both solvers AND clients (they download puzzles from the net for you to play offline): CrozzWord and KrossWordz. Both can open puzzles in the Across Lite .puz format, which is the standard format for crossword puzzles found online.

KrossWordz has the more elegant, Aqua interface and easier navigation (using the spacebar to change direction is super convenient because you never have to take your hands off the keyboard). Plus it has two nifty features CrozzWord doesn't have: (1) a timer, and (2) a menu option to connect to the web site One Across, which is a crossword helper site. Currently KrossWwordz can download puzzles from 20 online sites (USA Today, LA Times, Washington Post, New York Sun, Boston Globe, etc.) You can download the current daily puzzle plus puzzles from past dates.

CrozzWord does not have the clean intuitive interface of KrossWordz, but it offers more appearance tweaks. Appearance is customizable through the Preferences, allowing you to set the grid size, colours, placement, and fonts (for both clues and puzzle entries). Saving screen space, CrozzWord places only the current cells' clue along the top (in a drop down menu), whereas KrossWordz shows all the clues in a re-sizeable floating window. Both are equally convenient. With CrozzWord, I found that a few of the keys that I read could be used for navigation -- like PageUp, PageDn, Home, and End -- didn't work (but the tabs and arrows worked, so all was not lost).

Where CrozzWord is REALLY robust is in the sheer volume and sources of puzzles you can download. The demo version alone has at least 400 archived puzzles, plus it includes sources online from which you can download daily puzzles. I found that the USA Today Puzzles would not download because the date range allowed was 2001 to 2003 (!!) -- but maybe that's normal for the demo version. According to the documentation, registered users unlock many more hosts and sources whereas demo users have initially a small selection to choose from. CrozzWord also has an edge over KrossWordz in giving you the choice of which puzzles you wish to download. You pick the dates or titles you want in CrozzWord, whereas KrossWordz automatically downloads the next (or prior) puzzle sequentially (by date) if it does not see that puzzle on your hard drive. A lot of people delete puzzles that they've already completed, so this method can lead to unnecessary downloads.

In addition, CrozzWord can open many more puzzle types besides the Across Lite format, including puzzles created with CrossWord Express (a Mac puzzle creator), CrossWord Compiler, CrossWord Construction Kit, CrossWord Wizard, etc.

KrossWordz costs $8.00 and has a 30 day demo. CrozzWord costs $15.00 and has a 60 day demo. According to this site, CrozzWord hasn't been tweaked since 2004; but I see it requires OS 10.3.9, so I assume the developer updates it when a new OS requires it. KrossWordz, on the other hand, just had a release in March, 2007. KrossWordz is wonderful; but if the developer is reading this, I'd like to suggest the ability to choose your own past puzzles to download (you pick the date of the puzzle you want instead of KrossWordz automatically downloading the next sequential date). Plus, CrozzWord allows the user to download puzzles from the MacNamara's Band web site, which is where it gets those 400+ puzzles in the demo. (And these puzzles are listed by title, so it's easier to recall which ones you've done before.) I don't know if CrozzWord has a special deal worked out with them, but if KrossWordz can download from these puzzle archive sites then they will really be competitive with CrozzWord.

...for all crossword fans. This is the best program I have found for crossword solving. The price is right, the program excellent, the GUI easy. What more could I ask for? Thanks to the coder for sharing!