I just released Blindfold Crossword and people seem to really like it.
Crossword puzzles are the world’s most popular word game. The first crosswords appeared in England during the 19th century. The rule of a crossword puzzle is that the crossword grids must be symmetrical, such that the pattern will appear the same when it is turned upside down, and no more than one-sixth of the grid should consist of black squares; entries must have at least three letters; entires can be either single word, such as “WASTE” or a group of words, such as “VOCAB LESSON”.
After finding a source of hundreds of relatively easy crossword puzzles, I designed the game to have two sections: the crossword puzzle grid, and the list of clues.
To solve a crossword puzzle, you are given a clue and it’s location on the grid. You must come up with the word or words that answer the clue, and fits with the other words around it. Each spot on the grid is either open, or black. You fill in the open spots. You skip over the black spots. Answers to clues go either across from left to right, or down from top to bottom.
The hardest part of building Blindfold Crossword was making it easy enough for people who never played crossword puzzles before. If you are new at crossword puzzles, you can set the game to fill out about half of the letters in the puzzle. Instead of having to guess the entire word, you will see a few of the letters in the word, and you just have to find a word that fits. For example, if the clue is “Drips from trees” and the first letter that’s filled in for you already is “S” and the last letter that’s filled in already is “P”, you could guess the word “SAP”, and fill in the letter “A”.
As you get better, reduce the number of letters filled in, until you are solving the puzzle with just the clues.
The game comes with a practice puzzle that you can play over and over again, and includes in-app upgrades for dozens of puzzles. To download the game, tap here:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/blindfold-crossword/id1336994238?mt=8