Crossword Helper
The Crossword Helper puts a whole puzzle on your screen. Snap the grid, add the clues and get word suggestions that respect the letters already crossing each answer.
Opens Unscramble Words 4U, our free word-puzzle site, in a new tab. Free, with no sign-up.
What it does
Rather than tackling a single answer, the helper recreates the entire grid. Give it a picture or screenshot and it hunts for the grid, works out how many squares there are and which are shaded. Detection can slip, so the result is always shown to you first: tapping a square flips its colour, and the rows and columns can each be set anywhere from 5 to 23. Or skip the picture and begin with an empty grid of your chosen size, with an optional mirror setting that copies each change to the opposite side to keep the pattern balanced.
When the grid matches, add the clues and begin writing letters in. The grid, clues and progress are remembered by your browser on that device, so a half-done puzzle waits for you. Image processing happens locally, and the picture is never sent to a server.
How to use it
- In the first step, upload a picture or use your camera, or pick a size and choose the blank-grid option. Fix any squares that came out wrong with a tap.
- Type or paste the clues: a heading line reading Across, the across clues one to a line with number and bracketed length, then a Down heading and the down clues. Clue numbers are worked out from where the shaded squares sit.
- Press Start solving and write in letters. A second tap on the selected square changes direction; the arrow keys and the clue list help you move around.
- Ask for Show words that fit to see dictionary words of the correct length that agree with your crossing letters, then tap a suggestion to place it. Answers with several words get one list each.
- Check this word and Check grid confirm whether entries are genuine words that fit – not whether they match the setter’s solution, which the tool doesn’t have.
- For cryptic clues there is an anagram helper: borrow letters by tapping words in the clue, or type them, then press Find anagrams.
More tips
- The tool picks out only the grid from an image, never the clue wording, so type or paste clues in separately.
- Coming back later? Use the button to resume your previous puzzle on the same device.
Ideas for the classroom and home learning
- KS2 (7–11)Snap a printed topic crossword and solve it as a class on the whiteboard. Pupils offer answers, and Check this word shows whether each suggestion is a genuine word of the right shape.
- KS3 (11–14)Start from an empty grid with the mirror setting on. Groups design a balanced layout, fill it with key vocabulary from the unit and write clues for another group.
- KS4 (14–16)Model a cryptic clue using the anagram helper: show how a ‘signal’ word points to letters for rearranging, then let pairs crack a few more.
- Adult learnersRun a lunchtime puzzle club where each member brings a crossword, rebuilds it on screen, and the group swaps tactics for using crossing letters.
Learning a language? Take the challenge
Learning another language? Change the Dictionary to the language you are studying and make a small empty grid to fill with new vocabulary. The word site’s games and solvers use word lists in 21 languages, and its pages are translated into 15. Let Show words that fit suggest words for the gaps, then look up anything unfamiliar.
Questions
Will it pick up the clues from my picture?
No – only the grid and shaded squares are detected, so the clues have to be typed or pasted. This keeps the page light and means your image stays private.
Why does a check say a word fits instead of saying it’s right?
The tool has no answer key. It can confirm that a word exists and suits the length and crossing letters, but only the clue can settle which of several fitting words is correct.
The grid looks wrong – what can I do?
Flip squares with a tap, adjust the rows and columns, or take a fresh, straighter and closer picture. A screenshot is often better still.
Does it remember my puzzle?
Yes, in your browser on that device only. None of it is sent to the site.
Opens Unscramble Words 4U, our free word-puzzle site, in a new tab. Free, with no sign-up.
Use it for crosswords you are solving yourself, and please don’t republish other people’s puzzles.