How to Make a Crossword Puzzle From Your Own Words

To make a crossword puzzle you need words that can cross and a clue for each one. The free crossword maker does the hard part, which is building the numbered grid, so you can spend your time on the clues. This guide shows how to make a crossword puzzle from your own words, what the tool will and will not accept, and how to write clues that are fair.

What you need to make a crossword puzzle

A list of up to 20 words, each with a short clue. The words have 2 to 15 letters, and each word must have at least one letter in common with another one, because that is how words cross. A theme helps: ten fruit, ten words from a lesson, ten places in a town. The crossword puzzle maker is free and needs no account.

Typing words and clues

Write one line per word, with the word, a colon and its clue, for example PEAR: A fruit that is wider at the bottom. The tool also accepts an equals sign or a tab instead of the colon. Clues longer than 80 characters are cut, so keep each one short. A word without a clue is allowed: the puzzle then prints a blank line and the number of letters. Accents are removed and letters become capitals, so spaces, numbers and symbols inside a word are ignored.

An example built from ten words

We used the maker's own fruit list, ten words with ten clues. The result is an 11 x 11 grid with 43 squares. The ten words have 52 letters, so 9 letters are shared by two words. We checked the grid with a script that reads every row and column: the only runs of two or more letters are the ten words, so no accidental word appears. Ten words need at least nine crossings to hold together as one grid, and this layout has exactly nine, which is why it looks like a branching tree rather than a tight block. A grid with more crossings is harder to fill with your words but easier to solve, because each letter then has two clues.

Number 4 starts both an across word (PEAR) and a down word (PEACH) in the same square. This happens whenever two words begin in one square, and the grid shows one number for both.

How the grid is built

The maker puts the longest word across in the middle, then looks for every free spot where the next word can cross a letter that is already there. A word may not touch another word side by side, and it may not cross where two words would run in the same direction. Among the possible spots, it prefers the ones with more crossings and a compact grid. It repeats the whole build 40 times with a different order and keeps the layout that places the most words, then the smallest one. The grid can never be larger than 15 x 15.

Writing clues people can solve

• Give a plain definition first. "A long yellow fruit" is fair; "Monkey's snack" is a riddle.
• Do not put the answer or its root in the clue.
• Match the clue to the reader. For children, use 8 to 12 short, familiar words from one theme. For older readers, print the PDF at full size so the squares and the clues stay readable.
• Solve your own puzzle from the printed page before you share it. Clues that looked clear on screen often turn out to have two possible answers.
• Keep each clue under one line. The printed list shows the number of letters in brackets, which helps the solver.

Printing the puzzle

The PDF is a US Letter page with the numbered grid and the Across and Down clue lists, and the solution on page 2. A small LogikLand footer says the page is for personal use. Squares are at most 0.42 inch wide, so a small grid prints with large squares.

Crosswords for a whole book

The free tool makes one crossword at a time. To make a book, create a free account and use the Crossword assistant. It builds grids from 11 x 11 to 21 x 21 from its own word and clue lists, and its Easy, Medium and Hard levels choose words of 3 to 6, 4 to 8 and 5 or more letters. With "My words" you can also type your own words and clues, one grid for each list. For readers who need big print, see crossword puzzles for seniors. Another free tool, the word search maker, works with the same kind of word list.

Questions