It’s been a while since we’ve had any updates about crossword tools here at Crossword Nexus, but that doesn’t mean nothing has been going on. While we don’t have any big announcements quite yet, there have been many improvements to our offerings:
- The Crossword Nexus Solver now has the “Notepad” available from the “File” dropdown, if a notepad exists. This is mostly helpful when solving on mobile, but it can help desktop users too.
- The solver has handled iPuz files for a while now, but ones generated by CrossFire weirdly have the “Down” clues before the “Across” ones. The newest update puts them in the proper order.
- The PDFs generated by the solver and the puz-to-pdf tool both have multiple improvements, including:
- PDFs now render properly in Adobe Reader
- Barred grids actually have bars in them now
- Numbers are now bolded and offset from the clues, making individual clues easier to find
- Clues are easier to read in puzzles that are particularly wordy
- The submission checker now shows clue numbers for dupes, making them easier to track down
- We’ve been continuing to update the collaborative word list behind the scenes, cleaning up scores that were too high and adding new words as we discover them. We’ve also (with Peter’s permission) added all the words from The Broda scored list into ours, making a huge list even … huger.
- As a result of our work on the collaborative word list, we’ve updated the word list that powers the Acrostic Generator, helping to make clean acrostics faster.
We’ll have bigger updates for you soon, but for now, enjoy our improved offerings!