Exceptional customer service
Mon Aug 11 2025 Beach1503I used to just get the 2 free puzzles a week. They offered a special deal for a year so I subscribed. I love crosswords and sudoku. Last week it wasn’t showing my subscription. I tried to sign in again and it wouldn’t sign in with google, but I could sign in online. It was just the app. I emailed support and they responded quickly and said they found the issue and fixed it. The problem continued and I emailed again. He said that if I using the games app to try the USA Today app and go to puzzles to see if it would work. And also try using a laptop and try the website. Or maybe it just needed a day to reset itself. I did all those things and it now works. The rep was very responsive and helpful and I really appreciated it. Thank you!
Buggy and slow
Tue Sep 13 2022 Chris01973The most recent update removes the previous and next arrows to jump between clues. This makes navigating the puzzle very frustrating, especially when there doesn’t seem to be any logic behind what clue you end up on after completing one. Loading the puzzle archive takes forever, and it defaults to showing all puzzles instead of unplayed ones, so you have to select the option for only unplayed puzzles and then wait forever a second time. After I’ve completed a puzzle, if a start a second, more often than not I can’t type in the boxes. The keyboard acts like it’s working but no letters appear. I have to force close the app and restart it, then go though the slow multi-step process to get to a puzzle from the archive again. The puzzles themselves are pretty good but there can be a lot of word repetition from day to day. In difficulty, they’re roughly equal to a bit easier than an NYT Monday puzzle. It’s about right for me now, being a crossword newbie, but I feel like I might outgrow them in less than the timeframe of the one year subscription I purchased.
Sufficient but needs improvement
Thu Nov 03 2022 honest davidAs of the last update, auto-moving to the next clue does not work properly; the cursor moves to the 2nd open box, not the first. This issue did not exist a couple of weeks ago. I am on a 3rd gen iPad Pro running IOS 16.1
Getting to unplayed archived puzzles is a waste of time. Users have to scroll down and wait for 20-some completed puzzles to load, and continue scroll and wait action until they get to an unplayed puzzle. Put a link to unplayed puzzles please.
Other than these two issues, it’s a good app.
A Good App Became So-So, Then Garbage
Wed Sep 28 2022 Papa BareThere was a time when this app was free for all to use instead of linking to the same puzzle on the web. Granted, this puzzle is always mediocre, whether in print or electronic format. Nothing v
close to great puzzles like the NYTimes. Still, it was enjoyable to use and tracked your scores, encouraging you to play. One could play any game within the current month and more. The interface was friendly and easy to use.
Sadly, the next generation reduced the number of games available to the current day, plus access to two previous days if those puzzles had been started. Moreover, the app added long, annoying advertising videos before the game each day… some far too long. Still free but very limited and less friendly. Puzzles remained mediocre.
The most recent revision restricts users to 3 free crosswords per week, still with annoying ads. There is nothing about these puzzles worth paying a subscription!! The editors seem to be working under the illusion that they have an outstanding product to sell, which is nonsense. These puzzles are just quick to complete without requiring any deep thinking. I certainly won’t be subscribing and hope no one else does either. The manager in charge should be relieved of his puzzle duties.
In summary… Don’t pay for a puzzle that is unchallenging and mediocre at best. If you are willing to pay for a puzzle, pay for a better one.
Developers don’t know what they’re doing?
Tue Jan 31 2023 Mpow3redWhat do you mean “performance improvements”? It’s very clear to me that, when I filter for unplayed puzzles, the app is loading page by page until it finds some. Every time. I’m playing puzzles from back in August and it takes literally over 30 seconds to load unplayed puzzles. Two suggestions. First, filter puzzles server-side. My phone should not be involved at all with the logic of displaying unplayed or incomplete puzzles. Second, just give me a “play next unplayed” button. There should be absolutely no reason for me to look at the archives, change to unplayed, then click the first item. It takes about a minute to find the next puzzle and about 5 for me to solve it. I swear some developers never use their own apps, or this would be painfully apparent from day one. I’ve canceled my subscription until they can make the app reasonably usable.
Streaks and deadlines
Sun Dec 22 2024 psu_roseI love the puzzle itself and have played daily for years. Here’s my beef: it’s unclear when the daily deadline is to submit in order to be counted in the player’s streak of completions. Some of us do find the streak count important as a personal challenge, and when I submit at 9 pm it should still be counted for that same day—particularly when the next day’s puzzle hasn’t been published yet. At the very least, make it known when the cutoff time is. I’ve tried and tried to guess it over the years based on personal experience. I solve in the mornings—except on days when life happens and I don’t sit down to my puzzles until the evening. It’s disheartening to know that I have not missed a puzzle in over 4 years and yet my current streak is all too often set back to 1. Please clarify!
What happened???
Thu May 23 2024 MadgeMMA recent change to the puzzle has made it go from an A+ to a D-. On my iPad I could work just fine in landscape mode. Now the puzzle blank shrinks so much I can’t make out the squares clearly enough to see the number of letters in an answer, and the keyboard occupies the lower half of the screen leaving little room for clues. The only way to completely visualize the puzzle is to delete the keyboard, and that’s incredibly awkward! Portrait mode is a little better, but the puzzle is too big. Either the right half is partially cut off, with a space that only comes into view when typing an answer, after which the next line is cut off on the left. As one answers the Down clues, the puzzle rolls up, often eliminating upper squares of the next answer. Portrait mode is barely workable, the bugs create a massive slowdown, and I’m very uncomfortable with it. If not fixed soon, I will be unsubscribing.
Fun but Repetitive and Trying to be too Woke?
Sat Mar 26 2022 Anonomus PlayerAgree with those saying the progression arrows need work especially when maneuvering ‘down’ clues. The reason for my lower rating however is the repetition (e.g., most all crosswords have “ale(s)”, “ante”, etc.) and that I feel like the creators are trying to be too “woke”. I’m generally all in favor of trying to increase ones cultural awareness, or learning an additional language, but I look to crossword puzzels more for mental/memory stimulation and maybe some vocabulary enrichment and not to ask for words in languages I do not speak or obscure cultural facts that at best constitute as cultural trivia. All that said, I do enjoy the one a day puzzles which tend to be pretty quick, easy, and fun, while still a little bit challanging.
Update Hugely Improved!
Fri Jul 29 2022 Ragingfire119The update hugely improved things in my opinion! I logged in and can suddenly access all the puzzles in the archive it would seem, which is wonderful.
MANY years ago, possibly as long as 8 years ago, I had purchased the one-time fee for full access, so I’m not sure if it might have reinstated that somehow? But I’m not so sure. In any case, the update is appreciated! Thank you :)
Okay.
Fri Sep 05 2025 IDon’tKnowWhatToPutAsMyNameIt has some fun games, but some of them don’t seem to save your progress, and sometimes it freezes and I have to restart when it plays ads. You know when it’s frozen because it goes to a tan screen that looks like it’s about to play an ad, and then it goes to the home screen. Or sometimes it goes to the tan screen and then it plays an ad and then it goes to the home screen, which is such a waste of time and SO annoying.
And I know it’s not my phone because my phone is in the prime of its life and I’ve never had any trouble with it other than this.
Three stars.
![[GAMEPLAY] Scramble Words | USA Today Games | Browser Game - YouTube](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RPLQGl0i7sM/0.jpg)
