Update July 2026
I have just updated as requested and have spent a very frustrating time trying to do a cryptic crossword. I find the update has reverted to a former way of answering where the cursor jumps over letters already in place instead of allowing you to print all letters in sequence regardless of what is already in situ in some of the squares as before. I have constantly been misspelling and doubling up on letters I insert thus having to go back and delete and try again. If this is an unintentional result of the update please revert to what it was doing before otherwise I’ll be reverting to printed paper and pencil.
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Some basic usability flaws
There’s a link on the App Store to leave feedback, but it just goes to the Puzzles home page, so it’s not hitting the right place.
I’ve got some feedback on some usability issues in the app. Not all touch events on the Sodukus are captured. You have to wait for an animation to end before filling out the value, otherwise the value you enter doesn’t register and is missed. You can imagine that this becomes tedious quickly.
The strange thing is that this throttle/denounce behaviour is something that usually needs to be coded in. It’s usually put in on web submit buttons, for example, so that, let’s say, a “Buy now” button is disabled whilst the asynchronous request has received and parsed a response. I can’t see why it would be needed in a puzzle.
There has been a recent update and now the Panagram suffers from the same affliction. You can’t just input the letters. Only every other one will register.
There’s a separate bug here too - If you set the “Helpful gaps” setting on Panagram the words you enter are clipped to around four letters. Also this setting along with others seems to be reset on updates.
I’ve got some feedback on some usability issues in the app. Not all touch events on the Sodukus are captured. You have to wait for an animation to end before filling out the value, otherwise the value you enter doesn’t register and is missed. You can imagine that this becomes tedious quickly.
The strange thing is that this throttle/denounce behaviour is something that usually needs to be coded in. It’s usually put in on web submit buttons, for example, so that, let’s say, a “Buy now” button is disabled whilst the asynchronous request has received and parsed a response. I can’t see why it would be needed in a puzzle.
There has been a recent update and now the Panagram suffers from the same affliction. You can’t just input the letters. Only every other one will register.
There’s a separate bug here too - If you set the “Helpful gaps” setting on Panagram the words you enter are clipped to around four letters. Also this setting along with others seems to be reset on updates.
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Seems worse every week
Unfortunately, what used to be quite a good and nippy little app has become increasingly slower and more annoying over the last couple of years. Every time I open it, “Have you tried our new mini puzzles?”
More puzzles, lovely - though that means we’re forever pushing the ones you actually want to play even further off the screen. And when you find them and choose them, “would you like to play the mini puzzle?”
It takes an increasing number of taps to get to play a puzzle, or to see the answers when you give up, or to get back to the Home Screen... As well as load times are getting frustratingly long. It will also forget at least some of your preferences on a semi regular basis. By the way - “Have you tried our new mini puzzles?”
Even the button presses are getting unresponsive, which feels like the final straw. How on earth is an app for playing simple word games this slow and getting slower? It never used to be!
The puzzles are good. I just wish they’d stopped tinkering with this app years ago, when it worked, instead of running it into the ground.
But importantly, “Have you tried our new mini puzzles?”
More puzzles, lovely - though that means we’re forever pushing the ones you actually want to play even further off the screen. And when you find them and choose them, “would you like to play the mini puzzle?”
It takes an increasing number of taps to get to play a puzzle, or to see the answers when you give up, or to get back to the Home Screen... As well as load times are getting frustratingly long. It will also forget at least some of your preferences on a semi regular basis. By the way - “Have you tried our new mini puzzles?”
Even the button presses are getting unresponsive, which feels like the final straw. How on earth is an app for playing simple word games this slow and getting slower? It never used to be!
The puzzles are good. I just wish they’d stopped tinkering with this app years ago, when it worked, instead of running it into the ground.
But importantly, “Have you tried our new mini puzzles?”
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Charged £49!
I used this App over a year ago. When I changed my phone in September 25, the App didn’t move over, so I’ve not used it for 10 months. I’ve now been charged £49 for an App I don’t even have on my phone. No warning of the upcoming charge. Can’t get a refund, and can’t login to my old account. What am I supposed to do? Delete account so I don’t get charged next year? Use App being as though I’ve spent £49 on it, but can’t access the account I’ve grossly overpaid for? No way of contacting customer support or anyone. Can I get a response due to not being able to contact anyone any other way? Thank you.
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Glitch with PlusWord
Still a glitch with PlusWord where app freezes before entering last letter of PlusWord answer. If you know the answer you can enter the last letter before others and can still complete puzzle and have result confirmed
Desperately slow
Somewhat chaotic app filled with good puzzles. So slow to load and refresh though, bit of a mess.
Last update poor
The latest update, circa 4 weeks ago, has made the app very glitchy for me. Now, every time I play, once I complete one puzzle and then select another, it just hangs there and never opens the next game. I have to come out of the app and then go back in. Whatever you guys did in the last update, please adjust asap. Plus, we should be able to pick ‘favourite’ games on the home page - rather than having to sift through all the ones I don’t want play. Thanks.
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Response from developer
Dear Solver, Thank you for getting in touch and we're sorry to hear you are experiencing an issue with our app. Please may we ask that you contact product_puzzles@telegraph.co.uk so we can investigate this issue with you further? Best wishes, The Telegraph Puzzles Team
Dark screen version not available
Would be really easier on the eyes if you could switch it to dark screen mode.
CrApp
I can play through the website but the app won’t let me log in and directs me to manage my account through the website. WHY IS THERE NO OPTION TO LOG IN, IVE ALREADY SIGNED UP FOR THE YEAR??
Poor app
I have to reload it at least 4 times a week
Poorly curated
Most of the puzzles are fine. The 1% Club is just advertising and is annoying when they use pictures which cannot be zoomed. The crosswords just about scrape by, albeit with frequent use of foreign language words to fill in the awkward spaces. The Pangram is the worst of the lot, being whacked out by a computer and left unchecked. For most of the puzzles you’ll need to be a top-notch lexicographer to get anywhere close to finishing it.
So, overall, it’s OK but is poorly curated.
So, overall, it’s OK but is poorly curated.
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Response from developer
Dear Solver, Thank you for your feedback. We understand the frustration with image-based questions in The 1% Club and are working on improvements to make images easier to view. We’d also like to reassure you that our puzzles are created and reviewed by human compilers and editors. Your comments have been shared with the team. In the meantime, we'll soon be launching new, mini versions of the Pangram and Cryptic Crossword for a quicker solving experience. Best wishes, The Telegraph Puzzles Team
Fun puzzles but timer issues in the app
I enjoy playing the puzzles daily on the app and they generally work well and the user interface is very intuitive. My only gripe is with the timer. The timer should end when I complete the puzzle, but I t always moves on by up to 3 seconds as the finishing screens load up. This is frustrating, especially when getting so close to getting new personal best scores
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Extremely slow
Very slow app, take ages to load and ages to switch between the different puzzles,
Also, the crosswords are clunky where you have to click the grid to change from across to down - please take a note of how other apps use navigation in crosswords
Very frustrating
Also, the crosswords are clunky where you have to click the grid to change from across to down - please take a note of how other apps use navigation in crosswords
Very frustrating
If it ain’t broke…
Agree with other reviewers that the latest update is dreadful. Slow to load, archives hidden away, achievements not being recorded correctly etc. Oh, and I have an excellent internet connection, thank you very much, so please stop randomly telling me that I don’t!
Why this endless need to muck about with stuff that was perfectly fine, and we were all enjoying? Stop it.
Why this endless need to muck about with stuff that was perfectly fine, and we were all enjoying? Stop it.
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A new Panagram variant?
Great games. Can you also provide a Panagram variant with fewer letters but all the letters are reusable multiple times?
Also my phone gets really hot when I’m only using this. Please fix this.
Also my phone gets really hot when I’m only using this. Please fix this.
Where have the achievements gone?
I enjoy the puzzles on this app but the recent update is not good. No achievements any more. When you have completed all of the daily sudoku puzzles it does not say complete. Running very slowly. Not allowing me in the 1% club game today as it keeps telling me that I’m offline, which I’m not. Quite annoying.
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1 star but those get ignored/deleted
this isn't free. its a yearly subscription to even operate the app. i despair.
Why change it?
The latest update to the front page is awful. Seems all they want to do is promote the 1% club, and make it harder to find anything else. Archives are no longer easily accessible for example, and other puzzles are hidden in stacks. Assume this was money driven. Change it back.
Puzzle update
Where have the Daily Streaks gone in the new update? Also it takes a long time to reload between puzzles.
Painfully slow since update!
Painfully slow to load since the update and harder to find the puzzles I played that were on the Home Screen ☹️
