Best Cryptic Crosswords vs Codewords
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Best Cryptic Crosswords
Engage with 300 professionally crafted cryptic crosswords designed for accessibility. Enjoy a smooth puzzle experience on your devices with features like zooming, landscape mode, and helpful tools.
- 300 professional cryptic crosswords
- 12 free puzzles
- Pinch and zooming grid
- Landscape mode with clue list
- Cheats and answer checking
- British style puzzles
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300 professional cryptic crosswords puzzles set by Michael Curl from www.bestforpuzzles.com. 12 free puzzles with all features enabled and no ads. These are accessible cryptic puzzles set by a top setter. Features: - great for iPads and iPhones - pinch and zooming grid - landscape mode with clue list - cheats and answer checking - Resume button - British style puzzles - no ads - great value
Codewords
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Focus on British English spellings and enjoy relaxing gameplay without timers, scores, or leaderboards - just lots of puzzles to enjoy at your leisure. CODEWORDS:UK includes a starter collection of 30 puzzles, with more puzzle collections available to buy in-app. There’s a tutorial to help you with the fundaments, plus in-game tools that help you spot letter patterns, quickly fill in answers and mark guesses as you go. The hints system is versatile, is not limited by time or usage, and the game does not penalise you for using them. You can also change the size and colour of the interface to make the game feel that much more comfortable on your device. WHAT IS A CODEWORDS PUZZLE? Codewords puzzles are like crosswords but without the usual clues. Instead, every box is numbered 1 to 26, where each number corresponds to a single letter. Puzzles guarantee that every letter of the alphabet is used at least once, and always start with just three letters given. With only that information you can identify patterns and deduce the code that will crack each puzzle. It’s a great game for expanding your vocabulary and improving your spelling. LEARN NEW WORDS Interesting and uncommon words are used throughout. Here are some examples you might encounter while playing: ABSCISSA ARGOT BATIK CALLIOPE CREDENZA DIATRIBE EXECUTRIX FERRULE FIXITY FOOLSCAP JEROBOAM KANJI LAMBENT NEOPHYTE PLOSIVE THOUGHTFULLY CURATED WORDLIST Each puzzle is edited to make sure the words used are interesting and fair. Here's some of the considerations we've made when assembling puzzles. -- CONFUSING ALTERNATES When a word can be spelt more than one way only the more common spelling is retained or, if there is no favourite, sometimes all variations removed. Here are some of the edits made: BANISTER, BANNISTER: both removed. SPELLED, MISSPELLED, MISSPELT, and variations: all removed. But MISSPELL, MISSPELLING and DISPELLED left in. 'SPELT' is left in as it's also noun. CADDY, CADDIE: both removed. RACQUET removed, RACKET left in. LIQUIFY, LIQUEFY and all variations like LIQUIFIED and LIQUEFACTION removed LAMBASTE, LAMBAST, and their variations removed PARLEY and PARLAY both left in INQUIRE and ENQUIRE both left in FASCIA and FACIA, both kept SIPHON, SYPHON plus variants: removed CONVERTER, CONVERTOR: both kept CIPHER, CYPHER: both kept FOETID, FETID: both kept EON, AEON: both kept JUDGEMENT, JUDGMENT: both removed SLED, SLEDDING, BOBSLED, BOBSLEDDING: removed FORBEAR, FOREBEAR: both retained ADAPTOR, ADAPTER: both retained LOVABLE, LOVEABLE: both retained RACOON, RACCOON: both retained SOYA, SOY: both retained -- ACCENTED WORDS Words with accented letters have been curated according to the editor’s discretion. Here are some examples: ATTACHÉ removed CAFE retained CANAPÉ removed CRÊPE removed FACADE retained FETE retained FIANCÉ removed MACRAMÉ removed MATINEE retained MOIRE retained NAIVE retained -- WORD ENDINGS The dictionary has been pruned to use -ise rather than -ize word endings. At the time of writing, these are the only words ending in -ize that remain in the game's wordlist: BAIZE CAPSIZE DOWNSIZE MAIZE OVERSIZE PRIZE SEIZE SIZE -- AMERICAN WORD SELECTION All words in the game use UK spellings, with non-UK variations omitted. Here are some examples where the American words have very similar spellings; below only the UK versions are used CODEWORDS:UK: AESTHETE (UK) ESTHETE (US) ANALOGUE (UK) ANALOG (US) ARTEFACT (UK) ARTIFACT (US) CARAT (UK) KARAT (US) DISTIL (UK) DISTILL (US) FLAUTIST (UK) FLUTIST (US) Some words with an American etymology, and that are in common parlance in the UK, have been retained. Here’s a few examples that you might find used in puzzles: BALLPARK BASEBALL BELLHOP CANDY DIAPER ESCROW FELON JUNK RODEO ROOKIE
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Codewords at none against Best Cryptic Crosswords's 7. Codewords also leads on update cadence (every 3 weeks vs every 7 months). Best Cryptic Crosswords's advantage is iOS requirement (10.0 vs 14.0). On price, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Best Cryptic Crosswords sells 3 one-off in-app purchases. Codewords asks for nothing beyond the download.
Best Cryptic Crosswords ships an update every 7 months, Codewords every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 14, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Best Cryptic Crosswords | Codewords |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.8 (314 ratings) — better | — |
| Positive reviews | 83.0% of reviews | — |
| Number of ratings | 314 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 3 weeks — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | No — better |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 10.0 — better | 14.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 7 MB | 11 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Teazel | DANIEL JEREMY LEACH |
Bugs and requests
Best Cryptic Crosswords
Reported bugs
3 issues- Purchases disappearing after device change
- App crashing issues
- Anticipatory cursor movement causing unintended letter changes
Requested features
4 requests- Clue explanation feature
- More varied and challenging clues
- Ability to track completed clues
- Regular updates with new puzzle packs
Codewords
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Best Cryptic Crosswords
- pack of cryptic crosswords$0.99
- pack of Cryptic Crosswords5 variants$0.99
- get all 6 cryptic packs$3.99
Codewords
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Best Cryptic Crosswords free?
Is Codewords free?
Do Best Cryptic Crosswords or Codewords have ads?
Which is updated more often, Best Cryptic Crosswords or Codewords?
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