Comparison

Crosswords vs Rows Garden

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Crosswords

Engage with daily crossword puzzles from various newspapers, offering hints, clue lookups, and progress tracking. Upgrade for automatic puzzle delivery, access to extensive archives, and a wider selection of premium puzzle sources.

Highlights
  • Daily newspaper crossword puzzles
  • Hints and clue lookups
  • Progress tracking
  • US and UK cryptic puzzles
  • Automatic puzzle downloads
  • Access to extensive puzzle archives
  • Comparison with other solvers
Features
Read full description

"… the definitive source for puzzles for iOS…" -- the New York Times Play the Award Winning Crosswords on your iPad or iPhone, optimized for iOS 12! Each day many newspapers provide their crossword puzzles online; wake up each day to new puzzles, solve them, get hints, view clues, and track how quickly you're improving! • Touch and hold a square to view hints • US and UK Cryptic puzzles available • Hints, Websites, and Clue lookups • Enter answers in 'ink' or 'pencil' • Quickly see your recently played, or sort by date, difficulty or source • Detailed info on each puzzle • Post your solve times online and compare with other solvers After upgrading, you can also: • Automatically get new puzzles every day • Access nearly unlimited puzzles from many different sources • Grab older puzzles with a tap • Download new puzzles automatically in the background Upgraded Puzzle Sources: • Brendan Emmett Quigley's Weekly Puzzle • Inkwell Crossword (Archives only) • Village Voice (Archives only) • Chronicle of Higher Education (Archives only) • King Features Crosswords (Joseph, Sheffer, and Premier) • People Magazine (Archives only) • Newsday (Archives only) • Andy Kravis, Cruciverbist at Law • Glutton for Pun • MacNamara’s Band • Murchie’s Monday Fills • Neville Fogarty • Puzzle Express • The Stickler Weekly • World of Crosswords Premium Crosswords subscription required: • Matt Gaffney’s Crossword Contest • American Values Crossword • Crooked Crosswords Providers list subject to change. •• For support, please visit our website at http://www.standalone.com •• Privacy Policy: https://www.standalone.com/legal/ EULA: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

About

Rows Garden

This app offers a unique crossword puzzle variant with interlocking row and bloom clues. Solve puzzles with adjustable difficulty levels, suitable for both beginners and experienced players. It includes pre-made puzzles and links to external constructors.

Highlights
  • Unique row and bloom clue system
  • Fully-packed triangular grid
  • Adjustable difficulty levels
  • Includes pre-made puzzles
  • Links to puzzle constructors
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

Rows Garden is a crossword puzzle variant invented by Patrick Berry. Instead of the across and down clues and black and white squares of a traditional crossword grid, a Rows Garden puzzle consists of interlocking row and bloom clues whose answers are filled into a fully-packed grid of triangular spaces. Each row consists of one or more clues, with answers entered across the rows of the garden from left to right. Bloom clues are grouped by shade -- light, medium, and dark -- and have six-letter answers that are each entered in a hexagonal bloom within the garden, with the starting point and direction left for you to determine. You can adjust the difficulty level of the solving experience within the app, providing a suitable challenge for both beginning and experienced solvers. The app comes with 30 full-sized puzzles and 135 smaller "Rosebuds" (perfect for solving on iPhone) created by leading Rows Garden constructors to whet your appetite, and includes links to their Web sites for downloading and subscribing to puzzles that you can import into the app. If you like crossword puzzles and are looking for a new challenge, or are seeking an interesting twist on the familiar crossword format, give Rows Garden a try!

Screenshots

Crosswords4 screens
Rows Garden4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is review sentiment: Rows Garden at 88% against Crosswords's 28%. Rows Garden also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 14) and rating (4.7 vs 4.4). Crosswords's advantage is price (Free vs $3.99) and ratings volume (574 vs 16). On ads 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

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Crosswords is free to download; Rows Garden costs $3.99 up front. Crosswords sells 14 one-off in-app purchases. Rows Garden asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Rows Garden holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Crosswords has 574 ratings behind it against 16, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 28% of Crosswords's written reviews are positive against 88% of Rows Garden's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Crosswords ships an update every 3 weeks, Rows Garden every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 17, 2026 and October 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard10 real differences · 1 level
Crosswords versus Rows Garden: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterCrosswordsRows Garden
PriceFree — better$3.99
Rating4.4 (574 ratings)4.7 (16 ratings) — better
Positive reviews27.7% of reviews87.5% of reviews — better
Number of ratings574 — better16
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks — betterEvery 2 months
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank—#158 — better
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod, Mac — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size34 MB23 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperStand Alone, Inc.Robert Bosch

Customer experience

Crosswords

All ratings574 ratings
Positive85.0%
Neutral5.1%
Negative9.9%
Written reviews94 reviews
Positive27.7%
Neutral18.1%
Negative54.3%

Rows Garden

All ratings16 ratings
Positive93.8%
Neutral0.0%
Negative6.3%
Written reviews8 reviews
Positive87.5%
Neutral0.0%
Negative12.5%

Bugs and requests

Crosswords

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Puzzle grid freezing or displaying blank
  • Inconsistent behavior when switching between apps
  • Inability to access or download certain puzzle sources

Requested features

4 requests
  • Dark mode option
  • Ability to delete puzzles
  • Comprehensive error checking and feedback
  • Customizable keyboard and gestures

Rows Garden

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

14 purchases

Crosswords

One-time14
  • Lionel's crosswords, Vol. 1$0.99
  • Ink Well Xwords, Vol. 1$1.99
  • Dell Crosswords$1.99
Show 11 more
  • Edited by Ben Tausig, Vol. 1$1.99
  • Ridonkulous Crosswords$1.99
  • Liz Gorski's Crossword Nation: Vol. 1, No. 1-20$1.99
  • Dell Medium Crosswords$1.99
  • Brendan Emmett Quigley's Faves #1$2.99
  • Jonesin' Crosswords$2.99
  • Edited By Tausig 2$2.99
  • Brendan Emmett Quigley Freestyle$2.99
  • Crosswords Pro (Upgrade)$3.99
  • Crossword Nation's Centennial Edition$7.99
  • Crosswords Pro$9.99
None

Rows Garden

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Crosswords free?
Crosswords is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Rows Garden free?
Rows Garden costs $3.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Crosswords or Rows Garden?
Rows Garden is rated higher. Crosswords averages 4.4 out of 5 from 574 ratings, while Rows Garden averages 4.7 from 16 ratings.
Do Crosswords or Rows Garden have ads?
Neither Crosswords nor Rows Garden shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Crosswords or Rows Garden?
Crosswords ships an update every 3 weeks, and Rows Garden every 2 months. Most recently, Crosswords was updated on October 17, 2026 and Rows Garden on October 22, 2026.

Other comparisons