Best Cryptic Crosswords Apps & Games

250+ iOS apps & games curated and reviewed

4.5 avg rating
20 free apps & games
Updated August 2026

Every iPhone needs a few good cryptic crosswords apps and games. We benchmark 250+ of them on App Store rating, freshness, and pricing, then surface the standouts so you don't have to scroll the App Store yourself.

Compare top Cryptic Crosswords Apps & Games (August 2026)

#AppPriceRatingAdsIn-App PurchasesUpdated
1Best Cryptic CrosswordsBest Cryptic CrosswordsFree4.8★ (312)NoYesAug 2026
2Cryptic CrosswordCryptic CrosswordFree4.8★ (1K)NoYesAug 2026
3Crosswords With FriendsCrosswords With FriendsFree4.5★ (62K)YesYesAug 2026
4Minute CrypticMinute CrypticFreeNoYesAug 2026
5Crossword - by puzzling.comCrossword - by puzzling.comFree4.5★ (43K)YesYesAug 2026
6Daily Cryptic - Solve & LearnDaily Cryptic - Solve & LearnFree4.7★ (3)NoYesAug 2026
7Cryptic Words: Crossword GameCryptic Words: Crossword GameFree4.7★ (185)YesYesAug 2026
8Omni CrosswordsOmni CrosswordsFree4.2★ (220)NoNoAug 2026

Top Picks for Cryptic Crosswords

Best Cryptic Crosswords#1

Best Cryptic Crosswords by Teazel

Relax with a puzzle
Editor's Choice
🎮 Games
4.8😊(312 ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
Best Cryptic Crosswords screenshot 1
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Best Cryptic Crosswords screenshot 3
Best Cryptic Crosswords screenshot 4
Best Cryptic Crosswords screenshot 5
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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.

What We Love

  • 🚀 Great puzzles
  • 👍 Enjoyable challenge
  • 👍 Reasonably difficult
  • 👍 User-friendly interface

Room to Improve

  • 🐛 Clues with barely any connection to answers
  • 🐛 Repeated clues and answers
  • 🐛 Lack of explanations for clues
Cryptic Crossword#2

Cryptic Crossword by Teazel

Improve your word power
Strong Contender
🎮 Games
4.8😊(1K ratings)
FreeIn-App Purchases
Cryptic Crossword screenshot 1
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Cryptic Crossword screenshot 3
Cryptic Crossword screenshot 4
Cryptic Crossword screenshot 5
Cryptic Crossword screenshot 6

Engage with over 260 professional cryptic crosswords designed for experienced puzzle solvers. Enjoy a full-featured experience with 29 free puzzles, including pinch zooming, mistake highlighting, and resume functionality.

What We Love

  • 👍 Great mind workout
  • 👍 Excellent value for money
  • 👍 Fantastic and addictive challenges
  • 👍 Not too hard not too easy

Room to Improve

  • 🐛 Occasional freezing and crashing issues
  • 🐛 Backup/restore not working
  • 🐛 Purchased puzzles disappearing after device change
Crosswords With Friends#3

Crosswords With Friends by Zynga Inc.

A new crossword puzzle daily!
Worth Considering
🎮 Games
4.5😐(62K ratings)
FreeAdsIn-App Purchases
#15in Games
Crosswords With Friends screenshot 1
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Crosswords With Friends screenshot 3
Crosswords With Friends screenshot 4

Engage your mind with daily crossword puzzles featuring themes from current entertainment, pop culture, and sports. Compete with friends, earn rewards, and access a vast archive of puzzles. Offers mini and midi puzzles alongside themed daily challenges.

What We Love

  • 🎮 Fun and challenging puzzles
  • 🧠 Keeps the brain active
  • 🕰️ Great daily routine
  • 💻 Decent crossword game

Room to Improve

  • 💰 Difficult to earn free coins
  • 🛑 Too many ads and paywalls
  • 🇺🇸 Heavily American-centric

More Cryptic Crosswords apps to explore

4
Minute Cryptic
Minute Cryptic
Minute Cryptic
Solve a daily cryptic clue
Free

Learn cryptic crosswords with a daily, handcrafted clue and a short video explanation. Features a hint system, progress tracking, and a beginner-friendly guide. Offers an optional membership for access to past clues, mini crosswords, and clue creation.

Daily cryptic cluesBite-sized video explanationsHint system and letter reveals
🎮 Games
(0)
freemium
5
Crossword - by puzzling.com
Crossword - by puzzling.com
Crossword - by puzzling.com
The World's Biggest Puzzle
Free

Engage your mind with a vast collection of crossword puzzles and word games. Solve thousands of clues, complete daily challenges, and collect trophies across multiple game modes. Enjoy a new puzzle experience every day with this extensive library of brain-teasing fun.

Thousands of unique cluesHundreds of original puzzlesDaily themed puzzles
🎮 Games
(43K)
free with in-app purchases
6
Daily Cryptic - Solve & Learn
Daily Cryptic - Solve & Learn
Daily Cryptic - Solve & Learn
Cryptic Crosswords & Puzzles
Free

Learn to solve cryptic crosswords with daily clues, progressive hints, and step-by-step explanations. Build your skills through a structured learning series and practice with weekly crosswords and monthly prize challenges.

Daily cryptic cluesProgressive hintsStep-by-step explanations
🎮 Games
(3)
free with in-app purchases
7
Cryptic Words: Crossword Game
Cryptic Words: Crossword Game
Cryptic Words: Crossword Game
Solve puzzle - boost iq
Free

Challenge your mind with logic puzzles and brain teasers. This game offers a variety of word puzzles and challenges on different themes, with adjustable difficulty levels. Keep your brain sharp and active anywhere, anytime.

Adjustable difficulty levelsFascinating word puzzles and challengesIntuitive and user-friendly interface
🎮 Games
(185)
free with in-app purchases
8
Omni Crosswords
Omni Crosswords
Omni Crosswords
Solve good crosswords daily
Free

Enjoy daily crosswords from major publications with this free and simple iOS app. It offers a quick solving experience with helpful features like error highlighting and customizable settings. Track your progress with statistics and compete with friends using the built-in timer.

Daily puzzles from major outletsError highlightingCustomizable settings
🎮 Games
(220)
free
9
Crosswordie - Daily Crosswords
Crosswordie - Daily Crosswords
Crosswordie - Daily Crosswords
Fun themed crosswords
Free

Engage your mind with thousands of themed crossword puzzles across diverse subjects. Learn new languages with bilingual clues and enjoy daily challenges. Play offline with a modern interface and integrated dictionary.

Thousands of themed puzzlesBilingual mode for language learningDaily challenges and streaks
🎮 Games
(1)
free
10
Crossword Genius
Crossword Genius
Crossword Genius
Enjoy cryptic crosswords
Free

This app offers a daily cryptic crossword and a collection of tutorial puzzles to help users improve their skills. It features an AI assistant that can provide hints, explain clues, or solve entire crosswords, and supports importing puzzles from various sources.

AI-powered cryptic crossword solverDaily free cryptic crosswordTutorial crossword packs
🎮 Games
(74)
free with in-app purchases
11
Crossword Puzzle - Words Game
Crossword Puzzle - Words Game
Crossword Puzzle - Words Game
Connect Letters - Create Words
Free

Engage your brain with hundreds of daily crosswords. Improve vocabulary and general knowledge while enjoying fun puzzles. Offers hints and error correction for a smooth experience.

Hundreds of daily puzzlesVocabulary and general knowledge builderSmart word suggestions
🎮 Games
(53)
free with in-app purchases
12
CrypticCrab Crossword
CrypticCrab Crossword
CrypticCrab Crossword
Your #1 cryptic crossword app
Free

Learn to solve cryptic crosswords with interactive lessons and practice. Features daily puzzles, unlimited solving across difficulty levels, and real-time multiplayer duels. Track your progress and access a reference library of indicators and abbreviations.

Interactive lesson systemDaily and archived puzzlesUnlimited solving across difficulty tiers
🎮 Games
(9)
free with in-app purchases
13
Learn Cryptic Crosswords
Learn Cryptic Crosswords
Learn Cryptic Crosswords
Develop your solving skills
Free

Master the art of cryptic crosswords with this interactive guide. It breaks down clue types, offers step-by-step learning through six chapters, and includes practice exercises and puzzles to build your solving skills.

Step-by-step clue explanationsInteractive exercisesPractice puzzles
📚 Education
(443)
free with in-app purchases
14
Devarai Crosswords
Devarai Crosswords
Devarai Crosswords
The best American crosswords!
Free

Enjoy a wide variety of high-quality American crosswords on your mobile device. This app offers puzzles ranging from easy to difficult, with features designed for a smooth and engaging experience. Improve your vocabulary, concentration, and general knowledge with daily challenges.

Weekly puzzles in multiple languagesFull-screen puzzle viewLandscape and portrait mode
🎮 Games
(148)
free with in-app purchases
15
Crossword Puzzles +
Crossword Puzzles +
Crossword Puzzles +
Classic crossword word puzzles
Free

Enjoy a vast collection of classic crossword puzzles on your iPhone and iPad. This app offers over 800 puzzles across various types, with a modern design and intuitive controls. Participate in a community rating system with thousands of players.

800+ free crossword puzzlesMultiple puzzle types (classic, keywords, anagrams, scandinavian)Modern design with multitouch gestures
🎮 Games
(2)
free with in-app purchases
16
Astraware Crosswords
Astraware Crosswords
Astraware Crosswords
Quick-style daily crosswords!
Free

Enjoy daily crossword puzzles on the go with this app. It offers free daily and weekly puzzles, with options to purchase additional packs for offline play. A subscription unlocks all puzzles and removes ads.

Daily quick-style crosswordsFree weekly larger puzzlesOffline puzzle packs
🎮 Games
(328)
free with in-app purchases
17
The Big Crossword
The Big Crossword
The Big Crossword
Biggest single grid crosswords
Free

Engage with massive, single-grid crossword puzzles featuring over 1300 clues. Choose between quest-based or classic modes, with helpful hints and a mini-grid to guide you. Sharpen your wits with cryptic clues in this challenging brain game.

Massive single-grid crosswordsOver 1300 clues per gridQuest mode with 80+ quests
🎮 Games
(42)
free with in-app purchases
18
Crossword Unlimited
Crossword Unlimited
Crossword Unlimited
Play three types of crossword
Free

Enjoy an endless supply of custom-made crossword puzzles. Configure grid size, difficulty, and clue types to match your preferences. Save and reload games, and utilize helpful aids to solve challenging crosswords in multiple languages.

Unlimited custom crossword generationConfigurable grid size and difficultyThree crossword grid types (British, Barred, Arrow)
🎮 Games
(3K)
free with in-app purchases
19
Crossword Puzzles...
Crossword Puzzles...
Crossword Puzzles...
72 layouts included
Free

Challenge your vocabulary and deduction abilities by filling in blank squares with letters to complete crosswords. Each word is accompanied by a helpful hint phrase to guide your solving process.

Vocabulary testingGuessing skills challengeFill empty squares with letters
🎮 Games
(2.2K)
free
20
Crosswords for Kids Lite
Crosswords for Kids Lite
Crosswords for Kids Lite
by Lyubov Zhivova
Free

This app offers crossword puzzles designed to help children aged 3-10 build vocabulary, spelling, reading, and writing skills. It includes a color-coded letter system to assist with puzzle completion. The lite version provides 8 puzzles.

Crossword puzzles for kidsVocabulary buildingSpelling practice
📚 Education
(1K)
free

FAQ about Cryptic Crosswords

What are the best cryptic crosswords apps & games for iPhone?
Best Cryptic Crosswords tops our cryptic crosswords apps & games ranking as of August 2026, with a 4.8-star average from 312 App Store ratings, and it's free to download.
Yes — 20 of the top cryptic crosswords apps & games we rank are free to download, including Best Cryptic Crosswords and Cryptic Crossword.
Best Cryptic Crosswords has no ads and offers in-app purchases, according to its App Store listing as of August 2026.
We track 250+ cryptic crosswords apps & games on the iOS App Store as of August 2026, ranked by rating, recency, and analysis of real user reviews.
Key features include a pinch and zooming grid, landscape mode with a clue list, cheat and answer checking functionality, a resume button, and British-style puzzles. The app also offers 12 free puzzles with all features enabled and no ads.