Last updated on January 17th, 2026 at 08:27 am
Across Crossword Trainer – Puzzle Game Review
Across Crossword Trainer is a Puzzle/Education/Word game from Literate Software LLC, first launched in 15th October 2010.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 129+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Across Crossword Trainer Stand Out
Would you like to learn how to solve crosswords like an expert? This app is what you need.
If you are frustrated with not being able to solve US-style English crosswords from respected newspapers and perhaps even doubting your ability, now there is an app for that.
Join the thousands of people that have used this app to improve their skills enough to be able to solve published crosswords that they once thought were beyond their abilities.
Exquisitely designed for the iPad by the creators of Across Lite, the most widely used crossword solver software since 1995, this crossword skill building kit will help you improve your skills considerably. Not with boring study material or tests – just by solving specially created crosswords.
What it is:
- The most enjoyable and sophisticated crossword solver ever built
- An included collection of 75 crosswords professionally constructed to teach how to solve crosswords with learning notes for each crossword
What it is NOT:
- Crossword solver for Across Lite crosswords available on the web. Install our Across Lite Crosswords app from the store for this.
Using a unique interface that looks like a printed crossword, the app lets you focus on improving your skills even if you have never used a crossword app before.
Crossword solving skills are a combination of ability, technique and practice. The automated help in scanning and selecting clues to solve that captures techniques from expert solvers will help you incorporate those techniques into your solving.
The carefully and professionally constructed 75 crosswords included in the kit take you through a progression of easy, medium and transitional levels, with increasing levels of word play and themes while familiarizing you with some of the oft-repeated crossword "cliches" that makes solving harder puzzles easier. Brief notes for each crossword provide learning points.
You should be ready to tackle most reputable crosswords by the time you finish the included crosswords. If you need additional crosswords for practice, you can purchase more crosswords from renowned authors from inside the app.
We hope you enjoy this lovingly-crafted app as much as we have enjoyed building it.
This Puzzle game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Across Crossword Trainer is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 8th August 2023
Recent improvements include:
Maintenance update for iOS 16. Optimized for all iPad screen sizes.
Download & Availability
Across Crossword Trainer is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Get Across Crossword Trainer on App Store
Requirements: Requires iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 / iPad Mini 3 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 4 / iPad Mini 4 (Cellular) or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
We have had this app for years and we always enjoy the challenges. We need no other crossword puzzle on our iPad. This is the one.
Far and away, the best crossword apps extant. Thank you.
This is the perfect app for learning how to work crossword puzzles. It gently guides you from beginner to advanced with enough material to feel comfortable doing more advanced puzzles.
This is a great app for crossword lovers! And the training is very helpful for new solvers! Now we just need more puzzles.
Skip a letter feature is a little unpredictable, but we've enjoyed working the puzzles and learning crosswordese. The application is easy to use and more puzzles are available through in-app store. Plenty to get started with in the initial product. Definitely good for vocabulary building and word association skills.
We had tried easy crossword puzzles since we had never done them but just found them boring. This app is helping us learn how to solve them and thats what we need.
App. We especially appreciate that there are easy ones for this neophyte.
Excellent excessive for our brain and memory for our recovery from a stroke over a year ago. It helps us recover some of the memory we lost. Great fun as well. AlexT.
Love this app only thing that bothers us is after the last updates ,you have to click different ways to get the letter in the box ,other than that just the right amount of easy,medium and hard puzzles for your every mood.
This is one of the first apps we downloaded years ago. We played it a lot back then and really enjoyed it. We recently started playing again and its just as great! We hope the developer keeps it simple and basic. Thats the appeal to us.
We like the options available to set the layout on the page the way it works best for each individual.
We have been tinkering for years. This is really helping us become a pro.
Great app, helps you if you get stuck, we bought all the packs at the beginning, it's a lot cheaper that way.
The only criticism we have so far is that when we poke an incorrect letter accidentally it counts against us. That may not be a real error.
Nice and easy to learn how to work crossword puzzles.
Not just a lot of crosswords, but also hints and strategies at how to work through them.
Love this app. Play it every night. Expect to become addicted.
So thankful the developers updated their apps. As challenging as you want or as easy as you need it to be! Thank you devs! Dont miss out on a great crossword app.
We bought this app to improve and learn, and we have not been disappointed.
We are not a skilled crossword puzzle player but this app is teaching us how and to enjoy the game as well.
Love this game,best we have found in quite some time. Can be addicting. Absolutely recommend.
Great for all levels! Love the tips for beginners.
This is a very good app that coaches you on the various ways crosswords are built and how to go about solving them. It is great for the beginner. The crosswords get more difficult as you progress. It makes learning the process of working crosswords enjoyable.
This is a great way to learn how to do crossword puzzles. Easy to follow hints and directions.
Works well. Very entertaining. Good mental exercise. Only problem is letters on left of screen don't always respond to first tap. Orienting the screen horizontally helps.
Fantastic app! We've always wanted to work harder puzzles and this app helps with some of the standard "filler" words in all crossword puzzles! Plus it's good entertainment if you're stuck somewhere with time on your hands. IMO, well worth the price.
Great little app to introduce the uninitiated to the world of crosswords. It is not enough to have a good vocabulary (though it helps), but one must learn how to use it to be a successful crossword solver. Knowing words that function as nouns and verbs, knowing the "tricks of the trade," and knowing how to work off already solved answers are all part of the tools provided. Initially, the crosswords will appear simple, but it is attention to the development of the techniques that are most important, and this app will teach them to you. And what a wonderful world will open to you.
We love this!! We are taking this trainer course, and It is so neat to see how much we already know!!!!! It is so user-friendly and so much fun…best part is we're learning and having FUN all AT the SAME time!!!!!!! Thank You so much for this, and we hope to see more crosswords by this developer.
This app was so nice that we did it twice. Very helpful in preparing for more difficult puzzles.
We have never done many crosswords, but like word games. This app teaches you how to complete puzzles. It is great for mental stimulation.
Easy to use and fun. Great way to learn.
A well thought out design in an app that does exactly what it was designed to do, teach you. It Uses a unique way of character entry as opposed to a common keyboard, this threw us off at first but it only took a few minutes to get use to and we find it easier to use now then a common keyboard. No keyboard to get in the way of a beautifully designed smart layout that gives the impression of doing the crosswords on paper. It has a very smart teaching method of learning by application as opposed to memorization. We highly recommend this app if you intend to learn to do crosswords. It's a beautiful app to look at. It also has so many settings options for customization. Enjoy.
We recently retired and wanted to give our brain and thought processes a daily workout, this did the trick! Great way to learn crossword and progressively gets more difficult. This is a great buy.
This is an excellent puzzle packet. Easy to use, fun to master.
This application a must for new crossword enthusiasts. Veterans will enjoy as well. Very intuitive and no gimmicks. Great fun.
We have been looking for a good crossword puzzle app for quite awhile and it appears that we have found it. Lots of puzzles and keeps you busy.
We have had this app for years and we always enjoy the challenges. We need no other crossword puzzle on our iPad. This is the one.
We love the idea of gradually increasing the difficulty of the puzzles. Lots of fun, and we don't feel like such an idiot.
This is a great app for crossword lovers! And the training is very helpful for new solvers! Now we just need more puzzles.
We are a crossword aficionado, but have never really been comfortable going passed the "medium" level puzzles…until now :).
Very helpful, with lots of useful tips, on successful solving. It cuts down on the frustration factor by providing letters or words, you simply can't get. We feel we're a much better crossword puzzle solver, after working with this App.
First off, we never did crossword puzzles because they did not make sense to us and we didn't like feeling "dumb"…but, if you would have told us after downloading and using this app, crossword puzzles would become one of our favorite past times, we would have laughed at you! This app is incredible.
We were a beginner when we started using this app and now we do crossword puzzles regularly. Wonderful app. Our concern now is what to do after we've finished all the puzzles. We highly recommend this app.
A lot of good ideas came together very well in this app. A good starting point for improving your crossword puzzle solving skills.
Very addictive! Puzzles are challenging, but solvable. Lots of fun.
We just love !!! When will there be more ??? AGAIN, WHEN WILL THERE BE MORE.
First of all this app does not give you pages and pages of 'how to solve puzzles' strategies. Rather it puts you in the middle of the action by making you solve a bunch of easy,and then harder puzzles. It also lets you get the answers whenever you want and it has a feature where it warns you if you are typing the wrong letter.There is also a feature where,before you start the puzzle,there is a brief paragraph educating you of the nuances of solving crosswords. Along the way you begin to understand how to read clues,how to spot cliches and by the time you get finished with all the puzzles in the app,you will have become a better crossword puzzle solver-good enough to tackle most top newspaper crosswords.
The instructions make this app very user friendly! We love that the puzzle lets you know if you've entered the wrong letter. Great crossword app.
We are loving this app. It's designed very well and we feel like we are progressing.
Many nicely written puzzles. A great value.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 4.1.2
- Size: 27.88 MB
- iOS: 12.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Literate Software LLC
Last updated: 8th August 2023 | Genre: Puzzle, Education | Developer: Literate Software LLC