The word that would not fit
Putting words in a grid is a packing problem, and packing problems fail. Ask for twenty words in a 10 by 10 and some of them will not go, because there is nowhere left that fits.
What most generators do at that point is drop the word silently. The puzzle prints, the word list prints with the missing word still on it, and somebody spends forty minutes looking for something that is not there.
Here, anything that could not be placed is named with the reason, and it is left off the word list as well as out of the grid. A bigger grid or fewer words fixes it, and you find that out before you print thirty copies.
Longest first, which is the trick
A long word has very few places it can go, so it is placed into an empty grid where it nearly always fits. Place the short ones first and they scatter, leaving no run of eleven clear squares anywhere for the long one. That single ordering decision is most of the difference between a generator that packs well and one that gives up.
The filler spells things, and that is arithmetic
Fill the gaps with random letters and the grid will, sooner or later, contain a word nobody put there. Usually harmless. Occasionally a four-letter word on a puzzle sheet for a primary school.
It is not superstition. A 15 by 15 grid holds roughly 1,300 runs of four letters once you count all eight directions, so an accident is likely rather than possible. The fill here is re-rolled until nothing on a short list of the obvious ones appears anywhere, forwards or backwards.
How dense should it be?
The tool reports what percentage of the grid is your words rather than filler. Around 40 to 60 per cent feels right: enough noise to hide in, not so much that finding anything is luck.
Below about 25 per cent the puzzle is mostly random letters and the hunt turns into a slog. The fix is a smaller grid or more words, so check before you print.
Difficulty is about direction, not about the words
- Easy: across and down only. Right for young children and for anybody who will give up.
- Medium: plus the two forward diagonals.
- Hard: all eight, backwards included.
Hard is genuinely hard, and worth saying so on the sheet. A word running backwards up a diagonal is close to invisible to somebody who does not know to look for it, and half the list will never be found if nobody tells them.
Everything is generated on your own machine. Nothing is uploaded and there is no account.
Common questions
A word is missing from my grid.
It could not be placed, and the tool says which one and why. That happens when a word is longer than the grid, or when the grid has genuinely run out of room. What it does not do is drop the word silently and print it on the word list anyway, which is what most generators do and why children spend forty minutes hunting for something that is not there.
How big should the grid be?
Big enough for your longest word and small enough that the puzzle is dense. Around 40 to 60 per cent of the squares being real words is the sweet spot. Below about 25 per cent it is mostly random letters and the hunt stops being satisfying, and the tool tells you the figure.
Can a rude word appear by accident in the filler?
It can, and it is likely rather than possible: a 15 by 15 grid holds around 1,300 four-letter runs once the gaps are filled. The fill here is re-rolled until none of the obvious ones appears in any direction, which matters most for exactly the audience these get printed for.
What is the difference between the difficulty levels?
Easy is across and down only, so scanning is systematic. Medium adds the two forward diagonals. Hard adds all four backwards directions, which is genuinely hard: a backwards diagonal is close to invisible unless somebody knows to look for it. Say which one it is on the sheet.
Do words cross each other?
Yes, wherever the letters agree, and that is what makes a grid feel dense rather than a set of parallel lines. Two words sharing a letter is deliberate.
Can I print the same puzzle twice?
Yes. The same words and settings always produce the same grid, so a reprint matches the copy somebody has already started. Press "different grid" when you want a new one.
What about spaces and hyphens?
Stripped, because a grid holds letters. "Hard-hat" is searched for as HARDHAT and printed on the word list as you typed it, so the sheet still reads naturally.
Is there an answer sheet?
On the second page, with every word ruled through. It only ever lists words that are genuinely in the grid.