The Devon Puzzles Comprehensive List of Free and Paid Puzzle Software

Let’s be honest: the idea of manually creating dozens (or hundreds!) of puzzles can feel overwhelming. But here’s the good news—you don’t have to do it all by hand. There’s a world of puzzle software and online tools that can make creating professional-quality puzzles a breeze.

Here’s an overview of the software you may want to use when creating your puzzle books.

Puzzle Creation Software

Specialised software can do the heavy lifting for you, whether you’re making crosswords or Sudoku grids. Here are some popular options with detailed descriptions and recommendations, categorised by puzzle type and functionality to help you choose the best tools for your needs.

Crossword Creation Software

These tools are perfect for designing crosswords, whether you’re making simple grids or complex, symmetrical puzzles.

Crossword Compiler

A powerful tool for creating crosswords of all difficulty levels. It offers advanced features like grid symmetry, clue editing, and publishing options.

  • Best For: Professional creators and those aiming for high- quality, polished crosswords.
  • Price: Paid (with a free trial available).
  • Website: crossword-compiler.com

The Crossword Generator

Recommended. From Bowes Publishing – Full commercial rights for a very powerful tool for creating varying types of crosswords of all difficulty levels with extensive customisation options. Well worth exploring the Gumroad site bowespublishing.gumroad.com/ with sales and numerous other puzzle software.

  • Best For: Professional creators with high-quality, varied
  • crosswords.
  • Price: One time £50 purchase
  • Website: crosswordgeneration.com/

PuzzleMaker (Discovery Education)

A free and user-friendly tool for creating simple crosswords, perfect for beginners.

Eclipse Crossword

A lightweight,  free crossword creator that’s great for straightforward puzzles.

  • Best For: Beginners and hobbyists who don’t need advanced features.
  • Price: Free.
  • Website: eclipsecrossword.com

CrossFire

CrossFire is an innovative tool for creating professional quality crossword puzzles-powerful enough for Professionals, simple enough for everyone. Comprehensive support and documentation.

  • Best For: Professional creators and those using Windows, Mac and Linux.
  • Price: One time payment of $50 (limited free trial available).
  • Website: beekeeperlabs.com/crossfire

Crosserville

Free, browser-based with a good integrated 170,000+ word list.

Crossword Spin

Create custom crossword puzzles using this online crossword puzzle generator with plenty of categories and templates.

  • Best For: Parents and teachers looking for FREE printable crossword puzzles for fun activities for kids in a classroom or home-school.
  • Price: Monthly Plan (No Ads/ unlimited downloads/ Premium features /Free limited downloads
  • Website: crosswordspin.com

Online Puzzle Maker

Dutch online generator for a lot of different kinds of puzzles including crosswords, word searches, acrostics and wordles.

  • Best for: Beginners or hobbyists.
  • Price: Free limited subscription with paid plans starting at $30 per year.
  • Website: puzzel.org/en

Word Search Generators

Create fun and customisable word searches with these tools.

The Word Search Generator

Recommended. From Bowes Publishing – Full commercial rights for a very powerful tool for creating custom word search. Again, well worth exploring the Gumroad site bowespublishing.gumroad.com with sales and numerous other puzzle software.

  • Best For: Professional creators with high-quality, customisable crosswords.
  • Price: One time purchase of £50 or £4.99 monthly

Armored Penguin

A versatile online word search generator with options for different grid sizes and styles.

  • Best For: Teachers, parents, and casual creators.
  • Price: Free.
  • Website: armoredpenguin.com

PuzzleFast

A straightforward online generator for creating word searches and crosswords quickly and easily.

  • Best For: Quick projects or beginner creators.
  • Price: Free.
  • Website: puzzlefast.com

My Word Search

An online tool with robust customisation options, including themed grids and colour choices.

  • Best For: Creators looking for a polished, creative touch.
  • Price: Free (premium features available).
  • Website: mywordsearch.com

Easy WordSearch Maker

Closely related to Crossword Spin. Create custom word search puzzles using an online word search puzzle generator with plenty of categories and templates.

  • Best For: Parents and teachers looking for FREE printable crossword puzzles for fun activities for kids in a classroom or home-school.
  • Price: Monthly Plan (No Ads/ unlimited downloads/ Premium features / Free limited downloads
  • Website: easywordsearchmaker.com

Canva Free Online Word Search Maker

If you use Canva then look out for their online word search maker with many templates.

  • Best For: Paid up users of Canva looking for quick and easy fun activities for kids.
  • Price: Canva Plan
  • Website: canva.com/create/word-search

Puzzle Maker (Discovery Education)

An easy-to-use online tool for creating word searches and other puzzles with customizable word lists and grid sizes. puzzlemaker. discoveryeducation.com

Vocabulary Word Search Factory

A downloadable software program for creating word searches with advanced features like themes, font customisation, and grid designs.

  • Best For: Teachers and professional creators.
  • Price: Free with limitations
  • Website: schoolhousetech.com

The Word Finder

Free online collection of word related tools including anagram solver, word scramble, Sudoku, word searches and plenty more.

Sudoku Generators

These tools help you create Sudoku puzzles of varying difficulty.

The Sudoku Generator

Recommended. From Bowespublishing – Full commercial rights for a very powerful tool for creating sudokus of all difficulty levels. Well worth exploring the Gumroad site bowespublishing.gumroad. com/ with sales and numerous other puzzle software.

  • Best For: simple sudokus.
  • Price: Free

Krazydad Sudoku

Generate high-quality Sudoku puzzles for free, with options for different levels and grid sizes. Other puzzles available.

  • Best For: Beginners and advanced creators alike.
  • Price: Free.
  • Website: krazydad.com

SudokuToDo

Recommended. A good looking online Sudoku generator that offers 4×4 and 9×9 grids, levels from Easy to Evil and bulk download options and plenty of other kinds of Sudoku puzzles.

  • Best For: those looking to include varying levels of difficulty in their book. You may need to contact the website if you plan to sell the generated Sudokus.
  • Price: Free (donation available)
  • Website: sudokutodo.com

SudokuStudio

A professional-grade Sudoku generator that offers advanced features like solving algorithms and puzzle analysis.

  • Best For: Experienced creators or those looking to include challenging Sudoku puzzles in their book.
  • Price: Paid.
  • Website: www.sudokustudio.com

Logic Puzzle Generators

Design engaging logic puzzles with these tools:

ChatGPT

Recommended Sign up for an account and you can make use of their GPT’s . Confusingly, these are custom versions of ChatGPT that concentrate on a particular subject or area. On the left hand side panel in ChatGPt you will see Explore GPTs. Clicking on that will lead you to an area where you can explore the custom versions available. I typed in Logic Puzzle Creator and up appeared a number of Generators. I have found two that I now use to create my logic puzzles. It’s very easy to get excellent results and has become my recommended reliable way to create logic puzzles.

  • Best for: all levels who have experience of ChatGPT
  • Price: free but limited
  • Website: chatgpt.com/gpts

Puzzlemaker (Discovery Education)

Offers tools for creating simple logic puzzles such as cryptograms and fallen phrase alongside other types like word searches and mazes.

  • Best For: Beginner-level logic puzzles.
  • Price: Free.
  • Website: puzzlemaker.discoveryeducation.com

Logic Grid Puzzles by Krazydad

Provides pre-made and customizable logic grids. Ideal for inspiration or creating your own puzzles.

  • Best For: Intermediate logic puzzle creators.
  • Price: Free.
  • Website: krazydad.com

Johannes Singler

Private website worth exploring. Look at the Apps page which includes Logicalsolver.

  • Best For: Intermediate logic puzzle creators.
  • Price: Free.
  • Website: jsingler.de/

Zebra Puzzle Maker

A specialised tool for creating and solving grid-based logic puzzles such as “Einstein’s Riddle” or Zebra puzzles.

Maze Puzzle Generators

The Maze Generator

Recommended From Bowespublishing – Full commercial rights Create mazes of all difficulty levels. Bulk create mazes with multiple algorithms. Export in SVG (vector), PNG, BMP, JPG & PDF.

Maze Generator

An online tool for creating mazes of different complexities and shapes. Need a commercial licence to use in books.

  • Best For: Quick and customizable mazes.
  • Price: Free
  • Website: mazegenerator.net

Krazydad Mazes

Offers printable maze puzzles in various difficulty levels and styles. Need permission from Krazydad to use in your own puzzle book

Criss Cross Puzzle Generators

Fit words from a provided word list onto a blank irregular grid. Words are listed in order of the number of letters. 6 letters words can only go into 6 letter spaces on the gird.

Crossword Compiler

Recommended A powerful tool for creating crosswords including criss-cross puzzles of all difficulty levels. It offers features like variable grids, clue formatting, font management and publishing options.

  • Best For: All criss cross creators looking for a good quality puzzle.
  • Price: Paid (with a free trial available).
  • Website: crossword-compiler.com

The Criss Cross Generator

From Bowespublishing – with full commercial rights. Create standard crossword, word place (criss cross) or word scramble. Create puzzles and export in SVG (vector), PNG, BMP, JPG & PDF.

Other Puzzles

Although we have concentrated upon the most popular types of puzzles, there are plenty more puzzles to be found in puzzle books and on the internet. Some are easy to add to your repertoire, others demand a great deal of work.

Here’s a selection:

Word Puzzles

Anagrams: An anagram is a word or phrase formed by rearranging the letters of another word or phrase, typically using all the original letters exactly once. Often found as part of a crossword puzzle.

Famous anagrams include:

Clint Eastwood is an anagram of Old West Action
Astronomer is an anagram of Moon Starer
Astronomers is an anagram of no more stars
William Shakespeare is an anagram of I am a weakish speller
Listen is an anagram of Silent
School Master is an anagram of The Classroom
Eleven plus two is an anagram of Twelve plus one
Sidmouth by the sea is an anagram of my sited bathhouse

anagram-solve.com  provides more entertaining information.

To create your own anagrams try anagrammaker.com or ingesanagram.com

Cryptograms are encoded messages that need deciphering. In a standard cryptogram puzzle, one letter of the alphabet is substituted with another letter. The same substitution is used throughout a single puzzle.

Acrostics: Clues lead to answers that form a hidden message or reveal a larger puzzle.

Number Puzzles

Kakuro

Similar to a crossword puzzle but with sums of numbers as clues. According to kakuro-mania.com “a Kakuro puzzle is represented by a rectangular area of empty and non-empty cells, similar to a crossword puzzle, but instead of words it consists of number sequences, each of which is associated with a clue, located on the left of the sequence (across clues) or above the sequence (down clues).” The website has an online generator, solving techniques and examples.

KenKen

Mathematical grid puzzles involving operations like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Kenkenpuzzle.com shows how to play as well as customisable puzzles and solutions.

sudokutodo.com/kenken-puzzle-generator has a puzzle generator with downloadable puzzles as well as basic rules.

Magic Squares

Arranging numbers in a grid so rows, columns, and diagonals add up to the same sum. omnicalculator.com/math/magic-square is a calculator with a history, how to create and plenty of other relevant information.

grogono.com/magic/makeyourown4.php allows you to make a whole lot of magic squares with downloads available.

Visual Puzzles

Spot the Difference: Identifying changes between two similar images. A popular puzzle in some puzzle books. There are few Spot the Difference puzzle creators except for our friend, ChatGPT. If you explore the GPTs by asking about Spot the Difference GPTs you will come up with quite a few that make use of Dall-E. The results are a bit hit and miss.

You can create puzzles manually using a good paint program. Create a picture – black and white is the best – and save it. Use a copy and make your changes. Save the copy and you’ve got yourself a good puzzle!

Here’s one I created using a Midjourney-created cartoon picture. I used Microsoft Paint to make ten changes. The first on the left is the original, the second in the centre has the changes and the third on the right provides the solution.

Tangrams

Rearranging geometric shapes to fit a specific design. If you want to make your own tangram then go to lovelyindeed.com/how-to-make-tangrams or fun-stuff-to-do.com/tangrams.html

Picture Puzzles

Solving hidden images or completing images by logic or matching. The online puzzle maker at puzzel.org/en/features/picture-puzzle-maker provides a whole range of puzzles suitable for puzzle books including jigsaws, sliding puzzles, matching and memory games. To fully use the site you need to pay for a subscription but there are free options as well.

Logic and Deduction Puzzles Riddles

Solving word problems with lateral thinking. At Riddlewot (riddlewot.com) you can generate riddles like this:

I’m a town where the cliffs meet the sea,

In Devon’s embrace, a scenic spree.

A Jurassic gem, old as can be,

Find fossils and history, who might I be?

Answer: Sidmouth

Nonograms (or Picross)

Filling in a grid based on number clues to reveal a hidden picture. Go to nonograms.io, nonogrammed.com or ninjapuzzles.com for more information. Check out whether the puzzles are available for commercial use.

Logic Riddles

Problems requiring reasoning, like Who owns the zebra?

At Musely AI musely.ai/tools/riddle-generator you can generate logic riddles.

Here’s a few examples ending with the question What Am I?

With cliffs and the sea, a sight to behold,

A town’s gentle story, centuries old. What am I?

A town by the sea, a tranquil retreat,

Nature’s wonders, oh so sweet. What am I?

Nature’s embrace, a coastal delight,

Where cliffs meet the sea, a stunning sight. What am I?

The answer is, of course, Sidmouth!

Typli’s typli.ai/ai-riddle-generator produced what I felt was a better standard of riddle. The answer is the same!

In a town by the sea where the cliffs rise high,

With a pebble-strewn beach beneath the vast sky,

Fossils of ancient lives here can be found,

Where the vibrant red cliffs guard stories profound.

Jubilant summer days draw visitors near,

What am I, this Devon gem, do you peer? What town am I?

Escape Room Puzzles

Solving interconnected clues to escape.

Here are some websites that provide printable ideas:

teambuilding.com/blog/escape-room-puzzles

escape-team.com/free-escape-room-diy-kit

escaperoomgeeks.com/diy-puzzles

There are plenty of ideas in these websites to help you put together a simple escape room activity.

Trivia and Knowledge Puzzles

Quiz Questions

Testing general knowledge or themed trivia.

Quizrise quizrise.com allows you a few free quizzes per month as does Quizgecko quizgecko.com

Flexiquiz flexiquiz.com is a similar concept but more expensive.

If you just need quiz questions then these websites meet the criteria:

Quiz Questions quiz-questions.uk Free questions with a UK bias.

Pub Quiz Questions HQ pubquizquestionshq.com – again free and from the UK.

IMPORTANT- If you are producing a book to sell, please check that you have permission to use any questions for a commercial basis.

Fill-in-the-Blanks

Completing phrases or sentences with appropriate words. These are quite easy to manually produce. Take an excerpt from a public domain book such as the early PG Wodehouse books. Go to gutenberg.org to find lots of public domain books.

It all reminds me of comprehension exercises from my schooldays. In fact, sentence completion sites are mainly educational!

15 worksheets – 15worksheets.com/worksheet-category/fill-in-the-blank

There are quite a few other websites with downloadable fill in the blanks worksheets but almost all of them include a ban on commercial usage in their terms and conditions. Here’s two for your references only.

worksheethero.com/fill-in-the-blank-worksheets

englishforeveryone.org/Topics/Sentence-Completion.html

Other Varieties

Rebus Puzzles

Say what you see. A bit like the TV program Catchphrase! Deciphering pictures and symbols to form words or phrases.

Rebus puzzler rebuspuzzler.com is an interesting site to start your brain cells going. Includes a How to Solve Them page.

Briddles briddles.com will provide you with some more Rebus ideas as well as plenty of other different riddles.

Printablee printablee.com allow you to use their puzzles for commercial use. You may need to put a link to their website somewhere obvious.

There are many other similar websites-just check, as usual, about commercial usage.

Math Puzzles

Problems involving arithmetic, algebra, or other mathematical concepts. Again, there are lots of websites with plenty of good examples for you on which to base your own unique puzzles.

Maths is Fun’s mathsisfun.com puzzle page contains lots of ideas.

Mr Barton’s Maths mrbartonmaths.com has a Fun page with Maths puzzles and jokes.

This list within this section is comprehensive but not exhaustive. It gives a flavour of what can be added to a puzzle book to make it unique and perhaps, more attractive to your readers.

Looking through puzzle books available in newsagents or supermarkets is always a valuable experience. Most of the mixed puzzle books often include a new slant on a puzzle. They will undoubtedly give you ideas, for you to use in your own books.

General Puzzle Creation Software

These tools allow you to design a wide range of puzzle types.

Bowes Publishing

Recommended A wide variety of puzzle software, both online and offline. The Puzzle Generator 2.0 and the Maze Generator are well worth exploring. Full commercial rights on many puzzle tools of all difficulty levels. Well worth exploring the Gumroad site bowespublishing.gumroad.com with sales and numerous other puzzle software.

  • Best For: all types of usable puzzles.
  • Price: From free to expensive and all points in-between!

Puzzlemaker (Discovery Education)

Puzzlemaker is an online puzzle generation tool with 10 different types of puzzle.

Cross+A

An all-in-one tool for creating crosswords, logic puzzles, and more. Offers export options for various formats.

  • Best For: Experienced creators looking for versatility.
  • Price: Permanent licence coasts 25 euros.
  • Website: cross-plus-a.com

Educaplay

An online platform for creating interactive puzzles, like matching games and quizzes, in addition to a growing number of printable puzzles.

  • Best For: Teachers and digital-first creators.
  • Price: Register for Free (premium features available from 4 euros per month).
  • Website: educaplay.com

OhMyDots

Oh, my Dots! is a free online game that offers players the opportunity to play unlimited free connect the dots games, mazes and word searches and print them out.

Puzzel.org

Create crosswords, word searches, jigsaws, wordles, cryptograms, quizzes and plenty more with this free but limited Dutch site full of useful activity generators. Aimed at teachers and students, non-profit subscriptions are available for less limited access.

  • Best For: Beginners, teachers and more experienced creators .
  • Price: From free to expensive and all points in-between!
  • Website: puzzel.org/en

Puzzle Maker

An online site for creating crosswords and maths puzzles. It says I have full copyright to the crosswords I create. It is free although there is a premium subscription available.

Puzzle Fast

A free instant puzzle maker for word searches and crosswords.

Free Colouring Pages

All our Free Colouring Pages are carefully edited by human hands for your enjoyment. Click on any of the colouring pages and download them onto your computer. Each coloring page can be printed out on your printer at A4 size.

East Devon Cosy Mysteries

Enjoy Cosy Mysteries ? Then head over to eastdevoncosymysteries.com and discover Frank and Ella Raleigh’s escapades as they solve cosy mysteries in the East Devon area. Start with Cidered in Sidmouth.