Developer: Rumination Software
Rated: 4 stars
Requirements: Compatible with iPod Touch, iPhone, iPad
Bottom Line
If you already have a premium crossword account with The New York Times ($39.95/year) then for an additional $4.99 this app will allow you to access and solve the daily crossword as well as the thousands of puzzles in the NYTimes archives on your mobile device. As an added bonus, this app also includes many in-house puzzles as well as access to other US newspaper and magazine puzzles and even British-style cryptic crosswords from Canada and overseas. A small additional fee ($2.99) gets you thirty crosswords by Brendan Emmett Quigley, one of Will Shortz's favorite constructors. Definitely a lot of value in this app for less than five bucks.Solve puzzles from various sources on the go!
Lots of Features
As with other solving apps, the Settings feature will allow you to set your preferences for how the program behaves when inputting answers. There is an Auto advance clue, Skip completed clues, Skip completed cells, Timer, Keyboard sounds, etc. After solving a few puzzles you'll begin to realize your preferred settings for these various features. I, for one never select sounds, rarely time myself and I don't generally listen to music while solving even though they are all options on Apple devices.
No Font Size Adjustment
There doesn't seem to be any way to adjust the font in this app. I would like to see that option. Longer clues are displayed in smaller font sizes due to space constraints. Some can be hard to read for older, tired eyes. One work around is to switch to the clue list mode and read clues and enter letters there. Much easier on the eyes.
Many people seem to be asking for the option to display the puzzles in landscape mode. For now, only portrait mode is available which makes for a lot of horizontal (as well as vertical) scrolling. Landscape mode would reduce some of that need for scrolling as well as be a visual improvement.
Unlike the Magmic app, you don't have the option of sharing your results via various social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. People might like to have this option.
The developers at Rumination Software told me recently that they have a lot of features in the works, including iCloud syncing, a GameCenter support, and a landscape mode for iPad (they heard their customers' plea). They are also planning to add a giant cache of content and some exciting new partnerships are supposedly in the works. I look forward to hearing more in the near future.
