Create and edit crossword puzzles

Available for: Advanced and Pro plans on iPadOS 16 or higher

Crossword is an activity type you can create and add to you projects. Crossword creator allows you to pair a series of words and text or image clues. Explain Everything will then generate a crossword based on the common letters between the words you've entered. You'll be able to start the activity from your canvas at any point.

Tip: New to activities? Learn the activities basics.

Create a crossword activity from scratch

You can create a crossword at any point when editing your project.

1. From the Toolbar, select Add Media.
2. Select Activity.
3. Select Crossword.
4. Enter your crossword title. By default it'll be just Crossword.
5. In the Words column, enter a word that the player will have to guess.
6. In the Clues column, select the + Add button to add a clue to the word.
7. Select from an Image on your device, Web image, Clipart or Text. After you add a clue a new empty word-clue pair will appear.
8. Repeat the steps 5-7 until you're happy with your set of words and clues.
9. Select Done when you're ready.

Create a crossword activity from content on the canvas

You can use the content that's already on your canvas to quickly create a crossword out of it.

1. From the toolbar, select Hand Tool.
2. Drag your finger across the objects to select them. Alternatively, select the Hand Tool again to enter the + Add Mode and select the objects one by one.
3. From the context menu, select More actions.
4. Select Create activity.
5. You can choose to isolate image subjects from the content you've selected. This only the isolated subjects will be used in the activity.
6. Select Crossword.
7. Adjust the included content to your needs.
8. Select Done when you're ready.

TIP: When creating activities from existing content, the objects will be automatically placed in the cards. The content that can't be placed automatically will stay in the drawer at the top of the screen. You can drag the content from the drawer and drop it on cards where you'd like.

Editing a crossword

During creating or editing

1. From the Toolbar, select Hand Tool.
2. Select the crossword you'd like to edit.
3. From the context menu, select More actions.
4. Select Edit activity.

While editing crossword you can:

• Select the title to change it.
• Select the X button on the cards to clear the content in them. When you remove content from the activity this way, it'll move to the drawer until you finish editing. You can drag and drop the content back from the drawer if you'd like.
• Select the Delete item to delete the entire pair.
• On images, select the Fit toggle to switch between displaying the entire image or filling the card with the image.
• To save the edits, select Done.