Knotwords

Name: Knotwords
Rating: 4.8 (7789 reviews)
Author: Zach Gage

Your new daily word fix

Free · In‑App Purchases · Designed for iPad

7.8K Ratings
Awards

Editors’ Choice

Apps
Ages

4+
Years
Category

Word
Developer

Zach Gage
Language

EN
English
Size

532.1
MB

Knotwords is a minimal and elegant logic puzzle — with words. The rules are simple: arrange the letters in each section so every word is valid, across and down. Each puzzle may seem difficult at first — but like all my favorite newspaper puzzles, it gets easier as you progress. Each step guides you naturally towards the solution. This is the kind of game I've been trying to make my whole career — I'm amazed Jack and I discovered this design. We hope you like it. -- Terms of use: https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Ratings & Reviews

4.8

out of 5

7.8K Ratings

Editors’ Choice

Knotwords is a mix of crossword puzzles and sudoku—and much more. As we’ve come to expect from developer Zach Gage, he expertly mixes familiar ideas to create something novel (it’s a little like playing a crossword puzzle without the clues). Whether we’re unscrambling words and flexing our vocabulary in daily challenges or working through the sprawling monthly puzzle books, Knotwords’ unique brainteasers keep us coming back for more.

Editors’ Choice

Knotwords is a mix of crossword puzzles and sudoku—and much more. As we’ve come to expect from developer Zach Gage, he expertly mixes familiar ideas to create something novel (it’s a little like playing a crossword puzzle without the clues). Whether we’re unscrambling words and flexing our vocabulary in daily challenges or working through the sprawling monthly puzzle books, Knotwords’ unique brainteasers keep us coming back for more.
Some days are great, some aren't
09/27/2022

Palpador Lupador
What I love about this game are the times the puzzles are simple enough that I can solve then using an intuitive technique where I make quick guesses about letters around the board and then work the puzzle out in nice big chunks until I bring it all together for a speedy, satisfying finish. But as the puzzles get harder throughout the week, it gets harder to play using that method. The game becomes more and more about agonizing over something specific, and the joy just gets sucked right out of it. Sometimes I'm even reduced to asking for a hint...talk about depressing. It's like it's not even the same game by the time Sunday comes around. I've stopped even trying to play harder puzzles. My rating is based only on the part I enjoy.
Some days are great, some aren't
09/27/2022

Palpador Lupador

What I love about this game are the times the puzzles are simple enough that I can solve then using an intuitive technique where I make quick guesses about letters around the board and then work the puzzle out in nice big chunks until I bring it all together for a speedy, satisfying finish. But as the puzzles get harder throughout the week, it gets harder to play using that method. The game becomes more and more about agonizing over something specific, and the joy just gets sucked right out of it. Sometimes I'm even reduced to asking for a hint...talk about depressing. It's like it's not even the same game by the time Sunday comes around. I've stopped even trying to play harder puzzles. My rating is based only on the part I enjoy.
Hasn’t been responsive since v1.0
01/10/2024

Daryl Zero
I lost a streak because the app just sat there as I was tapping on the damned button to load and finally gave up and killed it. It often stops mid animation. I thought it would get back to reasonable, but it’s really terrible at responding to taps in a timely manner. Sometimes my first or second word. I keep tapping a letter until it finally registers at least two of that letter when I wanted one.The dictionary is terrible. So many bad definitions and word forms that make no sense. It says AMIDS is a word. The definition is “Plural of AMID”—a preposition. Look up DATUM in a real dictionary, the plural form is DATA, not DATUMS. It hurts the game when you have to try nonsense “words” because the dictionary is garbage. Maybe a button to report bogus words so you can build an exclusion list. In addition to being slow, the UI is overloaded. How do you select a word to solve? Slapping the cell might choose across when you want down. You’re supposed to drag down. But large puzzles make for small cells, dragging as you select tends to drag the whole grid and/or select the wrong cell. Look at crossword puzzle apps, they all have a button on or above the keyboard. Desperately needs a way to cancel the share process. It takes a very long time to render the gif and I have only ever tapped that by accident.
Hasn’t been responsive since v1.0
01/10/2024

Daryl Zero

I lost a streak because the app just sat there as I was tapping on the damned button to load and finally gave up and killed it. It often stops mid animation. I thought it would get back to reasonable, but it’s really terrible at responding to taps in a timely manner. Sometimes my first or second word. I keep tapping a letter until it finally registers at least two of that letter when I wanted one.The dictionary is terrible. So many bad definitions and word forms that make no sense. It says AMIDS is a word. The definition is “Plural of AMID”—a preposition. Look up DATUM in a real dictionary, the plural form is DATA, not DATUMS. It hurts the game when you have to try nonsense “words” because the dictionary is garbage. Maybe a button to report bogus words so you can build an exclusion list. In addition to being slow, the UI is overloaded. How do you select a word to solve? Slapping the cell might choose across when you want down. You’re supposed to drag down. But large puzzles make for small cells, dragging as you select tends to drag the whole grid and/or select the wrong cell. Look at crossword puzzle apps, they all have a button on or above the keyboard. Desperately needs a way to cancel the share process. It takes a very long time to render the gif and I have only ever tapped that by accident.
Improvements needed
05/28/2022

AllieFl
I really enjoy this game! It’s very challenging, but soluble with persistence. Haven’t used any hints yet! There are some things that need improvement, though. The spelling is off sometimes. Sometimes an “s” is added to a word that doesn’t take one - for example “ares” - maybe it’s meant to be Ares, the god of war - but this would break the general rule of word games that they don’t use proper names. There are also some verbs that an “s” is added to, but which don’t have this form. The most annoying one is in May Puzzle Book #23 in which all my words check positive except for ax! Ax is the currently accepted spelling (not axe). I’m also find how the active blank space in a word is shown in the puzzle (I’m playing on an iPad Pro). The color of the space is a darker hue than the other spaces, but the contrast is not good enough to make it obvious which space the letter you enter will go in. It would be better if the active space was another color altogether. These annoyances don’t take away from the overall game, but I should would like to see them fixed!
Improvements needed
05/28/2022

AllieFl

I really enjoy this game! It’s very challenging, but soluble with persistence. Haven’t used any hints yet! There are some things that need improvement, though. The spelling is off sometimes. Sometimes an “s” is added to a word that doesn’t take one - for example “ares” - maybe it’s meant to be Ares, the god of war - but this would break the general rule of word games that they don’t use proper names. There are also some verbs that an “s” is added to, but which don’t have this form. The most annoying one is in May Puzzle Book #23 in which all my words check positive except for ax! Ax is the currently accepted spelling (not axe). I’m also find how the active blank space in a word is shown in the puzzle (I’m playing on an iPad Pro). The color of the space is a darker hue than the other spaces, but the contrast is not good enough to make it obvious which space the letter you enter will go in. It would be better if the active space was another color altogether. These annoyances don’t take away from the overall game, but I should would like to see them fixed!