Crossword Grid Generator
Click any cell to toggle it black. Symmetry is enforced automatically. Cell numbers are assigned by standard crossword rules. Download the finished grid as an SVG for print or design software. Nothing uploaded.
Grid (click a cell to toggle black)
Learn more: how the grid gets mirrored, numbered and counted
What the symmetry menu actually does
Every mode in the Symmetry menu works the same way. When you toggle a square, the tool copies that square's new colour into exactly one partner square and touches nothing else.
The only difference between the modes is which square counts as the partner. In 180 rotational the partner sits as far from the bottom-right corner as the square you clicked sits from the top-left. Horizontal mirror keeps the column and flips the row, vertical mirror keeps the row and flips the column, and None leaves the clicked square as the only change.
The mirroring happens at the moment of the click, so switching modes partway through leaves everything you placed earlier exactly where it was. Build half a grid in 180 rotational, switch to None, and only that first half stays symmetric.
Where the numbers and the Across and Down totals come from
A white square is numbered when it begins an across entry, a down entry, or both. Beginning an across entry means the square has the grid edge or a black square immediately to its left and a white square immediately to its right. Beginning a down entry is the same test turned vertical: edge or black above, white below.
The tool sweeps left to right and top to bottom, handing out 1, 2, 3 and so on to every square that passes either test. The Across and Down figures in the stats bar run those same two tests counted separately, so a square that opens an across entry and a down entry at once lands in both totals while taking only one number. That is why adding Across to Down overshoots the highest number on the grid.
The effect is easiest to see on a small grid. An empty 5x5 numbers 1 to 9, with 1 in the top-left corner, and reports 5 across and 5 down. Click that corner black and, in the default 180 mode, the bottom-right goes black with it.
The grid now numbers 1 to 8. Number 1 has moved to the second square of the top row, and the square directly below the black corner takes 5. Both word counts are still 5 across and 5 down, because blacking the corner destroyed one entry start in each direction and created a new one in each direction at the same time.
The percentage, and what nothing here checks for you
Black squares as a percentage is simply black squares divided by every square in the grid, rounded to a whole number. A 15x15 is 225 squares, so 33 black squares shows as 15 percent and 36 shows as 16 percent.
That percentage and the entry counts are the whole of the feedback. The tool does not test for the things an editor will reject: two-letter entries, unchecked squares that belong to an across entry but no down entry, or a pocket of white squares walled off from the rest of the grid. A white square boxed in by black on every side is simply left unnumbered and adds nothing to either word count.
The SVG export
Download SVG writes the grid at 32 pixels per square as plain vector shapes, one rectangle per square plus a small text element for each number. Nothing in the file is a bitmap, so it prints at any size without going soft, and the numbers stay live text you can restyle after importing into InDesign, Illustrator or Affinity Publisher.
FAQ
Does the tool stop me from breaking crossword rules?
No. It mirrors your clicks, numbers the entries and counts them. Minimum word length, unchecked squares and whether the white squares all connect are still yours to check.
Why is number 1 not always in the top-left square?
Number 1 goes to the first square that starts an entry, reading left to right and top to bottom. A top-left square that is black, or that has black squares to its right and below it, starts nothing, so the numbering moves on to the next square that does.
Can I build a grid that is not square?
Yes. Rows and Columns are separate menus running 5 to 21 in odd steps, so 13x21 is fine. Changing either menu, like the Clear grid button, resets every square to white, so download the SVG before you resize.