I love how you've woven together the history of these puzzle themes with interesting trivia about the Four Tops and Chef Boyardee. It's amazing to see how language and culture intersect in such creative ways. The anecdotes about gunslingers and the meanings behind expressions add a nice touch of humor too!
stickman hook

Features

Crossword generation

• Six languages: French, English, German, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese.
• Bilingual grids: across words in one language, down words in another.
• Any size from 5×5 to 50×50, plus ready-made formats ("Préconfigurations"): grids up to 30×30 work reliably; 50×50 is still being fine-tuned.
• Three difficulty levels (Easy, Medium, Hard).
• Symmetric black-cell layouts: horizontal, vertical, diagonal, both ways, or rotation.
• Seven levels of computing effort for filling the grid automatically, from the quick "Flash" to the exhaustive "GridZilla".
• Themed grids: vocabulary and clues steered toward a subject you choose.
• "Challenge Words": force your own words into the grid.

Clues

• Clues written automatically by an AI language model, in the grid's language.
• Grounded in real dictionary definitions, grammar and example sentences.
• Short generated title for every grid.
• "Recompute": rewrite every clue of a grid, saved as a new version.
• Local AI model by default; optional cloud AI models (Mistral, Claude...) with automatic fallback to the local AI model.

Playing

• Playable grid in the browser, with keyboard or on-screen keyboard.
• "Check" and "Solution" buttons, without losing your answers.
• Zoom and sliders for large grids.
• Grid statistics: word count per length.
• Timer and progress saved under your nickname; resume anytime.
• Per-grid leaderboard (correct letters, then time).
• Shareable "Play" link for each grid.

Interactive mode (build a grid yourself)

• Place words one at a time ("Next") or by hand, undo step by step.
• Toggle black cells by hand, mirrored if the symmetry option is on.
• Word suggestions per slot, per crossing, by start or end.
• Warnings on letters that would block a crossing word.
• Highlighting of impossible, poor and set-aside slots.
• Letter statistics for every empty cell.
• "Clean": remove impossible zones automatically.
• "Finish the grid" / "Finish the zone": let the generator complete it.
• Suggested and automatic definitions, suggested titles.
• "Correct": fix spelling and grammar in a definition or title.
• Drafts saved automatically ("Créations"), publish to the Library.
• Reopen any Library grid, or any generation attempt, for editing.

Library and export

• Every grid stored in a shared Library, filterable by language and level.
• Player count per grid; "seen" tracking.
• PDF download (one or two A4 pages).
• Across Lite .puz download.
• SVG/PNG images of each published grid and its solution.

Tools

• Dictionary: same-root search, real definitions, AI-proposed definitions.
• Synonyms and theme-related words.
• Paraphraser: 5 rewordings of a sentence.
• Bilingual lookups side by side.
• One-click links to Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, Mistral and Euria.
• David FALCON: chat assistant for help and hints, without spoiling answers.
• Crossword news panel (RSS feeds and publishers' daily grids).

Interface and deployment

• Interface in six languages, following the chosen language.
• Nickname protected by a secret word.
• Online-user counter and CPU/GPU load meters.
• Runs entirely locally, on CPU or GPU (NVIDIA, Apple Silicon).
• Optional dual-GPU setup.
• Server available in Python or Java, interchangeable.
• Batch generator to pre-fill the Library.
• Command-line generator.
• Dictionaries rebuildable from their original sources.

Thank You, Mark, for the response.

I think I know the answer but is it still a dupe when you use the same word in the grid, but it's as used as two different parts of speech? For example, the word ASH: I might use it as the name MARY KAY ASH and the as CIGARETTE ASH. It's for a themeless. and the corner is tough where I can only get MARY KAY ASH to fit in. TIA for any answers or advice. ---Matt

CanCon Crosswords are crossword puzzles with Canadian content. I constructed these grids recently. I offer them free of charge.

Book 1 contains 12 weekday-sized crossword puzzles, both themed and themeless. The solutions are at the end of the book.

Book 2 contains 14 weekday-sized crossword puzzles, both themed and themeless. Again, the solutions are at the end of the book.

The download links to these books can be found in a message with the same subject line as above in the "Post a Puzzle" section of this Forum. To access that section you have to be logged in to Cruciverb.