Best Crossword Apps in Australia (2026): Cryptic and Free

The best crossword app in Australia depends on whose cryptic you want. The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age run a Mini, a Quick and a Cryptic every day for subscribers. The Australian carries The Times of London's cryptic, and the News Corp metros have their own Crossword and Cryptic Crossword. For free, Lovatts publishes a daily cryptic and a quick crossword on its website, and Minute Cryptic gives you one clever clue a day.

We checked every price on this page on the Australian App Store, Google Play or the publisher's site on 4 November 2026. App Store prices are in Australian dollars. Our UK crossword app guide covers the Times, Guardian and Telegraph for British solvers. This one is for Australians, where the paper you read decides the puzzle you know.

The short version

• Best homegrown cryptic: the Sydney Morning Herald or The Age. Same puzzles page, three crosswords a day, part of Premium Digital in the apps.
• Best free cryptic: Lovatts' website, with Christine Lovatt's Daily Cryptic and a Quick Crossword, free.
• Best for learning cryptics: Minute Cryptic, from a Victorian company. One free clue a day with a video explaining it.
• Best for The Times cryptic: The Australian, whose Mind Games section carries The Times of London's puzzle.
• Best free quick crossword habit: Daily Themed Crossword or Puzzle Page, or Grid Genius for a free daily and puzzles on your own topics.

Australian crossword apps compared

Prices are what the Australian App Store, Google Play or the publisher showed on 4 November 2026. Where a listing shows several prices we give the main ones, and where a figure could not be verified we leave it out.

The newspaper puzzles

Every major Australian masthead now puts its puzzles inside its app, and most run a cryptic alongside a quick crossword. The catch is that none of the apps below gives the crosswords away: they come with a subscription.

The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age

The Herald and The Age, both Nine mastheads, share one puzzles page. On the day we checked (Wednesday 4 November 2026) it listed a Mini compiled by LR, a Quick compiled by D&LS and a Cryptic compiled by D&LS, plus Sudoku and Target Time. The previous Friday's cryptic (30 October) was set by DA.

The apps are clear about access: "To unlock premium features such as Today's Paper and puzzles including Daily Crosswords and Daily Sudoku, you can subscribe to Premium Digital." The cheaper Starter Digital ($25.99 a month in the App Store list) does not include puzzles. Premium Digital is listed at $39.49 a month in the in-app purchases, while the description quotes AU$37.49, so check the price on the screen before you subscribe. The website advertises subscriptions "from only $6 per week" without saying which tier that is. The apps carry ads.

Best for: the classic Australian daily cryptic, on a phone or in a browser.

The Australian

The Australian's app has a Mind Games section "full of puzzles and games, including The Times of London's world-famous cryptic crossword". So the headline cryptic is a British puzzle, not an Australian one, which is worth knowing if you want local references. Everything is behind member access: the App Store lists monthly plans at $42.99 and $47.99 and yearly plans at $369 and $419.

Best for: Times cryptic fans who also want the national broadsheet.

The Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun and Courier-Mail

News Corp's three big metro apps share a puzzles hub. Their release notes say you can "Play Crossword, Cryptic Crossword, Sudoku, Shark Quiz, Wordrow and more, build a daily streak". Puzzles are listed under what you get as a subscriber, and replica-only subscribers are excluded. On the App Store each app lists a monthly plan at $34.99 and a yearly plan at $209, with other options from $16.99. The listings do not name the setters.

Best for: readers who already pay for their state's News Corp paper.

The Canberra Times

The Canberra Times puzzles page lists a Crossword, a Cryptic Crossword, Sudoku, Ultimate Trivia, Word Search and Code Cracker, and says that "premium subscribers also enjoy interactive puzzles". Premium is $39.99 a month or $284.99 a year on the App Store.

Free and independent options

Lovatts: free daily crosswords on the web

Lovatts calls itself "a genuine Australian success story" and the market leader in puzzle publishing in Australia and New Zealand. Its website, headed "Lovatts Free Online Crosswords", has a daily cryptic from Christine Lovatt, whom it calls "Australia's Cryptic Queen", plus a Quick Crossword, the Universal Crossword, an American Crossword, Elevenses, a weekly Memory Lane crossword and Code Cracker. There is also an Enigma Crossword Competition open to Australian, New Zealand and UK solvers. We saw no sign-up requirement.

There is no Lovatts app on the Australian App Store or Google Play, so this is a browser habit. Lovatts' cryptic collection also comes out once a year as a print magazine ($14.95).

Best for: a free, Australian-made cryptic every day.

Minute Cryptic: one clue a day, explained

Minute Cryptic is run by a Victorian company and started on TikTok and Instagram. The idea is "a daily cryptic clue you can actually solve", with a video explaining the wordplay. The daily clue is free. A membership, $14.00 a month or $139.99 a year on the Australian App Store, unlocks the archive, mini cryptic crosswords and a Create-a-Cryptic mode. The App Store listing declares no advertising.

It is not a full daily grid, which is the point: it teaches you how cryptic clues work, one at a time. If you have never solved one, our guide to the art of crossword clues explains how a clue is built.

Best for: anyone who wants to go from "I cannot do cryptics" to finishing the Herald's.

Two smaller picks, with caveats

• Acrostic Crossword Puzzles by Egghead Games (a US developer) includes licensed Lovatts Handy Acrostics in its Australia and New Zealand version. Acrostics are crosswords that spell out a hidden quote. It is paid upfront ($9.99 on iPhone, $8.49 on Google Play), with 60 free puzzles and no ads.
• Crossword by Havos says its puzzles are "tailored for Australian players, but with American style grids", using International/UK spelling. It was last updated in January 2024 and has few ratings, so treat it as a light extra.

The global apps on the Australian store

Daily Themed Crossword and Puzzle Page

Daily Themed Crossword gives you a new themed puzzle every day, free with ads; VIP is $12.49 on the Australian App Store. Puzzle Page delivers a daily page of more than 20 puzzle types, including a crossword and a codeword, free forever in ad-supported mode, or $9.99 a month or $59.99 a year without ads. Neither has a cryptic.

NYT Games

The New York Times app has the Crossword, the Mini and the Midi, plus Wordle and Connections. The Australian App Store lists a Games Monthly plan at $2.99 (the listing does not say whether that is an introductory price), and subscribers get more than 10,000 archive puzzles. The puzzles are American: every letter is checked, spelling is American, and some references will not land in Australia.

Grid Genius: a crossword on any topic you name

Grid Genius is not a newspaper app and it has no cryptic. What it does instead is generate a crossword on any topic you type: the Ashes, the Australian Open, Australian native birds, your footy club's premiership years. You choose the size (7x7, 11x11 or 15x15), the difficulty and a Straight or Punny clue style. Ready-made collections include cricket and tennis.

When you are stuck, AI Hints rephrase the clue or add a related fact instead of revealing letters. The free tier includes a daily challenge with a global leaderboard and streaks, community puzzles, 3 AI-generated puzzles to start, and free word list and freeform makers that need no account, which is handy for a quiz night or a classroom. On the Australian App Store, Pro is $12.99 a month or $79.99 a year for unlimited AI puzzles and hints, no ads, news-grounded puzzles and premium themes.

Honest limits: no cryptic clues, no newspaper puzzles, puzzles are AI-generated rather than set by a named setter, and the free apps offer optional reward videos (no banner or pop-up ads).

Where to find a free cryptic in Australia

The newspapers do not give their cryptics away in their apps, so free means the web:

1. Lovatts' Daily Cryptic, free on lovattspuzzles.com and updated daily. Christine Lovatt's annual print collection is the paper version if you want more.
2. Minute Cryptic's daily clue, free in the app and on its website. It is one clue, not a grid, which makes it the gentlest way in.

The paid route is the Herald or The Age. Their app listings put the daily crosswords inside Premium Digital, so if you already subscribe at that tier, you already have the cryptic. Once you can finish Lovatts' cryptic most days, the Herald or The Age is the natural next step, and our guide on how to solve crossword puzzles covers the habits that carry over.

How to choose

• You want the cryptic you grew up with. The Herald or The Age on Premium Digital.
• You want a cryptic for free. Lovatts on the web, every day.
• You are learning cryptics. Minute Cryptic's free daily clue, then Lovatts.
• You read The Australian or a News Corp metro. Use the puzzles in the app you already pay for.
• You want a quick crossword on a phone, free. Daily Themed Crossword or Puzzle Page.
• You want a crossword about something you care about. Grid Genius, which will write you a puzzle about the State of Origin on request.

Frequently asked questions