How to Make and Play Crosswords in ChatGPT (2026 Guide)

You can now make and solve crosswords without leaving ChatGPT. Grid Genius is a ChatGPT plugin: ask for a crossword about anything, and a playable grid opens right in the chat. This guide shows how to install it and everything it can do, with screenshots from a real session.

What the Grid Genius plugin does

Grid Genius turns ChatGPT into a crossword maker and a place to solve. Once it is installed, you can:

• Play today's daily crossword, the same free puzzle everyone gets in the Grid Genius app.
• Make a crossword about any topic: your dog, a trip, a TV show, a history unit.
• Build a crossword from your own words and clues, the way a teacher would for a vocabulary list.
• Solve in an interactive grid with Check, Hint, Reveal letter and Reveal word.
• Save a puzzle and get a share link that anyone can open in a browser.

The puzzles come from the same engine as the Grid Genius AI crossword generator, so the grids and clues match what you get in the app.

How to install Grid Genius in ChatGPT

1. Open the Grid Genius listing in the ChatGPT plugin directory. You can also search for Grid Genius in ChatGPT's plugins.
2. Tap Install plugin.
3. Sign in with your Grid Genius account when ChatGPT asks. If you do not have one yet, you can create one for free during sign-in.

Once it is installed, the listing shows Manage and Try in chat instead of the install button. The listing also offers three starter prompts you can tap.

How to call Grid Genius in a chat

ChatGPT uses a plugin when you mention it. In the message box, type @Grid and pick Grid Genius from the list. A Grid Genius chip appears in the box. Type your request after it and send.

You can also tap one of the starter prompts on the listing page. Try in chat opens a new chat with Grid Genius already selected.

Play today's daily crossword

The simplest request is the daily puzzle. Mention Grid Genius and write "Show me today's Grid Genius daily crossword." ChatGPT opens the full grid inside the conversation.

The widget shows the puzzle's theme and size, the current clue, a timer and the buttons you need. Play on Grid Genius opens the same puzzle in the web app, where your streak and the leaderboard live.

Make a crossword about any topic

This is where the plugin shines. Describe what you want and Grid Genius writes the whole puzzle: words, clues and grid.

We asked for "an easy crossword about my dog Biscuit. He loves tennis balls, belly rubs, the beach, bacon and barking at the mailman." ChatGPT passed the request to Grid Genius, and back came an easy 7×7 mini with clues like "Young domestic canine companion" and "Soothing rub behind the ears or on the tummy."

A few things make the results better:

• Give details. "My dog Biscuit, who loves the beach" gives the AI more to write clues about than "dogs."
• Pick a difficulty. Ask for easy, medium or hard.
• Pick a size. Ask for a mini, a standard or a large grid.

Writing a new puzzle takes a little while, because Grid Genius builds the grid and checks every word fits before it shows you anything.

Solve it in the grid: Check, Hint and Reveal

Click any square and type. The widget moves to the next square as you go, and Tab switches between across and down. When a word is right, the counter under the grid updates, for example "5 correct so far."

When you get stuck, you have four tools:

Grid Genius hints work differently from most crossword hints. Instead of handing you a letter, the AI rewords the clue or adds a related fact so you can work it out yourself. For "Soothing rub behind the ears or on the tummy," the hint was: "This is what a dog might do to an itch with its hind leg."

The hint appears in a box at the bottom of the puzzle, below the clue list, and the puzzle scrolls to it when you tap Hint.

You can also ask in the chat itself, for example "I'm stuck on 4 Down, give me a hint without spoiling it." ChatGPT asks Grid Genius for a hint and replies in the conversation. If you are new to solving, our guide on how to solve crossword puzzles covers the basics.

Make a crossword from your own words and clues

If you already have the words, Grid Genius will build the grid around them and keep your clues exactly as you wrote them. Paste your list as WORD - clue pairs, one after another.

We tried a classroom list: "Make a crossword for my class from my own words and clues: ORBIT - The path a planet takes around the sun; COMET - Icy visitor with a glowing tail; GRAVITY - What keeps your feet on the ground; MARS - The red planet; ECLIPSE - When the moon blocks the sun; GALAXY - The Milky Way is one."

Grid Genius placed all six words in an 11×11 grid and kept every clue word for word.

Tips for your own lists:

• Keep answers to single words or short phrases. Grid Genius drops spaces in phrases.
• Write clues the way you want students to read them. Grid Genius does not rewrite them.
• Very long lists may come back in parts. If the words do not fit on one board, Grid Genius returns the first grid and the remaining words as more groups, and ChatGPT can lay those out next.

Teachers can find more ideas, including printable versions, in our crossword puzzle maker guide for teachers. For a grid built from your own words, the widget shows Check and the Reveal buttons. Save the puzzle and open it on Grid Genius to use AI hints on it.

Save it and share a link

A puzzle in a chat is easy to lose. Ask ChatGPT to save it: "Save it and give me a link I can share with my students." Grid Genius stores the puzzle and ChatGPT returns a share link with Copy link and Play crossword buttons.

The link opens the puzzle on Grid Genius in any browser. You can paste it into Google Classroom, a group chat or an email. From the web app you can also print the puzzle as a PDF for a pencil-and-paper version.

Prompts to try

Start each of these with the Grid Genius mention.

What you need to know

• You sign in once. ChatGPT asks you to sign in to Grid Genius the first time. After that, the plugin works in any chat where you mention it.
• Your account limits apply. AI puzzle generation and AI hints use the same allowance as your Grid Genius account in the app and on the web. The daily puzzle and puzzles built from your own words are open to every account.
• It is the same puzzle everywhere. A saved puzzle from ChatGPT opens on the Grid Genius web app, so you can keep solving on another device.

Using Grid Genius in Claude

Grid Genius also works in Claude. You can add it to Claude as a custom connector, with the same tools and the same playable grid. The setup steps are on our Grid Genius for ChatGPT and Claude page.

Frequently asked questions

Start your first crossword in ChatGPT

Install the plugin, mention Grid Genius and ask for a crossword about something you love. If you would rather solve on our own site, today's puzzle is waiting there too.