I'm beyond thrilled to announce that you can now install the Lex.Games app on your iPhone or iPad. In addition to offering lovely ways to play Conlextions, Lexicogs, By A Vowel, Six Appeal, and Mind Control, it also includes a new fast favorite: Letter Opener!
Letter Opener, currently available only in the app, gives you a set of starting letters; you have 90 seconds to make as many words as you can — with longer words worth more points.
The app was a ton of work to get out the door, and I really hope you'll give it a try!
Other great news: Mini and full-size crosswords on the web are significantly improved, with major fixes to entry and navigation.
More High Contrast mode (April 14, 2024)
The new High Contrast mode for players who prefer a bit more visual contrast now affects not just Six Appeal and Mind Control, but also Mini crosswords and full-size ones
New game Mind Control; new High Contrast mode (April 10, 2024)
We launched a new premium game called Mind Control, which has both a daily puzzle and a random version. It's currently limited to paying subscribers.
We also introduced a new High Contrast mode for players who prefer a bit more visual contrast. The toggle, found in the footer, currently affects Six Appeal and Mind Control. If you have visual issues with other games, please contact me. The total scores use a custom formula that rewards playing the games. There's also a monthly leaderboard.
New daily and monthly overall leaderboard! (April 8, 2024)
For subscribers, we're now keeping a daily leaderboard ranking all paying players who played at least one game that day. The total scores use a custom formula that rewards playing the games. There's also a monthly leaderboard.
New home! New daily full-sized crosswords! (March 29, 2024)
We're now at lex.games. That's fun! And paying subscribers now get a new crossword every single day. 😬 🎉
New game in beta! (March 27, 2024)
Paying subscribers can check out Square Dance.
Crossword UI significantly better on mobile (March 26, 2024)
I hired somebody to help me, and boy oh boy it was a great investment. Text entry and scroll bouncing annoyances on iOS while playing crosswords should now be a thing of the past. Here's hoping. Let me know if you experience any issues! This is true both for Minis and the full-size crosswords.
New daily Mini crosswords! (March 24, 2024)
New daily mini crosswords, available to all! Check them out.
Many, many crossword puzzle improvements (March 23, 2024)
Who knew how complicated crossword puzzle mobile UI was? Me, I did. I was scared to launch it, but I'm glad I did. If you struggled a bit with the crossword interface, please give it another shot. As noted yesterday, I'll publish a new crossword every Friday for paying subscribers.
Weekly crossword puzzles for paying subscribers! (March 22, 2024)
Every Friday, I'll publish a new crossword for subscribers. The second one is already live!
Lexicogs now has a pause button (beta) (March 18, 2024)
You can pause Lexicogs. It tries to detect if you navigate away (i.e., switch tabs or windows or applications), but some browser extensions may interfere with that detection. There's also a pause button you can click or tap.
By A Vowel behind the scenes improvements (March 18, 2024)
If you beat By A Vowel, left the page, and then came back... Sometimes, sharing your score lacked the fun emoji showing your journey through solving. That's fixed for new solves going forward!
Create your own Lexicogs! (March 16, 2024)
Premium subscribers can now create their own Lexicog puzzles. Check it out!
By A Vowel improvements! (March 16, 2024)
When you solve a word, your cursor automatically moves to the next unsolved word. This should make solve times a bit faster, and remove an annoyance when playing on mobile.
Overall By a Vowel mobile layout and behavior is far improved in other ways, too. It shouldn't jump around as you flip between text boxes anymore.
And the game now saves your victory state, so it knows if you've already played and won.
By A Vowel is now available to everyone! (March 15, 2024)
Now everyone can play By A Vowel, an update on the word jumble genre. This is the first game that shows the rules automatically on your first load. I hope you don't mind!
New game: By A Vowel (March 14, 2024)
There's a new game available called By A Vowel.
9:41pm ET update: Various display bugs were squashed, and the rules were made more explicit. Click "How to Play" at the top to learn the specifics.
Lexicogs now offers alphabetical sorting (March 14, 2024)
By request, from both subscribers and my own son, you can now sort the remaining chunks alphabetically.
"Remember me" functionality now works better. (March 14, 2024)
Some members had to log in too frequently. That issue has been corrected.
Leaderboard times for Conlextions are now more reliable. (March 14, 2024)
Some users saw their Leaderboard times for Conlextions wouldn't match their on-screen solve times. That issue is fixed going forward.
BETA: Typing entry for Lexicogs. (March 13, 2024)
You can now use keyboard entry when playing Lexicogs. Just start typing; as you type, matching cogs will light up. Press return to submit a word chunk. I welcome your feedback on this implementation.
Subscriptions are live! (March 12, 2024)
Support Lex's Games and get bonus features by subscribing. Subscriptions are available at $2 per month, $20 per year, or $60 for a lifetime membership. Subscription features include the ability for your scores to submit to the Leaderboard, save progress on Lexicogs, turn on/off a timer while playing games, turn off your time when sharing your score, and (soon) play beta and bonus games. Stay tuned!