Many organizations provide crossword puzzles for print as part of their daily featured online games section. Not only are the puzzles usually in color, but several sites give you the option of printing in PDF format (which requires Acrobat Reader, a free program). The advantage of PDF is that the quality of the finished print is usually of a higher quality and that the format prints equally well from a PC or Mac computer. One of best places for crossword puzzles for print are national newspapers, which traditionally have carried the weekend Sunday puzzle, but which now provide games on a daily basis. You can print these from the convenience of your home, usually without a subscription.

Our "Crossword Puzzles for Print Resources" section has several places you can check out, if you are a traditional puzzle addict who prefers to solve in hard copy with a pencil or pen. Crossword puzzles for print has the additional benefit of encouraging sharing among family members (where two or three heads are better than one). Those of us that are aging gracefully don't necessarily want to spend our game time squinting at the computer screen, so printing them any size we want and having them be portable is an added bonus.

When selecting crossword puzzles for print, remember to set up your browser to print backgrounds or the grid and black boxes may not print. In Internet Explorer, go to Tools and then Internet options. Click on the Advanced tab and make sure there is a check mark in the box in front of Print background color and images. In Netscape, the background options needs to be checked in Page Setup under the File menu.