Criss-cross (word fill-in) book generator for Amazon KDP
Fill-in puzzles — the crossword grid with the word list printed instead of clues — as a complete paperback: graded easy to expert, every grid verified to have exactly one way to fill it, solutions at the back, plus the matching cover. Free to use; the free book is watermarked.
Runs in your browser — nothing you type leaves your computer. No sign-up.
What a criss-cross is, and the one way it goes wrong
A criss-cross (also sold as "word fill-in" or "fill-it-in") is a crossword-shaped grid with no clues: the words are listed by length, and the solver works out where each one goes from its length and from the letters where words cross. They are a large KDP category of their own, popular with the same readers who buy word search books, and easier on the eyes than a crossword because there is nothing to know — only to fit.
The one way they go wrong: a grid where two words of the same length could swap places. Then there are two correct fills, the answer key at the back matches only one of them, and the reader who found the other one leaves the review. Puzzle Press solves every grid it builds with a backtracking solver that counts fills; if it finds a second, the longest word is printed into the grid as a starter (as fill-in books do), and if that still leaves two, the grid is thrown away and rebuilt. Every puzzle in every book has exactly one fill.
Grades
| Level | Words in the grid | Grid up to |
|---|---|---|
| Easy | 8 | 11 × 11 |
| Medium | 12 | 13 × 13 |
| Hard | 16 | 15 × 15 |
| Expert | 22 | 17 × 17 |
| Graded | Easy at the front through expert at the back, level printed on each puzzle | |
Words come from the same 32 themes as the word search books, or a list you paste. Each puzzle draws its own words, so a Halloween fill-in book is fifty different Halloween grids. Grids are trimmed to the shape the words make — no black squares, no padding — and the word list beneath is grouped by length, the way printed fill-ins are.
What a book costs to print, and earns
| Puzzles | Pages (6 × 9) | Prints for | You keep at $9.99 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 32 | $2.30 | $3.69 |
| 50 | 66 | $2.30 | $3.69 |
| 100 | 124 | $2.49 | $3.50 |
Page count is title, copyright, one puzzle per page, a divider, solutions 6 to a page, and four notes pages, rounded to an even number. Printing is KDP's flat rate up to 110 pages, then about a penny a page. Royalty calculator for other prices and trims.
The rules every KDP interior has to meet
Page size equal to the trim, margins that grow with the page count, fonts embedded, 24 to 828 pages and an even count, a cover whose spine width is page count × paper thickness with nothing added. The tool lays every book out to these; if you would rather know them yourself, they are all in the guide, with the numbers.
Make one now
Choose the settings, watch the preview, download the interior and then the cover — the spine already sized from the page count of the book you just made. Free to use; $19 once removes the watermark, and the price is on the page before you click anything.
Make a criss-cross book free