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Christmas crossword

Printable crosswords with an answer key, from ages 6 to grown-ups, or with your own answers and clues.

On the sheet
Same clues, settings and sheet number, same grid.

Christmas crossword

Name:

Read each clue and write the answer in the squares, one letter in each, starting at the square with the clue's number. The number in brackets says how many letters.

123456789101112131415

Across

  1. 1Any decoration you hang on the tree (8)
  2. 5Shiny strips hung on the tree (6)
  3. 6Warm gloves with one part for all four fingers (7)
  4. 7Wrapped things under the tree (8)
  5. 9Prickly evergreen with red berries (5)
  6. 10The month Christmas Day falls in (8)
  7. 12A Christmas song (5)
  8. 13Spike of ice hanging from a roof (6)
  9. 14Figure with wings, often put on top of the tree (5)
  10. 15Ring of evergreen leaves hung on a door (6)

Down

  1. 2Where Santa is said to live (5,4)
  2. 3Spiced bake often made into a house or a man (11)
  3. 4Santa is said to come down it (7)
  4. 8Ice crystal, usually with six points (9)
  5. 11Two people pull it and it goes bang (7)
Made at stringmash.com/christmas-crossword · sheet 1

Christmas crossword: answer key

123456789101112131415ORNAMENTOGCRTINSELHMITTENSNIHGMPPRESENTSNORNELBHOLLYDECEMBERWREFACAROLICICLEDAKKANGELWREATHR

Across

  1. 1ORNAMENT
  2. 5TINSEL
  3. 6MITTENS
  4. 7PRESENTS
  5. 9HOLLY
  6. 10DECEMBER
  7. 12CAROL
  8. 13ICICLE
  9. 14ANGEL
  10. 15WREATH

Down

  1. 2NORTH POLE
  2. 3GINGERBREAD
  3. 4CHIMNEY
  4. 8SNOWFLAKE
  5. 11CRACKER
Made at stringmash.com/christmas-crossword · sheet 1

Making a puzzle

Pick a ready-made puzzle, or type your own. Each line is an answer, a colon and its clue, like STAR: It shines on top of the tree. Up to 30 answers fit. Press Print and the puzzle comes out on one sheet, with the answer key on a second. Near 30 answers with long clues, the clues run on to a sheet of their own.

Your own answers make the best puzzles. Use the names of the family round the table, in-jokes from the office party or this week's spelling words. Everything you type stays in your browser.

Sheet number is the seed. The same clues, grid size and number always give the same layout, so a class can share one answer key. Press New layout to shuffle where the answers go.

Choosing the level

For ages 6 to 8, keep to a dozen short answers with picture-book clues, and print the word bank. The children then only need to match each answer to its clue and count the squares. The letter counts in brackets help at every age.

Ages 9 to 12 can manage 15 answers without a bank. The teens and adults puzzle leans on general knowledge: who wrote what, which ballet premiered in 1892, where panettone comes from. Switch the letter counts off for a harder sheet.

How the grid is built

This is a free-form crossword, the kind printed in children's activity books. There are no black squares. Each answer has to cross at least one other, and two answers may only touch where they share a letter. Side by side, they'd spell nonsense across the gap.

The longest answer goes in first. After that, the answer with the fewest places left to fit goes next, trying each spot where one of its letters matches a letter already down. The spot that crosses the most answers while growing the grid least wins. If an answer gets stuck, the page backs up and tries another spot for the one before. It starts with a small grid and only lets it grow when the answers won't all fit, so the puzzle stays compact.

Numbers follow the usual crossword rule. Reading row by row from the top left, a square gets the next number if an answer starts there, across or down. An answer that can't cross any other, or is longer than the grid, is named above the preview rather than quietly left out.

MORE CHRISTMAS PRINTABLES

More puzzles for the holidays

Christmas word searchHidden words with an answer key, ages 5 to adults.
Christmas word scrambleMixed-up words to sort out, with an optional word bank.
Christmas bingoCards in words or pictures, every card different.
Christmas escape roomFive code clues to hide round the house.

Questions

Is it free to print for a class or a party?

Yes. Print as many as you like. The QR code in the corner leads back here, and you can switch it off.

Why did one of my answers get left out?

It shares no letter with the others, or there was no room for it to cross one without touching another answer. Press New layout, pick a bigger grid, or swap in an answer with more common letters. Answers longer than the grid are left out too, and the page names them.

Can I use answers of more than one word?

Yes. Type them with their spaces, like Candy cane. The grid runs the letters together, as printed crosswords do, and the clue shows (5,4) so solvers know where the break falls.

Will it fit on US Letter paper?

Yes. Choose US Letter under Paper before printing. The grid is sized to fit the narrower of the two sheets, so it prints the same on either.

Do the clues I type leave my computer?

No. The puzzle is made in your browser and nothing you type is sent anywhere.

Sources

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