I've been getting into crossword constructing, but found the initial process staring at a blank 15x15 grid to be one of my least favorite parts. This tool allows you to build a grid by leveraging all of the grid patterns for all NYTimes puzzles ever, in a heatmap. As you place black squares into the grid it will update the heatmap to only show grids that include those black squares (though ideally you should diverge from history: 70% of puzzle grids have never been used before).
This is currently live at https://alexbeals.com/projects/crossword/. It works for all days of the week, along with all NYTimes puzzles from the very first puzzle in 1942 up to today's puzzle (updates at 8am PDT every day).
All NYTimes crossword puzzle data's rights belong to The New York Times.
Favicon generation courtesy of the greatest tool, https://realfavicongenerator.net/.
Created by Alex Beals © 2024