Crossword Puzzle Maker ← Home
Privacy policy

Your words stay on your computer

Crossword Puzzle Maker turns your own list of words and clues into a printable crossword with an answer key, on your own device: paste or type the list, the extension lays the words into a criss-cross grid, numbers them, and gives you a PDF to print. That single job is everything the extension does, and all of it happens inside your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded — there is no server of ours for it to go to, and there is no account to create.

What stays on your device

  • The words and clues you enter. They are the input of the puzzle. Unlike a one-shot tool, this extension deliberately keeps your work so you can come back to it: the draft you are editing is written to the browser's own extension storage on this device, and stays there until you clear it or remove the extension. It is never uploaded.
  • The puzzles you save. Up to 50 saved puzzles live in the same storage — for each one its title, the word-and-clue text you typed, the language, the grid size and the number that lets the same grid be redrawn identically. They are yours, on this device, and they go nowhere else.
  • The grid. It is computed in the open tab from your list every time it is drawn. The finished layout itself is not stored; the list and the number that seeds it are, which is what makes a saved puzzle reopen exactly as it was.
  • The PDF you print. The puzzle page and the answer key are built in your browser and written straight to your own disk by the browser download, or handed to your printer. Neither passes through anything of ours.

What the extension stores

The extension keeps two entries in the browser's own extension storage, on this device. Neither one ever leaves your device, because there is no server of ours for it to go to.

  • crosswordGenerator.v1 — your work and your controls. This is the one object the extension writes. It holds the draft you are editing (its title, the word-and-clue text, the language, the grid size, the seed and when it was last touched), your saved puzzles under the same fields, and the controls you last used: paper size (Letter or A4), ink-saver printing, whether the name-and-date line is printed, the last grid size and the last language. The key still carries the extension's earlier name; the data it holds is described here in full.
  • crosswordGeneratorRatePrompt — whether we have already asked you to rate the extension: up to three timestamps of when the short rating line was shown, and, if you answered it or waved it away, the fact that you did. That record is the only reason the line can stop: it asks at most three times in a month, and never again once you have answered. It holds nothing about you or your puzzles.

Those two entries are everything the extension stores. There is no name, no address, no e-mail and no identifier of you or of your computer in either one. What your words are about is up to you — if you would rather a list did not stay on the device, clear the draft when you are done. To delete everything, remove the extension: uninstalling deletes everything it stored.

The only pages this extension opens

  • The welcome page you see after installing is part of the extension itself. It is not a website, it carries no analytics and no counters of any kind, and nothing about your files reaches it.
  • An optional feedback form on removal. When you remove the extension, Chrome may open a short form in a new tab, if one has been set up for this version. Answering is entirely optional. The address carries no parameters and nothing from your work — no file names, no page counts, no settings. The form is a Google Form, hosted by Google LLC under Google's own privacy policy; we receive only what you choose to type into it.
  • The rating line inside the extension. After a finished job the extension may show a short row of five stars. Nothing opens until you click one, and a click never attaches anything from your work to the address. One, two or three stars open a private Google Form in a new tab, so you can tell us what went wrong — the same kind of form as above, hosted by Google LLC under Google's own privacy policy, and we receive only what you choose to type into it. Four or five stars open this extension's own reviews page in the Chrome Web Store, so you can leave a public review there; that page exists only once the extension is listed, and until then a click there opens nothing and the line tells you so.

Those are the only pages the extension opens, and the only route by which anything can reach anyone other than you.

Legal bases

Where the GDPR or UK GDPR applies, we handle data on the basis of your consent and to perform the feature you asked for — the words and clues you enter is read only in order to build the puzzle you asked for, because that is the job you started. You can withdraw consent at any time by stopping the job or removing the extension.

Retention and deletion

  • The draft you are editing: it stays in extension storage on this device until you replace it, clear it, or remove the extension. This is deliberate — it is what lets you close the tab and come back to the same puzzle.
  • Saved puzzles: until you delete them or remove the extension. The list holds at most 50; saving past that drops the oldest.
  • The grid on screen: it lives only in the open tab and is recomputed from your list each time.
  • The remembered controls (paper, ink saver, name-and-date, last size, last language): until you change them or remove the extension. They live inside the same crosswordGenerator.v1 object.
  • The rating record (crosswordGeneratorRatePrompt): until you remove the extension. Answering the rating line or waving it away does not erase the record — that is what keeps the line from coming back.
  • PDFs you saved: yours, on your own disk, for as long as you keep them.
  • On our side: nothing. We never receive any of it.

Your rights

Depending on where you live, you have rights over your personal data:

  • GDPR / UK GDPR: access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, objection, withdrawing consent, and lodging a complaint with a supervisory authority (such as the ICO).
  • CCPA / CPRA (California): to know, access, delete and correct your data, and not to be discriminated against for exercising those rights. We do not sell or share your personal information.

Because everything stays on your own computer, you can exercise most of these yourself: your files are in front of you, your settings are the controls you last used, and removing the extension erases everything it stored. If you would still like to make a request or ask a question, write to us at the address below and we will answer.

Security

Your files are handled inside your browser by the extension's own code, in the same browser process as the page you are looking at. They are not sent to us, and there are no third-party processors: no cloud service, no analytics provider and no error-reporting service receives any part of them. Everything the extension needs to lay the grid out and write the PDF is packaged inside the extension itself, so no code is fetched from the internet while it runs. Your files are protected by your own device and browser profile, the same way the rest of your documents are.

Children

Crossword Puzzle Maker is intended for users 13 and older. We do not knowingly collect personal data from children.

What we do not do

  • No accounts, no sign-up, no subscription.
  • No advertising and no ad networks.
  • No analytics, no tracking, no profiles.
  • No history of your work leaves this device. Saved puzzles stay in the browser’s own extension storage, on your computer.
  • We do not sell or share your data. We never receive it in the first place.
  • All features in this version are free; this extension does not offer purchases.

Limited Use

The use of information received from Google APIs will adhere to the Chrome Web Store User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Changes to this policy

This policy takes effect on 3 September 2026. What changed: this is the first published version of this policy, written for the first release of the extension. If it changes, we will update the date at the bottom of this page, and the current version always lives here.

Contact

Privacy contact: the feedback form at https://forms.gle/XCww4BCXuR5p4KGF8 (a Google Form the owner controls; no email address is published).

Last updated: 6 September 2026.