If you want to take care of your brain then you ought to tackle the occasional word game every now and again.
The following crossword puzzles are the perfect brain exercise for seniors and they’re all super fun too!
There’s something for everyone!
Online Crosswords
We like online crosswords the best – they’re easy to do on the screen and require no wasted paper and there are tons of options for you too.
New York Magazine
There’s no doubt that if you love proper weekend-sized crossword puzzles then you’re going to want to get in on the free fun at New York Magazine. They are based around current trivia and are full of clever word plays and the clues often contain puns and other interesting ideas.
The Washington Post
This paper reproduces all of its weekly crosswords on its site and it’s completely free to use. Older adults will appreciate that they have a difficulty gearing, with the easiest puzzle of the week being the one published on a Monday, and seniors seeking a challenge should hang on for the weekend crosswords which are super challenging.
Boatload Puzzles
If you’re new to crosswords but want to get in on the fun, then you might want to start with the puzzle options at Boatload which tend to be geared to the newbie crossword puzzler. You can complete the crossword online and they have over 40,000 free crosswords for seniors to choose from! So, you’ll never get bored.
AARP
If you have an AARP membership then you can get more value out of their crossword puzzles as they allow you to track your scores in each crossword and compete with others which adds to the fun. However, you don’t need to pay to tackle the puzzle itself and the website has a ton of really cool puzzles for you to answer.
The Guardian
If you like your crossword puzzles to be hardcore then you may enjoy the ideas and word games that come out of tackling a cryptic puzzle. Be warned, these are orders of magnitude tougher than the average crossword and we’d recommend reading the paper’s ideas on how to tackle this kind of puzzle before you start on The Guardian’s free selection of online cryptic crossword puzzles.
The LA Times
If you like a word puzzle that is packed with words that are related to TV and movie themes? Then you should check out the recent selection of free to access crossword puzzles on the LA Times site. They’re a lot of fun.
If you enjoy online activities you might also want to check out these free personal finance courses for seniors, these online courses for seniors, and these awesome online games for seniors too.
Free Downloadable Crosswords For Senior’s Smartphones
You can also play with words on your smartphone for free if you want to and each of these word puzzle games is free to download and get started with (though – you may find that you need to pay a small fee if you want to access every puzzle on the application).
Alphacross Crossword
This is a stripped-down app that is all about getting words into the grid and it pulls its crossword puzzles from a variety of sources including The Wall Street Journal, LA Times, and more.
It’s quite basic to look at but it works really well and there’s nothing to distract you from the words here.
Crosswords With Friends
This is a lot of fun if you want to get some company with your words. The games are all provided by Zynga (one of the big names in free-to-play apps) and it’s a competitive game that you can play with friends, random folks from the Internet, or against an AI.
However, we would note that these puzzles are quite heavy on pop culture references and may not suit everyone. You can make an in-app purchase or two but there’s no need to do so to enjoy the crosswords which are completely free.
Free Printable Crossword Puzzles
Not everyone wants to exercise their brain in front of a screen. If that’s the case for you try these sources of printable crosswords for seniors, instead.
Online Crosswords
This site offers up to 7 printable crosswords every single day on their website and they are graded by difficulty. Just download the pages you want and then print them at home.
Free Daily Crosswords
Not only do they have daily crossword puzzles but they also offer plenty of archived word puzzles from their previous months. You can’t really go wrong with Free Daily Crossword’s puzzles.
Free Large Print Crosswords For Seniors
And if you want to do crosswords but your eyesight isn’t as good as it once was? You can get free large print puzzles too.
QETS – QETS offers regular free Large Print Puzzles and they can provide you with awesome PDFs of standard crossword puzzles, free-form crossword puzzles, and word search puzzles too.
All you need is to click the download links and then you can print them out. They don’t have daily crossword puzzles but older adults looking for the occasional bit of fun are going to be very happy with this website and the puzzle opportunities it offers.
Final Thoughts
If you enjoy a word game then you ought to love these free crosswords for seniors.
You can play all day without spending a penny, ever!