Mac Format - UK (2020-04)

The app can give a visual indication of where you’ve gone

wrong and where you’ve successfully corrected a mistake.

APRIL 2020 | MACFORMAT | 93

C

rosswords are great for both

relaxing and exercising the mind.

And if crosswords are your

thing, Black Ink 2 may hit the spot. The

veteran Mac game has been updated with its

second version, which brings visually

appealing accessibility improvements.

For example, you can have Black Ink 2

highlight incorrect letters as you type them,

giving you a visual indication of where you’ve

gone wrong. There are numerous options for

changing the focus as you enter solutions, and

it even works with macOS’s Dark Mode.

Importing puzzles

Another welcome change is the fact that the

app is now totally free to play. A number

of premium features are locked behind a £28.99

paywall, but they’re not necessary for you to

enjoy Black Ink 2. If you do go for the upgrade,

you get a puzzle timer and the ability to print

puzzles, check your answers, and reveal

solutions from within the app.

When you first load Black Ink 2, you’re

prompted to choose a puzzle from one of

four sources: The Wall Street Journal, The

Chronicle of Higher Education, The New York

Times Premium edition, and the American

Values Club. However, the latter two require a

subscription. If you don’t have one, you can

only load puzzles from the former two from

this menu, which is a minor annoyance.

However, any crossword source that uses

the Across Lite format can be imported into

Black Ink 2 – just download the .puz file and

double-click it to open it in the app. This vastly

expands the number of puzzles available; if the

puzzle creator added notes or solutions to the

.puz file, Black Ink 2 can read those too.

You can also add a recurring puzzle source,

which lets the app automatically download

new puzzles every time they’re uploaded to

this source. This is a little more complicated,

however, and requires the puzzle to have

a predictable file name (such as one that

contains a date or puzzle number). You then

need to replace these variables with symbols

Black Ink 2 can read and tell it what days new

puzzles are uploaded.

The rest of Black Ink 2 is a well-designed

app that plays nicely with macOS. Its various

improvements and impressive number of

customisation options will be welcome

additions to any puzzle fan. ALEX BLAKE

Any crossword

source that

uses the Across

Lite format can

be imported

A great time-sink

with some worthy

features, but there’s

still room to improve.

+++++++

Pleasant interface

Most features are free

Highly customisable

Adding recurring

puzzle sources is

complicated

VERDICT

Free (offers in-app purchases) FROM Red Sweater Software, red-sweater.com NEEDS macOS 10.12 or later

Black Ink 2

Solve crosswords on your Mac

Image credit: Red Sweater Software

Black Ink 2 looks lovely

if you’ve enabled Dark

Mode in macOS.