Cross-number puzzle generator
A crossword whose answers are numbers: one digit per square, and every clue is a calculation. Because each digit belongs to an across answer and a down answer at the same time, the grid checks the arithmetic for you — a wrong answer stops fitting. Choose one of three grids, pick the clue types, then download a US Letter or A4 PDF with the completed grid as the answer key.
Choose a grid size and the clue types, preview the puzzle, then download the PDF — no account needed.
There is no question count to set: every run of squares has to be clued for the puzzle to work, so choosing a grid is choosing a length.
This changes which calculations the clues use, not how big the answers are — the grid sets those, so a four-digit run holds a four-digit answer either way.
How it works
- Choose the compact, open or classic grid — the clue count and the size of the answers both follow the grid.
- Pick addition-and-subtraction clues or mixed, and whether the answer key is printed.
- Download the PDF, print it, or copy a share link that restores these settings.
Using these worksheets in teaching
A cross-number is arithmetic practice that a child will do twice as much of as the equivalent worksheet, for the same reason a crossword beats a vocabulary list: the grid gives feedback. Ordinary computation practice is silent until it is marked, so a child who has misremembered a method reinforces it for twenty questions; here a wrong digit collides with a neighbour within a minute. Teach the starting move explicitly — look for the clues with the fewest possibilities first, and for the squares where an across and a down answer cross — because children who work top-to-bottom through the clue list find it much harder than children who work opportunistically, and that difference is a strategy rather than an ability. The compact grid is a ten-minute filler; the classic grid is a full lesson and is better done in pairs, where the arguing about whose digit is wrong is where most of the learning happens.
Frequently asked questions
- Why is there no question count?
- Because the grid is the sheet. Every run of squares has to be clued for the puzzle to be solvable, so the number of calculations is fixed by the grid you pick: 20 for the compact 7 × 7, 32 for the open 8 × 8 and 40 for the classic 9 × 9. Choosing a grid is choosing a length, which is why the three grids differ in size rather than in style.
- How does the puzzle check the arithmetic?
- Every open square sits in both an across answer and a down answer, so each digit is written twice over. Get one calculation wrong and the digits it shares stop agreeing with their neighbours, which a child notices without being told. That is the whole appeal: the sheet marks itself long before the answer key comes out.
- What does the clue-types setting change?
- Which calculations the clues are written as, and nothing else. The first option uses addition and subtraction only; mixed adds multiplication, and “double” and “half of”, which are the two forms children read as words rather than as symbols. It does not make the numbers smaller: the grid is filled first and every clue is written backwards from the value already in its run, so a four-digit run holds a four-digit answer whichever option you pick. If you want smaller numbers, choose a grid with shorter runs.
- Do the grids look like real crosswords?
- Yes — they are authored by hand and have 180-degree rotational symmetry, the same convention a newspaper crossword follows. Every answer is two to four digits long, no square is left unchecked, and the open squares form a single connected region.
- Do numbers ever start with a zero?
- No. A four-digit answer runs from 1000 to 9999, so no run is ever filled with a leading zero that a child would have to guess was meaningful. The clue values are chosen to fit the run length before the grid is filled, not afterwards.
- Is there an answer key?
- Yes. Turn it on and the completed grid — every digit filled in — is added as a clearly labelled page at the end of the same PDF, next to the list of answers by clue number.
Related tools
Multiplication worksheets · Math worksheets · Number bonds · Money worksheets · Fractions · Telling the time · Place value · Number lines · Times table chart · Hundreds chart · Area and perimeter · 2D shapes · Coordinate grids · Elapsed time · Bar graphs · Long multiplication · Long division · Rounding · Comparing numbers · Pictographs · Line plots · Symmetry · Order of operations · Solving equations · Decimals · Cross-number puzzles · Story blanks · Name tracing · Word searches · Word scrambles · Crosswords · Spelling worksheets · Matching worksheets · Flashcards · Bingo cards · Word ladders · Word hunts · Word families · Sudoku · Nonograms · Mazes · Sight words · Award certificates · Reading logs · Reward charts · Handwriting paper · Graph paper · all generators
Last reviewed: July 2026. Worksheet content is generated by deterministic algorithms and covered by automated correctness tests — no AI-generated answers.