Black Ink 2.4.3 is now available on the Black Ink site and on the Mac App Store.

This update includes a few bug fixes, and a change to the application icon so that it fits in better on the forthcoming macOS 26 Tahoe release.

Anybody who has used the pre-release versions of the new OS has noticed that Apple is going all-in on “rounded rectangle” app icons, to the deteriment of apps with less-uniform shapes. Any app’s icon which would not typically fit into a rounded rectangle is forced into one:

This effect has been deemed “icon jail” by many users, because of the way the old icon seems to be trapped within the confines of the new rectangle. While I am not a huge fan of this shift, I accept that the tide has turned, so Black Ink is the first of my apps to “break out of jail.” In Black Ink’s case, I’m achieving this by adopting the existing iOS app’s icon:

My other apps, including MarsEdit, will receive a similar treatment, soon.

Here is the complete list of changes for this release:

• Updated application icon to match the increasingly popular rounded-rectangle style
• Fixed a bug that prevented smartened quotes from appearing in clue text
• Fixed a bug that caused some clue rows to be too short or too tall
• Improved the appearance of the overlay special entry field on a future OS update

If you enjoy Black Ink, please consider writing a review or rating the app on the Mac App Store, and spreading the word on social media! Thanks for your support.

Black Ink for iOS 2.4.2 is now available on the App Store

This update brings the same category of improvements to the iOS app that were recently added to the Mac app.

Namely, when a puzzle has clues that include inline images, they are now rendered properly in the app’s selected clue area:

Complete list of changes for this release:

• Restored and improved handling of inline images in puzzle clues
• Fix a bug where progress made on Imported Puzzles was not persisted
• Fix a bug that caused a crash if Imported Puzzles cannot be loaded
• Prevent a gap appearing between the keyboard and clue after showing settings

If you enjoy Black Ink, please consider writing a review or rating the app on the App Store, and spreading the word on social media! Thanks for your support.

Black Ink 2.4.2 is now available on the Black Ink site and has been submitted for review on the Mac App Store.

This update addresses a loss of functionality in version 2.4.1 which caused inline images in clues to no longer be rendered correctly. These types of clues are not common, and currently are only supported by Black Ink for New York Times puzzles, but when they do come along it’s important to handle them well!

While fixing this, I took the opportunity to dramatically improve the handling of such clues. While they worked in release os of Black Ink earlier than 2.4.1, they appeared a bit clunky, and sometimes with nonsensical text alongside them. Now, for example, a New York Times clue from January 26 of this year looks like this in the clue list:

and like this in the selected clue marquee at the top of the window:

These subtle but important improvements are the kind of things that make Black Ink the most beautiful (if I dare say so) crossword solving environment on Earth!

Here’s a complete list of changes for this release:

• Improved layout of puzzle clue at top of window
• Restored and improved handling of inline images in puzzle clues
• Alt text on inline clue images are now conveyed to accessibility and tooltip text
• Fixed a bug that caused the “Congratulations” panel to appear twice if auto-check is enabled
• Fixed a bug that caused new puzzles opened without a save file to prompt for saving upon solving
• Clues with images are now handled more correctly in printouts

If you enjoy Black Ink, please consider writing a review or rating the app on the Mac App Store, and spreading the word on social media! Thanks for your support.

FastScripts 3.3.7 is now available on the FastScripts home page, or by selecting “Check for Update” from the FastScripts menu.

This update extends the sometimes overlooked, but very handy, feature whereby holding the Option key down while selecting a script causes the script to open in Script Editor, Script Debugger, a text editor, or whatever, depending on the type of script you selected.

Before this update, the feature worked for almost any file types liable to show up in your Scripts folder, but did not work as expected for AppleScript Droplets and Automator Applications. These work as expected, now!

The update also includes some minor finesses and a fix for a rare crashing bug:

• Holding the option key to edit a selected script now works with AppleScript Droplets and Automator Applications
• Alias files now show the icon of the destination file, instead of the incorrect icon provided by the system
• Fixed a rare crash that could occur while entering a license registration code
• Fixed the description of the “has keyboard shortcut” scripting property to reflect its read-only nature

If you enjoy FastScripts, please consider spreading the word to your automating friends! Thanks for your support.