Black Ink 2.0.7 is now available on the Black Ink site and on the Mac App Store.

This update addresses some visual glitches in the app that took away from the goal of providing a “pristine” crossword-solving experience. If you notice other drawing issues that “just don’t look right,” please be sure to let me know!

Complete list of changes for this release:

• Improved animation when entering full screen mode
• Fix a bug that caused the timer to pause when entering a special answer
• Fix a problem that could cause blank space at puzzle edges on some Macs
• Fix the keyboard shortcut Cmd-Period for canceling a puzzle download
• Fix some grid layout issues on non-Retina displays
• Fix a bug that caused the first-launch registration panel to contain placeholder strings

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

One of the challenges for Black Ink lovers is finding a steady supply of new puzzles to solve in the app. I publish a list of resources with pointers to many sources of free and paid puzzles, but there are yet more options out there!

Matt Gritzmacher has a novel approach to addressing this problem, in the form of a daily email newsletter with direct links to puzzles:

Daily Crossword Links

The newsletter includes links to many puzzles that include “.puz” downloadable links. This is a file format that Black Ink can open directly. So if you’re looking for a steady source of puzzles to solve in Black Ink, beyond what’s included in the app, be sure to give Daily Crossword Links a look!

Black Ink 2.0.6 is now available on the Black Ink site and on the Mac App Store.

This update improves some of Black Ink’s nuanced solving affordances, including its support for “direct clue navigation”. When you type a numeric value while solving in Black Ink, you see a heads-up display previewing the clue number you’ll navigate to:

Previously to 2.0.6, after typing a clue number you had to press return to “confirm” the jump. Starting with this release, after a short pause the focus will automatically jump without confirmation. It’s the little things that add up!

Complete list of changes for this release:

• Typing a number to jump to a clue now automatically commits without pressing enter
• Change default navigation preferences to not pause cursor movement when changing directions
• Fix the appearance of circled cells to prevent the circle being shifted a little too high
• Fix a crash that could occur when tabbing in a puzzle with squares that do not correspond to any clue
• Fix a bug that could change other answers when revealing a multi-character answer
• Fix a bug that caused the wrong clue to show when reopening the app with a down clue selected

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

I’m excited to announce a new premium puzzle source for Black Ink: The Inkubator. This puzzle is dedicated to showcasing puzzles constructed by women. Or, as they put it: “cis women, trans women, & woman-aligned constructors.” The puzzles come out twice a month, and normally cost $25/year, but at the moment they are offering a free, two-month trial, which also includes access to the archive of past puzzles.

Black Ink 2.0.4 is available on the home page and on the Mac App Store.

If you enjoy Black Ink, please consider writing a review or rating the app on the Mac App Store, or spreading the word on Facebook or Twitter! Questions or concerns? Get in touch at [email protected]. Thank you.