TL;DR: Before installing a Portuguese-language crossword, it is worth asking seven things from it: prose voice in the clues, regular editorial rhythm, clear ad policy, clear data policy, native Portuguese, archive of reasonable size, offline support. Cruzadinha BLA marks each of those seven. The criterion is good for any other crossword you may evaluate.
The App Store has dozens of Portuguese crossword apps. Most follow the free-with-ads pattern. Before installing, it is worth keeping some criteria in mind. Not to attack any brand. To choose well.
The list below is what I would ask of any crossword today. It works for Cruzadinha BLA, works for any other one. The reader decides.
1. Voice of the clues. Look at the first clue that appears. If it is "Brazilian writer" or "red fruit", you know what you will find: a short dictionary-style clue, without editorial care. If it is "A Brazilian writer from Rio who wrote Dom Casmurro" or "Red of June, from the classic pie", you know someone wrote it thinking. The prose clue is more expensive to produce. It costs an author. It costs revision. It costs validation. The price is what makes the product different. Ask for the first clue before paying (even if free, paying with your time).
2. Editorial rhythm. A crossword without editorial rhythm is just a puzzle dump. Three hundred algorithmically generated crosswords, played in any order, without a proposal. A crossword with editorial rhythm has something new today, tomorrow, next week. Published cadence. Ask for a crossword "of the day" and one "of the week". If they exist, the app was thought of as a publication. If they do not, the app was thought of as a puzzle bank.
3. Clear ad policy. The direct question: does the app have ads? If so, how often do they appear? Between puzzles? In a 30-second video without a skip button? Ask to see two or three puzzles before evaluating. An ad in a crossword app is not just an interruption. It confesses the economy of the app: it lives by every time you look at the screen, not by every time you play. The developer's incentives are aligned with prolonging your session to show more ads, not with delivering you the best crossword possible.
4. Clear data policy. Go to the Privacy Questionnaire of the app on the App Store card (Apple requires every app to publish this). If most items are "Not Collected", the app respects you. If most are "Used to Track You", the app lives off your data. Crossword does not need location, contact, photo, microphone, advertising identifier. If the app asks for any of those, ask why. A vague answer is a bad answer.
5. Native Portuguese. Be careful with crosswords in "Portuguese" that are machine translations of English. The clues come out strange. The proper names are wrong. Cultural references mix Beatles with Cazuza without criteria. A native Brazilian crossword has Niemeyer, Machado, Drummond, MPB, evening soap operas, Sítio do Picapau Amarelo, Festa Junina. It has regionality. It uses the word "saudade" as an example in the app description.
Pull quote: A crossword does not have to be the same everywhere. It carries the accent of the place where it was made.
6. Archive of reasonable size. Ask how many puzzles it has. It does not need five thousand. It needs enough not to end in two weeks. A hundred crosswords in the opening archive, plus a Daily Mini and a weekly Big Sunday, is more than enough for a year of use, especially if the app has editorial cadence. Be careful with apps that promise "infinite AI-generated crosswords". Quantity without curation turns into repetition without voice.
7. Offline support. A good crossword fits on a plane, on a subway, in a clinic waiting room, in a backyard without signal. Ask for offline. Put the iPhone in airplane mode and open the app. If it keeps working, the app respects your time. If it says "no connection", the app is demanding online presence for a reason that is not yours. Cruzadinha BLA marks all seven. The ruler still applies to any other crossword you may evaluate.
Common questions. How do I know if a crossword app has ads before downloading? The App Store card usually shows screenshots and description. If the description says "remove ads" or "ad-free version available", the app has ads. If it does not say anything, download and test in the first few minutes. How do I see the Privacy Questionnaire of an app? On the App Store card, scroll down to "App Privacy". Apple requires every developer to declare what they collect and what it is used for. The fewer items collected, the better. Is an AI-generated crossword any good? It depends on how AI is used. AI as an initial generation tool followed by human editorial revision usually works well. AI without human revision usually generates repetition and strange clues. Ask for a sample clue to evaluate. How many puzzles is reasonable for an app to claim a real archive? Between 50 and 200 in the opening archive, with regular editorial cadence, is usually reasonable. A huge archive without curation is worth less than a medium archive done well.
Cruzadinha BLA is on the App Store, free. Download at https://apps.apple.com/app/cruzadinha-bla/id6769588425, or open the app page at https://bla.vc/apps/cruzadinha.
