Best Paper for Printing Puzzles

For everyday solving, standard 20 lb copy paper (the stuff already in your printer tray) is exactly right. Crossword grids are mostly empty squares and thin lines, so they use very little ink and put very little stress on the paper. A ream of ordinary multipurpose paper will print hundreds of puzzles.

If your puzzles come out with slight see-through on cheap paper, it usually means the printer is laying down more toner than the grid needs. Switch the print job to draft mode and both the ghosting and your toner budget improve at once.

Thicker paper — 65 lb cardstock or a heavy matte — makes sense in three situations. First, puzzles that travel: a stiff sheet survives backpacks, clipboards, and car seat pockets far better than floppy copy paper. Second, classroom activity centers where the same puzzle gets handled by many students in one afternoon. Third, anything you plan to laminate later, since heavier stock gives lamination a firmer base.

Check your printer's specifications before buying a whole pack; most home printers handle cardstock up to about 65 lb, but some struggle with anything beyond that. Feed cardstock from the manual or rear tray if your printer has one, and let it print a few sheets slower — the results are worth the wait.

Recycled paper prints crosswords perfectly well, and puzzle grids are forgiving of its slightly warmer tone. If your school or office tracks paper sourcing, recycled multipurpose stock is an easy call for anything students will solve once and recycle again.

Colored paper has one genuinely useful trick: printing different puzzle difficulties on different colors makes a mixed-ability classroom manage itself. Yellow sheets for easy, blue for medium, and students pick their level without anyone announcing it. Pale colors keep the grid readable; deep colors swallow thin lines and should stay in the supply closet.

Want to reuse a class set of puzzles without a photocopier? Slide each printed puzzle into a plastic sheet protector and hand out wet-erase (overhead) markers. Students solve on the plastic, wipe clean with a damp cloth, and the same set serves every class period of the day.

Dry-erase markers also work but smudge more easily mid-solve, and crossword letters sit in small boxes where a stray sleeve erases hard-won progress. Wet-erase ink stays put until deliberately wiped, which is exactly the temperament a puzzle wants. Either way, print the puzzles on cardstock first — the sheet protector and the stiff paper together will survive a full school year of hands.