h·j·klue

hjklue (pronounced "h-j-klue," an homage to the vim hjkl motions) is a terminal-based crossword puzzle player that supports vim-style navigation and .puz format. It uses the usual tab/enter/arrows scheme to navigate the grid, but also supports a vim-like normal mode where you can jump to any cell (e.g. 35c jumps to clue 35), hjkl or w/b to move. Solve .puz format puzzles without leaving your terminal or your keyboard.

This project was inspired by cursewords, cliptic, and crosstui.

Installation and Usage

Install via one of the methods below, then run:

hjklue puzzle.puz

Accepts .puz format crossword puzzle files. (You can find puzzles at Daily Crossword Links.)

Install via Cargo

If you have Rust installed (or install via rustup):

cargo install hjklue

Pre-built Binary

Download the latest release binary for your platform from Releases. No installation required - just run the executable directly.

Building from Source

git clone https://github.com/stmorse/hjklue
cd hjklue
cargo build --release
./target/release/hjklue puzzle.puz

Contributors

I got this off the ground as a vibecode project with Claude Code (Opus 4.5), but if you are a human interested in contributing, send me a message/PR. :) Happy puzzling!