Printable Puzzle PDF Generator: word search, sudoku, maze

Printable Puzzle PDF Generator makes word search, sudoku, maze and nonogram (picture logic) puzzles and returns them as one printable PDF with an answer key, plus one result row per puzzle. Every puzzle is checked by a solver to have exactly one solution before it is drawn. It is built for teachers, parents, activity-sheet makers and puzzle-book publishers who want ready-to-print pages in one call. To try it, keep the sample input (4 word searches) and press Start. The run takes a few seconds.

What does the Printable Puzzle PDF Generator do?

• Returns one PDF: every puzzle on its own page, then the answer key, one answer page per puzzle. Each page has a title line ("Word search 3 of 4"), a page number, and the puzzle page says which page holds its answer.
• Four puzzle types:
  • Word search generator: 15x15 grid, up to 20 words, large letters. Use the built-in family-friendly themed word lists or your own words.
  • Sudoku: classic 9x9, easy to hard by number of given digits.
  • Maze: rectangular perfect maze (exactly one path), entrance top left, exit bottom right.
  • Nonogram (griddler, picross): picture logic puzzles at 15x15, 20x20 or 25x25 from a library of pixel pictures; the answer key shows the picture.
• Solver-verified answer key: a solver that reads only the printed clues must find exactly one solution, and it must match the answer key. A puzzle that fails is never printed.
• Reproducible: give a seed and you get the same puzzles and the same PDF again.
• US Letter or A4 pages. Makes no network calls and calls no AI model: the puzzles come from code alone.

How to use the printable puzzle PDF generator

1. Choose a Puzzle type, the Number of puzzles (1 to 50) and a Difficulty.
2. For a word search, optionally paste Your words (5 to 40 words, letters only).
3. Pick Page size (US Letter or A4) and press Start.
4. Open the Output tab and click the PDF link (every row carries it), or read pdf_url from the dataset API. Print at 100% ("Actual size").

Calling it from an AI agent: {"puzzle": "sudoku", "count": 10, "difficulty": "hard"}. The description above is also the Actor's tool description in the Apify MCP server.

Pricing

Event	What you pay for	Price
puzzle-rendered	One verified puzzle and its answer page saved in the PDF	$0.020

The first 3 puzzles of every run are free, so a run of up to 3 puzzles costs nothing in events. You pay only for puzzles that were saved in the PDF. Set Max cost per run to cap a run: the Actor makes only as many puzzles as the cap covers, the PDF holds exactly those, and the status message says so. Platform usage is included (no "+usage" charges).

Input

Field	Type	Required	Notes
puzzle	string	yes	wordsearch, sudoku, maze or nonogram.
count	integer	yes	1 to 50 puzzles. The PDF has twice as many pages (puzzles + answers).
difficulty	string	no	easy, medium (default) or hard. Word search: across/down, + diagonals, all 8 directions. Sudoku: 36-40, 30-35, 27-29 givens. Maze: 12x9, 18x13, 26x19. Nonogram: 15x15, 20x20, 25x25.
pageSize	string	no	letter (default) or a4.
words	array	no	Word search only. 5 to 40 words of 3 to 15 letters A-Z. A word may not sit inside another word. Up to 20 go into each puzzle.
seed	integer	no	0 to 2147483647. Same seed + same input = same puzzles.

{ "puzzle": "wordsearch", "count": 4 }

Output

One dataset row per puzzle:

{
  "index": 1,
  "puzzle": "wordsearch",
  "difficulty": "medium",
  "title": "Word search 1 of 4",
  "page": 1,
  "answer_page": 5,
  "seed": 1834567,
  "pdf_url": "https://api.apify.com/v2/key-value-stores/STORE_ID/records/puzzles.pdf",
  "pdf_key": "puzzles.pdf",
  "pdf_pages": 8,
  "page_size": "letter",
  "details": {"theme": "Farm Animals", "grid": "15x15", "words": ["BARN", "GOAT", "..."]}
}

The PDF is in the run's default key-value store under puzzles.pdf. Run storage is kept for your plan's data-retention period (7 days for unnamed storages on most plans), then deleted by Apify. Download the PDF to keep it. Your word list is used only inside your run.

Other Actors by Atarivo

Every Atarivo Actor follows the same rules: limited permissions, no "+usage" pricing, charges only after results are saved, and at least one result row per run.

• PDF, Image & Word to Text and Markdown (OCR): returns the text, Markdown, tables and page facts of a PDF, PNG, JPEG, TIFF or Word .docx file, one dataset row per page, plus RAG chunks with page spans. OCR runs only on scanned or unreadable pages. First page free.
• ATS Jobs API: Greenhouse, Lever & Ashby: every open job on the Greenhouse, Lever and Ashby boards you list, one row per job: title, company, location, remote flag, department, posted date and apply URL. No login, no personal data.

FAQ, disclaimers and support

Can I use it for KDP puzzle books or classroom worksheets? Classroom, home and party use work as they are: print the PDF. For an Amazon KDP interior, treat the PDF as source pages, not a finished book: it is US Letter or A4 (not a KDP trim size), it has no front matter, and it uses the standard PDF font Helvetica, which is not embedded. KDP requires embedded fonts, so re-export the pages through a layout tool that embeds fonts before you upload.

Can I sell what I make? The puzzles in your PDF are yours to print, share and use, including in products you sell. Some nonogram pictures are drawn from open icon sets (MIT, ISC, Apache 2.0 or CC BY 4.0); their answer page prints a one-line picture credit, and the row's details.picture_credit repeats it. Keep that line with the picture.

Why was my word list refused? A word that sits inside another word (CAT in CATERPILLAR), forwards or backwards, could never appear exactly once, so the Actor refuses it and tells you which pair to fix.

Fonts and attribution. Pages use reportlab's built-in standard PDF fonts only; no font file ships with the Actor, so there is nothing to license. The puzzle generators are Atarivo's own code.

Something is wrong. Open an issue on the Issues tab with the run ID. Issues are answered within 14 days.

This Actor is provided as is, under Apify's Standard Actor Contract. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by Amazon or KDP.