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CrosswordChat Privacy Policy

Effective date: July 5, 2026 Permalink: https://missingbulb.github.io/CrosswordChat/privacy/ (republished by the privacy-page workflow on every Chrome Web Store publish, or on demand)

CrosswordChat is a Chrome extension that lets you solve the New York Times crossword by voice: it reads clues aloud and types the answers you speak. This policy explains what the extension does with data. The short version: it collects nothing, transmits nothing, and stores nothing except your own settings.

What the extension does NOT do

  • No servers. The extension makes no network requests of its own — no backend, no APIs, no accounts, no analytics, no crash reporting, no remote configuration. This is enforced by an automated architecture test in the codebase (no network primitives may appear in extension source).
  • No collection. Your voice, the recognized transcripts, the puzzle, your answers, and your solving progress are never collected, logged, or sent anywhere by the extension.
  • No persistence of puzzle or speech data. Clues, answers, and transcripts live only in the memory of the puzzle tab while a voice session is active and are gone when the session ends or the tab closes.
  • No sale or sharing of data. There is nothing to sell or share.

What the extension processes, and where

  • Microphone audio. When you start a session (by clicking the toolbar icon) the extension listens for your answers using the browser's built-in Web Speech API (webkitSpeechRecognition). Audio is captured only during an active session, only on the crossword page, and only after you grant Chrome's microphone permission. Note: Chrome's default speech recognition is a browser feature that may process audio on Google's speech servers; that processing is performed by Chrome itself under Google's privacy policy, not by this extension. Recent versions of Chrome can perform recognition on-device.
  • Speech output. Clues are spoken with Chrome's text-to-speech engine (chrome.tts), which runs locally in the browser.
  • Puzzle content. The extension reads the clues and grid of the New York Times crossword page you have open (its only host permission is https://www.nytimes.com/*) and simulates keystrokes to enter your answers. This happens entirely inside your browser.

What the extension stores

One thing: your settings (for example, the clue-selection strategy chosen on the settings popup), kept in chrome.storage.sync so they follow your Chrome profile. Settings contain no personal information, no audio, and nothing about any puzzle. Uninstalling the extension removes them.

Permissions, explained

Permission Why it is needed
tts Speak clues and feedback aloud.
storage Save your settings (and nothing else).
contextMenus Add a single "Settings…" item to the extension's own toolbar-icon menu, which opens your settings. It is only a menu entry — it collects, stores, and transmits nothing.
Host access to https://www.nytimes.com/* Read clues from, and type answers into, the NYT crossword page. The extension runs nowhere else.
Microphone (requested by the page at session start) Hear your answers. Active only during a session you started.

Children

The extension does not knowingly collect information from anyone, including children.

Changes

If the extension's behavior ever changes in a way that affects this policy, the policy will be updated here (this document is version-controlled in the public repository) and the extension's store listing will be updated before release.

Contact

Questions or concerns: open an issue at github.com/missingbulb/CrosswordChat or use the developer contact email shown on the Chrome Web Store listing.