How to design a crossword puzzle by hand (manual construction)

Even though the primary focus of the WordWiz system is to make it very easy to quickly create crossword and word-search puzzles, it is possible to use WordWiz to design a crossword puzzle entirely by hand. The following steps will guide you through the process.

CROSSWORD PUZZLE - Manual design steps.

  1. Pick menu OPTIONS / PUZZLE STYLE / INSTANT CROSSWORD - This style is best for manual construction.
  2. Pick menu FILE / NEW - This will clear out the puzzle grid.
  3. Check the following menu options, and make sure they are NOT checked: OPTIONS / CIRCLE LOCKED CELLS and OPTIONS / SHOW LOCKED CELLS.
  4. At this point, the LOCK CELLS (Key icon) toolbar button should already be selected, but if it is not, click it. - This will put WordWiz in MANUAL DESIGN mode.
  5. Now you can click on a cell and key in a letter. A small KEYHOLE symbol will appear next to the letter to indicate that that cell will not be changed by the automatic construction process. (Don't worry, the keyhole will not print.)
  6. If you make a mistake, click on the cell again and key in a new letter.
  7. When you are finished keying, all cells in the grid should be filled with either a locked letter, or a transparent block.
  8. Click the CLUE LIB toolbar button. Click on "CLUE LIBRARY 0" (or any other clue library that you want to use for the puzzle), and then click the MOVE UP button until it moves to the very top of the list of clue libraries.
  9. Click the EDIT CLUES button. This will close the library configuration window, and open the clue edit window.
  10. Type a clue for each word in the puzzle (In the top-most library). Use the buttons at the top of the window to step through each word in the puzzle. As you do this, the clues are automatically saved in the database, for automatic re-use in the future.
  11. After you have typed in all of the clues, Click the OK Button. This will copy the clues you have written for each word from the database into the puzzle.
  12. Pick menu OPTIONS / TITLE, and type in a title for the puzzle.
  13. OPTIONAL STEP - If you have a very dense word pattern, then you might want to use visible blocks. To do this pick menu OPTIONS / TRANSPARENT CELLS. (You may have to pick this option a second time if the option was unchecked originally)
  14. At this point you have a completed puzzle, ready for printing. (this would be a good time to pick menu FILE / SAVE.)
  15. Click the PREVIEW toolbar button, adjust the page layout if necessary, and then click print.

Congratulations - You have designed and printed a puzzle entirely by hand (without clicking the CONSTRUCT button).

Copyright © 1997-2002 by James A Buccigrossi. All rights reserved.
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