Question 1

How to use the Time Saver for Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Puzzles

Accepted Answer

This video tutorial shows how to use the Time Saver for Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Puzzles:

Question 2

How to create Acrostic puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Column

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to create Acrostic puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Column.

Introduction

There are many different types of Acrostic Crossword puzzles. Acrostic Column is the name we give to the type of Acrostic Crossword where a list of words is shown, and a single 'secret' word can be found in one of the columns.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Column

To find the Acrostic Column puzzles, select "Crossword Variations" in the Puzzle Type dropdown menu in Puzzle Maker Pro. Then select "Acrostic Column" in the "Type" dropdown list.

Acrostic Column Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/FmgPwc7bmh/Acrostic%20Column%20-%20Overview.png (Acrostic Column - Overview)

You can click the different tabs to configure all the puzzle settings:

Word List: Type or select the word list. The word list will be automatically verified - a check if there's a secret word available
Settings: Additional settings for the Word List
Grid: Layout and size settings for the puzzle grid
Style: Font and color settings
Clues: Configure clue style and layout
Dict: Configure Dictionary settings

Acrostic Column Word Lists

Compared to Criss Cross puzzles, Acrostic puzzles have an additional complexity: The secret (or hidden) word. This is part of the word list. Here's a part of or demo word list:

If you type or copy the word list, it's best to click "Verify" after editing the words. This will check if there's a secret word present, and if there are enough words to cover all the letters in the secret word. (For example, if the secret word is "LOVE" and none of the words in the word list has a "V", it's not possible to generate a puzzle.)

Output Options

Crossword Variations and Acrostic Column are the first puzzles to support the new puzzle output options in Puzzle Maker Pro:

Fixed Size: This is the classic Puzzle Maker Pro output for puzzles, using a fixed size in pixels or inches
Dynamic Size (IPB): This option will calculate the puzzle size based on the current layout settings for Instant Puzzle Books. This way the puzzles will always have the exact size for your puzzle book. However, puzzles may not have the optimal size if you want to reuse them for further puzzle books
Use Image Settings: This is a new option, allowing you to override the puzzle size, and create images for e.g. social media. The images may include titles and watermarks. See also the separate Image Settings Tutorial.

Please be aware that if you switch from Fixed Size to Dynamic Size, you will need to adjust some of the style settings - A line with 5 pixels width will appear differently on a 2000 pixel image compared to a 400 pixel image. (Font sizing will be adjusted automatically)

Dictionary Options

Crossword Variations and Acrostic Column are the first puzzles to support our online English Dictionary. You can activate this on the "Dict" tab for Crossword Variations.

Word List tab

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/htx5mQKj9E/AC%20-%20Word%20List%20tab.png (Crossword Variations - Word List tab)

Type the word list (or click "Word List File" and select a file)
Edit the word list with the built-in word list editor
Verify - this will do a first check if an acrostic puzzle can be generated
Edit after Create - Check this button to automatically the word list editor after a puzzle has been generated. Especially when the hints are printed in the puzzle image (as in the screenshot), it's not possible to edit the words afterwards
Next Preview - Test what a puzzle with the give word list looks like

Word List Conventions

Word:Hint - On each line, type a word and add the hint (aka clue aka description) separated by a colon ":". You can type multiple hints for each word, the generator will select a random hint for each puzzle
#title:title - you can add a title for the puzzle. This can appear in the puzzle book (depending on your settings) or in the puzzle image
#description:description
#secret:word:hint - use the tag "#secret" to specify the secret word for your puzzle

Settings tab

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AABY9RTjTG/AC%20-%20Settings%20tab.png (AC - Settings tab)

Wordlist Control - You can choose to use the words in the word list only once (Auto) or to create many more puzzles from a single word list. Words are drawn from the word list at random, so each puzzle will be different
Remove Characters - You can automatically clean up the word list by removing spaces and other characters

(The Word Count options are not used for Acrostic puzzles - the number of words is fixed for each secret word)

Grid tab

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/sSonMbwu12/AC%20-%20Grid%20Tab.png (Acrostic Column - Grid Tab)

The settings on this tab will help you to create a consistent look for your puzzle book, or create optimal puzzle sizing for your puzzle images.

For puzzle books, you may want a clean look where all puzzles have the same size (the squares have the same size). In that case it's best to switch off 'Dynamic' and set a number of rows and colunms (2) that fits your word list. (Because words may be shifted to the left or right, it's best to generate a set of puzzles first, and check the resulting layouts)
For (social media) images, you may want the optimal dynamic size (1) for each puzzle, since these images will be posted and viewed separately.
Additionally, the puzzle can be aligned (in the image) as you wish, to create a consistent look

Style tab

On the Style tab you can select the fonts and colors for your puzzle.

Clues tab

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/5fv86ppDeT/AC%20-%20Clues%20tab.png (AC - Clues tab)

You can choose to use the classic clue output, which will be printed only in the Instant Puzzle Books (PDF or Powerpoint) or the new 'In Image' output, which is shown in the screenshot.
When you print the clues (aka hints) in the image, you can set the position and number of columns. Additionally you can set how much space the puzzle should take. The best value for this space allocation depends on the words you are using, it's best to play with this value, and the number of Clue Columns, and generate previews to see what looks best.
Two additional Clue Style options are available: "Word Fill" - A list of words is added, instead of the hints. The goal is to find the right positions for the words. "Word Scramble" - Instead of the clues, a random scramble of the words will be shown
For Acrostic puzzles, the Clue Headings are only used for "Word Fill", in which case the "Word Fill Title" can be set

Dict tab

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/zROQtfHY32/AC%20-%20Dict%20tab.png (Acrostic Column - Dict tab)

On the "Dict" tab you can set the dictionary settings:

The built-in dictionary is AI generated and curated, with over 400,000 words and descriptions. Access to this dictionary is included in Crossword Variations. It is best to manually verify the chosen hint for each word after each puzzle is generated (using the "Edit After Create" option on the Word List tab
The "Main" dictionary is an option to use your own word list file, containing words and descriptions (hints) for each word.
The "Custom" dictionary is an additional option - whenever word descriptions are edited or added when creating puzzles, you can save them automatically to this Custom dictionary, for later use / reuse.

How to use the Time Saver for Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Puzzles

How to create Acrostic puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Column

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