Question 1

How to create Crossword Variations with Puzzle Maker Pro

Accepted Answer

This tutorials shows how to create Crossword Variations with Puzzle Maker Pro. It applies to:

Puzzle Maker Pro - Criss Cross
Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Column
Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Grid
Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Spiral (May 2024)
Puzzle Maker Pro - Acrostic Criss Cross (May 2024)

Introduction

Crossword Variations is our collection of all puzzles based on the crosswords format. There are many types of crossword variations:

Words placed in a grid or free format, that have to be guessed from given clues
Acrostic puzzles, which have additional hints and/or secret words
Cryptic puzzles where the clues are cryptic instead of straightforward

This tutorial provides an overview of all the options and features in the Crossword Variations module, that you can use to create unique puzzles that attract attention and stand out. (Or even boring, run-of-the-mill puzzles, if you desire).

There are additional tutorials for the specific puzzle types as well, that build on this main overview.

Criss Cross
Acrostic Column
Acrostic Grid

Crossword Variations Overview

When you select CrossWord Variations in the main menu, you'll see a window like this:

Crossword Variations Overview Numbered.png

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/v0qp5hsUWa/Crossword%20Variations%2001%20Overview%20-%20Numbered.png (Crossword Variations Overview Numbered.png)

Select Puzzle Type "Crossword Variations", or select any of the crossword variations in the "Word Puzzles" menu
There are many different options for Crossword Variations puzzles. You can click on each button to show additional settings
The word list that is currently used
A preview of the most recently generated puzzle
Buttons to create (and save) a new puzzle, or generate a new preview with the current puzzle settings
Switch between puzzle and solution preview. By default it's set to Preview Solution

Note: for all puzzle types, the shape and layout of the puzzle will be heavily influenced by your word list. A mix of very long and very short words will usually result in oddly shaped and irregular puzzles.

Words

With Crossword Variations you can and have to use your own word lists. When you start this module the first time, a short word list is shown, to make it easier for you to play with the settings and get some fast results.

You can choose to provide a complete word list with clues (word descriptions) and other information, or to provide only a list of words without any other information, and use the integrated dictionary and editing system to add missing information.

Word Lists

A word list can be anything from just a list of words, to a list of words with word descriptions (used as clues) and other information. A full description and specification of the word list options can be found here: Word Lists for Crossword Variations

Word List Summary

Word : Clue - On each line, type a word and add the clue (description) separated by a colon ":". You can type multiple clues for each word, the generator will select a random clues 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:clue - use the tag "#secret" to specify the secret word for your puzzle

Word Settings

You can control how your word list is used to create puzzles on the "Settings" tab:

Word List Control: Use the word list only once, reset the word list for each new puzzle, or reset the word list only after all words have been used. Each puzzle will use randomly chosen words from the word list, even with a word list of only 20 or 30 words, you can create almost unlimited puzzles.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/tGjcsmIqZP/Crossword%20Variations%2002%20Word%20Settings%20-%20Numbered.png (Crossword Variations Word Settings.png)

Automatically remove characters / letters from your words. For example, you may want to remove all the spaces or hyphens from the words. For example, if the word list contains the word "word search", the puzzle would use "wordsearch". This setting is now available on the main Dictionary tab (to ensure consistency for all puzzles).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Z0hP14XzUQ/Puzzle%20Maker%20Pro%20-%20Letter%20Settings.png (Puzzle Maker Pro - Letter Settings)

You can also set the minimum and maximum number of words for a puzzle. When there are less than the minimum number of words in your word list, no puzzle will be created. For some crossword variations this option may have a slightly different function (which is detailed in the corresponding tutorials).

Dictionary

You can use the integrated dictionary to speed up your puzzle creation, and inspire your creativity as well. This dictionary is mostly AI generated, for the English language. That means it can really speed up your workflow, but it's also best to always verify the results that are provided. You can enable this dictionary on the main "Dictionary" tab.

Additionally you can use your own word list / dictionary file and even add a custom word list to save all the changes you make.

Acrostic Options

There are two tabs in the puzzle settings that are used for some puzzles only:

Acrostic - These settings are used for acrostic puzzles only (e.g. not for the regular Criss Cross or Word Spiral puzzles)
Variation - This tab can contain custom settings for specific puzzles (e.g. Acrostic Grid). Otherwise a message "No Additional Settings for this puzzle type" is shown.

Acrostic tab

Crossword Variations Acrostic Options.png

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZCmpggnmSo/Crossword%20Variations%2003%20Acrostic%20Options%20-%20Numbered.png (Crossword Variations Acrostic Options)

Choose between Secret Word or Alphabet hints. Acrostic puzzles require either a "Secret Word" or additional hints, which we call "Alphabet Hints". For most acrostic puzzle types it's not possible to use both options at the same time.
The secret word or phrase will be shown at the bottom of the puzzle (2)
You can specify which secret word to use by using the "#secret" tag in the word list, e.g. "#secret: orange : color". The other option is to randomly select a word from your word list to use as the secret word.
Minimum Matching Letters: You can choose to add only words that have 2 or more letters in common with the secret word or phrase. By setting this to '1', only one matching letter is needed. This value influences the number of hints that can be shown in the puzzle. This option is only applied when you use a secret word.
You can customise how many hints are shown for each letter. For example, if you set this to 3, the first letter of a secret word will only have 3 hints, the second letter will also have 3 hints (if possible). When you use Alphabet Hints, each letter (e.g. "A", "B" or "C") will only get 3 hints. This settings influences the difficulty of the puzzle.

Grid Settings

In Puzzle Maker Pro, puzzle images are generated with a consistent size, to make sure the puzzles can easily be used together in a puzzle book. In some cases this may seem counterintuitive.

Especially for crossword variations generated from your own word lists, which differently sized words, randomly generated puzzles, and optionally secret words or phrases that can have different lengths, it takes some steps to guarantee that the puzzles in your puzzle books will have consistent font sizes. Therefore we've added the "Fixed / Maximum Grid Settings". You can (and should) customise these settings to get the exact output you need. (And, honestly, it's best to just play with these settings and preview the puzzles to see what works best for your current project).

Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 1

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZcSxJMBEvl/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Criss%20Cross%20Grid%201.png (Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 20x20)

Set the maximum grid size you need. If this is fixed, it will also determine the font size. Padding may occur, since crossword puzzles are created randomly and the exact size and shape depends on your word list
Dynamic size - The grid size will be used as a maximum size, and empty rows and columns will be removed before printing the puzzle.
Align the puzzle in the fixed grid. Especially with a fixed grid size, if the actual puzzle is smaller than the grid size, it can be aligned or centered horizontally or vertically.

The screenshot below shows a completely different grid size, used with the 'social media' image settings to add a title, description and watermark to the generated puzzle image:

Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 10x25.png

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MTM5yNKBuA/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Criss%20Cross%20Grid%202.png (Crossword Variations - Criss Cross Grid 10x25)

Styling

The style options can be found on the Style 1 and Style 2 tabs. (The small size of the tabs is to accomodate users who work on a laptop).

Style 1 tab

The first Style tab includes the options for the main puzzle styling settings. In the screenshot you can see a custom font and blue'ish colors:

Crossword Variations - Style 1

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/qOrJ9P3wDZ/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Style%201.png (Crossword Variations - Style 1 tab)

You can set the font, font color and other font settings, the cell colors, additional colors for accented cells (for example in Acrostic Column), and the lines between cells and the outer border lines.

Style 2 tab

The second style tab has the style settings for the puzzle numbers:

Crossword Variations - Style 2

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WgAfN0cAWf/Crossword%20Variations%20-%20Style%202.png (Crossword Variations - Style 2)

Here you can choose between small word numbers in each cell, or separate word numbers as an additional square in the puzzle (as in the screenshot). You can also choose to use letters instead of numbers, and of course you can set the font and font color for the word numbers.

Clues Settings

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 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

Image and Output Options

In addition to 'clean' images that only contain the puzzles or solutions, you can also create images that have a title, description and watermark. These images can easily be used on social media, for advertising or as printables.

A full tutorial can be found here: (Social Media) Image Settings

Introduction

The time saver does exactly what it says on the tin: It saves you time. It does so by allowing you to batch create puzzles. You get less control over the details, but if you have your lists set up, you can create puzzles much faster than if you did it manually.

Sounds pretty nifty right? Let's switch to the Time-Saver tab, and see how it's done.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/3c06l0tQ5l/Time%20Saver%20Criss.jpg (Time Saver Criss)

Main Options

The main options are very similar to the style panel in the normal version. You can choose the font size. Here you can select a uniform font size for every puzzle, or a variable font size. It's automatically on variable. This way, if you create multiple criss cross puzzles with different sizes, it will automatically look for the optimal font size.

You can also select "One Size Fits All", where it uses the largest possible font size that fits in every puzzle. This can create funky looks if you're using multiple very different sizes, but it also creates a more uniform look in terms of font.

Third, you can select the fixed font size. Everything will be the font size you select. If you know how big your puzzles are, and what size font you're going to need, or if you are creating books for people with sight problems, you could want this. However, keep in mind that if your math is off, this can create very strange effects.

Next, you can select the puzzle alignment. Because it's near impossible to create puzzles that fit exactly within the grid size you chose, you can choose your own alignment for the puzzles. You can choose to have them all aligned at the top, the bottom, the middle, and if you want them aligned to the left side of the page, the right side, or, again, the middle. You can also choose to align the words with the puzzle.

Word List Options

Now for the fun part: Adding word lists! Add as many or as few word lists as you want (1).

Reminder: for this software, you want the word lists to have a colon in between the word and the description. As you can see in the starting screen of the crossword module, you want your word lists formatted like this:

BookPublisherTools: Popular software company

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/h7dt7oEZy5/time%20saver%20word%20lists.jpg (time saver word lists)

You can set if the word lists can be merged or not (3). If you have themed word lists and want to create themed puzzles, you probably don't want to mix them. However, if the puzzles do not have a theme, merging them can create more unique puzzles, which is good too.

You can also choose if a word can be re-used (2). Using auto or repeat, the wordlists will slowly be used, and words cannot be reused. With repeat, they can be reused.

Puzzle Control Options

Time for batch creation! This is the fun part of the time saver. You've done your prep work, now you can select how many puzzles you want, what the sizes of the puzzles are, you can load in presets, et cetera.

Simply change the quantity(1), select the size you want(2), and click "add" (3) to add them to the list of puzzles the software has to make.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/c4YWdAVw57/adding%20a%20puzzle.jpg (adding a puzzle)

If you've made presets for criss cross crosswords in the past, you can load those in too!

You can select which word lists each batch pulls from, or if it doesn't really matter and they can pull from everything here too, and you can change the amount of words that can be in each puzzle. Simply change those settings after you've added them to the list.

Then finally, you just click "Create (TS)" to generate all the puzzles! Don't forget to make sure you have "use Time Saver to generate puzzles" (located at the top of the screen) selected.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/9HWj6wUWdq/timesaver%20lists.jpg (timesaver lists)

Introduction

A requirement for all Crossword style puzzle is that they have clues. It's best to vary the clues between puzzles, and not have identical clues for the same word in all the Crossword puzzles you generate. For example: If you have "Longest river in the USA" (8 letters) in each and every puzzle, that's not very exciting for your customers.

There are two main functions for word lists and clue management. First of all, with the clue editor you can edit the clues for your word lists, before or after (!) generating puzzles. Additionally, there's an option to add your own main word list or dictionary, instead of adding the clues to each theme word list separately.

Editing Clues for Puzzle Maker Pro - Crosswords

The three options to set the clues for your words are:

Edit the word list in your favorite software.
Edit the word list in Puzzle Maker Pro, after copying or selecting it in the Word List area
Edit the clues for your puzzles AFTER generating the puzzles. You'll get this option automatically if some words are missing clues.

Editing your Word List in your own software (Notepad)

The words are listed in a simple format:

In other words: Each line in the text file has a word and a clue, separated by a colon. You can easily edit this file in Notepad on Windows. It should be a standard ".txt" file, without any kind of layout or control characters. If you're using MS Word to edit the file, make sure to select "Plain Text (.txt)" as the format, when you save the file.

This way, when you add the clues, they will be part of your word list, and can be reused each time you use the word list.

Edit Word List (in Puzzle Maker Pro)

In Puzzle Maker Pro - Crosswords (also for Criss Cross) there's an option to edit the word list you've selected. This will work both when you have copied a list of words in the words area, or if you have selected a Word List file to use. Click the "Edit Word List" button to go to the Clue Editor.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/pMF8shgxL5/Criss%20Cross%20-%20Clue%20Editor.png (Criss Cross - Clue Editor)

Here you'll see a table with the words and the clues. Once you click a word or clue, you can edit the clue. (see the screenshot below). Click "Close" on the Clue Editor window to close and save all clues and return to the Crossword module.

Edit Clues

You can even edit the clues AFTER generating the puzzles. This is how most other crossword software works as well, but Puzzle Maker Pro will also generate your Puzzle Book in PDF or Powerpoint format after adding the clues.

If you want to edit the clues after generating the puzzles, make sure the "Edit After Create" box is checked. Alternatively, if any of the words is missing its clue, you'll see a warning like this, allowing you to edit the clues:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/u9RirZS6yt/Criss%20Cross%20-%2051%20Clue%20Editor%20Warning.png (Criss Cross - 51 Clue Editor Warning)

If you click "No", then some words in the puzzle book will have blank clues. You can always edit the PDF or Powerpoint document after it's created.

If you click "Yes", you'll see the following window:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/eXunFAG2RN/Criss%20Cross%20-%2053%20Clue%20Editor%20Puzzle%20Clues%20-%20Numbered.png (Criss Cross - 53 Clue Editor Puzzle Clues - Numbered)

Select the file you want to edit. The file name may seem a bit cryptic, the dropdown list shows all the word / clue files for the puzzle. By selecting them one by one, you'll be able to check or edit the words for each puzzle.
The words and clues are shown, along with the position in the puzzle (V 3 means Vertical word 3). By clicking the word CROSSSUM or the empty clue field, you'll be able to edit the clue
Textbox to edit the clue
Click "Save Clue" to save the clue to the table. Alternatively you can click the "Auto Save Changes" box, this will automatically save changes when you change to a different word or file
Select a clue from the list - these clues are taken from the main and custom dictionaries (if you have the dictionary add-on)
Add changes automatically to the custom dictionary, or "Add All" words and clues to the custom dictionary at once, for future re-use. (This requires the dictionary add-on)
Save / Close: Leave the Clue Editor Window. After this, Puzzle Maker Pro will automatically generate puzzle books for you.

Using a Dictionary Word List

The use of main and custom word lists, is available as a separate add-on: Word List Editor for Puzzle Maker Pro. Not everybody may need or want this.

Our Dictionary system allows you to set up a main dictionary that has many words the clues for the words. Additionally you can add a 'custom' dictionary, that will be used to add all the new clues you add in Puzzle Maker Pro.

The main dictionary and the custom dictionary are separate files, this allows you to use dictionaries (clues) that you download or purchase elsewhere, and still save your own custom clues separately.

Theme Word List

In the (theme) word list for your puzzles, it's allowed to include only the words and not the clues. For the dictionaries, the clues are mandatory, since the main purpose of the dictionary is to provide you with clues.

When you use the Time Saver for Crossword, you can add multiple word lists, to create a large set of themed puzzles with a single mouse-click.

Main Dictionary

The main dictionary, or main word list, can consist of millions of words with corresponding clues.

For puzzles like Criss Cross, this dictionary is used to provide you with clues for the words that are used in the puzzle. This way you don't have to add clues in your theme word lists. Of course you still can add clues to the theme word list, which will have priority over the clues in the dictionaries.

The format of the main word file is identical to the theme word list format:

The main dictionary will never be changed by Puzzle Maker Pro.

At the time of writing, we do not include dictionaries with Puzzle Maker Pro.

Custom Dictionary

The custom dictionary is used to save clues that you add while creating puzzles. You can edit the word list before creating puzzles, and add all the clues to the custom dictionary, you can also edit the puzzle clues after creating the puzzles (but before generating a puzzle book), and add the clues to the custom dictionary.

Using Multiple Languages

Like all other Puzzle Maker Pro features, you can easily use different languages with the Crossword modules. However, you should make sure that you change the main dictionary and the custom dictionary when you use word lists for other languages. Otherwise Puzzle Maker Pro may for example add English clues from the dictionaries to French words from your word list.

Workflow options

There are different ways to use word lists in Puzzle Maker Pro - Criss Cross (and future modules):

You can create Criss Cross puzzles using your own word lists, including clues. In which case there is no need to use the built-in Clue Editor. (Note: It's faster to edit clues and descriptions in Notepad or Notepad++ or any other text editor. Our Clue Editor needs to do some extra checks because it can be linked to your dictionaries).
You can create Criss Cross puzzles using your own word lists, and add clues before or after creating the puzzles. Before your puzzle book (Powerpoint or PDF) is created, there's an automatic check to verify that each word has a clue, and you'll get the option to edit the clues with the clue editor.
Optionally you can also edit the puzzle clue files in your favourite text editor, but you have to make sure that required parts, such as word positions, remain in place
If you use a dictionary, Puzzle Maker Pro will automatically retrieve missing clues from your dictionary. You can still choose to edit the clues before creating a puzzle book.

Why so many options? First of all: With professional crossword software, it's best practice to create the puzzle(s) first, and edit all the clues after that, to create the best possible puzzle and clues. We definitely wanted to support this workflow.

How to create Crossword Variations with Puzzle Maker Pro

How to use the Time Saver for Puzzle Maker Pro - Crossword

How to use the Word List Editor for Puzzle Maker Pro?

How to create Criss Cross puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Criss Cross