Question 1

How to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Just Five Words

Accepted Answer

This tutorial explains how to use Puzzle Maker Pro - Just Five Words

Puzzle Maker Pro - Just Five Words

This tutorial applies to the Puzzle Maker Pro module Just Five Words

The add-on "Time Saver for Word Puzzles" adds additional options for puzzle generation and Instant Puzzle Book layouts.

Just Five Words Explained

Just Five Words is our name for this puzzle, you may find it with another name in newspapers and elsewhere.

The puzzle consists of five words.
For each word, a crossword-style description is provided.
Additionally, all the letters for the five words are placed together in a list, in alphabetical order.
The goal is to find the five words, using the descriptions and the letters.
Each letter in the list can be used only once, and each letter must be used exactly once. There will be no letters left when the puzzle is solved.

Of course, with our software, you can choose to create puzzles with 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7 words, but 5 seems to be the magical number here.

Just Five Words Overview

To use Just Five Words, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu, or in the regular menu.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/cgZPzz4TY0/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Overview%20Tut.png (Just Five Words - Overview Tut)

When you select this puzzle type for the first time, a default list of words is shown, and the preview shows an image using the first word. What you see here is a good first draft of your puzzle. You can replace the list of words with your own, or select a word list (txt) file with the words.

You can customize the Just Five Words puzzles in several ways:

Word List: you can add additional text to the word list. In the example you can see "word:description", additional options can be found here: Word List Format for Word Puzzles;
Settings: Configure the puzzle options, including word list settings
Styling: Styling options are covered below;
Image: In addition to the 'standard' puzzle output, you can also create images/memes for social media or activity books. This is described in a separate tutorial: How to create Images/Memes for Word Puzzles;

Generating Just Five Words Puzzles

The total number of Just Five Words puzzles can be set ("Quantity"), but most of the time you'll want to generate puzzles for the entire word list ("Entire List"). Make sure that the total number of words in the word list is a multiple of the number of words per image. For example, with the default 5 words per image, you'll want 45 or 50 words in the word list. With only 47 words in the word list, the final puzzle would have only 2 words.

The puzzles will always be generated as a JPG/PNG image. To add a title and/or watermark (url) to the image, see How to create Images

Settings

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NxytuaOn3z/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Settings.png (Just Five Words - Settings (1).png)

Puzzle Settings: The number of words for each puzzle. This has a limited range because this puzzle type doesn't work well with too many words
Word List Randomisation: Randomise the order in which the words are placed in the puzzles, or the way in which different sets of words are processed. This way you can get many different puzzles from a single word list

Styling

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/gv3nMKIk7q/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Styling.png (Just Five Words - Styling (1).png)

You can set your own style for Just Five Words puzzles:

Font Styling - Select the font, positioning and relative size of the font
The placeholders for the letters - use an underscore, period or a custom letter, or even a square box for each letter in a custom color
Puzzle Alignment - place the words left or right, and aligned to top or bottom
Image Styling - This can be set on the Images tab (see also: How to create Images Word Puzzles)
Instant Puzzle Books - additional Styling and layout options for Instant Puzzle Books can be customized using the Time Saver options. If you don't have the Time Saver, default options will be used.

Letters

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/G2UnEe12XP/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Letters.png (Just Five Words - Letters)

You can select how many lines of letters you want - this way you can customise the styling if you have very short words or very long words. For most 5-word puzzles, 4 will be a good layout option.

You can also choose to have the letters aligned to the top of the image, and set the percentage of space for the letters. By default this is set to 25% of the total area for the puzzle.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/sNGsieO0Nj/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Letters%202.png (Just Five Words - Letters 2)

Image

Using the "Use Image Settings" on the "Output Settings" tab, you can automatically add a title, description and watermark to each puzzle.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NnkjFncDvT/Just%20Five%20Words%20-%20Image.png (Just Five Words - Image)

In the example we've added a description "You must use all the letters" as an instruction for the puzzle. You can change the layout, colors, fonts, and the watermark (the url at the bottom).

Introduction to Puzzle Maker Pro

Welcome to Puzzle Maker Pro - the world's best puzzle maker. We've tried our best to make the software as easy and intuitive to use as possible. However, because we want you to be able to create something unique to you, we still offer a lot of options.

In this tutorial we'll show you the basics. Your first puzzle (or even puzzle book) is just one click away.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Main window.

When you start Puzzle Maker Pro, you'll see a window looking a lot like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/V3P2w4AK32/Puzzle%20Maker%20Pro%20Main%20Window.jpg (Puzzle Maker Pro Main Window)

It currently shows Sudoku, but if you purchased a different puzzle, it'll show that instead.

Puzzle Maker Pro is a framework for puzzle modules - some parts will be different for each puzzle, other parts are standard options available to all puzzles.

Let's start the tour:

Puzzle Selection: This dropdown menu will list all the available puzzle types. The ones you purchased are listed as "Licensed", others are listed as "Demo". For Demo puzzles you also get all of the options, but you won't be able to save them. The categories for puzzles are also shown above the dropdown menu. At the top of the screen, you'll see the version number Puzzle Maker Pro, in this case v2023.1.0.2. If you have support requests or other questions, it's usually helpful to mention the version. If anything goes wrong, you can contact the helpdesk at: Helpdesk.
Tutorial and About: The "Tutorial" button will lead you to the main tutorial website, https://help.bookpublishertools.com. Older versions (up to v1.9.2.5) have a built-in tutorial, but this has been replaced by the website. The "About" button opens the About window. You'll need this to retrieve the license for Puzzle Maker Pro. Licenses are stored on a central website, but the Puzzle Maker Pro on your computer needs to connect to the central website to find out which puzzle modules you currently own.
Puzzle Settings: The "Puzzle Settings" tab completely depends on the puzzle you selected. In the screenshot it's sudoku. This is where you'll find options that determine how your puzzle will be generated and its appearance. Next to "Puzzle Settings" you can see a number of other tabs. We'll discuss those later.
Puzzle Preview panel: This is where you'll see the preview of your puzzle or its solution. You can use the mouse-wheel to zoom in or out so you can get a closer look at details. Perhaps not necessary when you're making a sudoku, but if you're making a connect-the-dots puzzle, or a nonogram, these details will matter.
Create and Preview: There are two options to create your puzzles. "Create" will create and save puzzles for you. This will include the puzzle, the solution, additional files (such as a word list). If you have selected "Additional Output" such as Powerpoint or PDF, that will be created as well. "Create" will also automatically use the Time Saver, if that's selected (more about that later). "Preview" will create a new preview, that you can see in the preview panel. You can use this to set up your puzzle options and styling. For certain puzzle types, such as Mazes and Word Search, it may make sense to generate lots of previews and save the ones you want to keep, because they all look different and some may be less appealing. "Save Preview" will save the current preview (puzzle and solution file) to your computer, but it will not create any additional output.
Preview Solution: You can use this button to display the puzzle or the solution in the preview panel. For some puzzles, such as Mazes and Word Search, it makes sense to see the solutions, for others, e.g. Sudoku, it makes more sense to preview the puzzles.

Preview

Now go on and press preview, maybe change some of the settings, colors or numbers, and see what happens when you click preview again.

To find out where your puzzle files are saved, continue to Output Settings. For all other topics, go back to Tutorial Overview

Question 3

Getting Started with Checkerboard Sudoku

Accepted Answer

This tutorial applies to Puzzle Maker Pro - Checkerboard Sudoku.

Checkerboard Sudoku

Checkerboard is a sudoku variation with a specific grid setup: Like a checkerboard.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/FNWEI47XeO/Checkerboard%206x6.png (Checkerboard 6x6)

To solve a Checkerboard Sudoku, you apply the same rules as for regular sudoku, and additionally you have the Checkerboard rule: The white squares contain only odd numbers, the gray squares contain only even numbers.

This is a fun innovative sudoku variation. Because it's easier to solve - it has less options for each square - it's a great variation to include in activity books for children and adults.

Because Checkerboard Sudoku requires an even number of rows and columns in the grid, this variation is not available with a 9x9 grid.

Checkerboard Sudoku math

To compare the number of options of Checkerboard Sudoku with regular sudoku, here's the math for the first 3 squares in a 8x8 sudoku grid:

In a regular sudoku, you have 8 options for the first cell, 7 for the next, 6 for the next, and 5 different options for the fourth cell, which would be 8 * 7 * 6 * 5 = 1680 different options for the first 4 cells. (for a full grid, the math becomes increasingly more complex, and the number of options are bilions.

For Checkerboard sudoku, you have 4 options for the first cell: just 1, 3, 5, 7. Then 4 options for the next (2, 4, 6, 8). For the third and fourth cells there are only 3 options. For just the first 4 cells you have 4 * 4 * 3 * 3 = 144 options, which is less than 10% of the regular sudoku options. The difference gets increasingly larger when we add more cells.

Find Checkerboard Sudoku in Puzzle Maker Pro

To create Checkerboard Sudoku puzzles in Puzzle Maker Pro:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/uoaWRSeyqD/CheckerBoard%20Sudoku%20Overview.png (CheckerBoard Sudoku Overview)

Go to Sudoku Variations
Select one of the Sudoku Grid Sizes that are available for Checkerboard Sudoku (6x6, 8x8, 10x10, 12x12, 14x14, 16x16)
Select "Checkerboard" in the Variation menu.

There are quite a few tutorials about all the regular features of Sudoku in Puzzle Maker Pro, ranging from grid setup to symbol options, please check the tutorials below.

Note: Even though it's possible to use images for Checkerboard Sudokus, it doesn't make much sense, and the sudokus may be impossible to solve, since there are no odd and even images.

TXT file output

The TXT file output consists of one line for each word or phrase, for example:

This file is for your own use, you can copy the words to other software, or not use it at all, if you create Instant Puzzle Books as well.

Encoded puzzle - the first part is the encoded puzzle, ending with "||"
Solution - after the "||" you see the solution, the original word
Description - if there was a description in the source words file (or a set title if you use word sets), this will be added after a colon ":". To use sets, see: Word List format for Word Puzzles

CSV file output

CSV is a standardized file format that can be used with many applications. The example above in CSV format would look like this:

You can import this file in Excel (or other spreadsheets), for example to use it with our Replicator software, and you can even import this file into Canva (with a Pro subscription) to quickly generate a batch of images. (Note: at the moment of writing, somehow the automatic import into Canva doesn't work properly, but as a work-around, manual import will work - Open the CSV file in Excel, then select all the rows / columns and past it in the manual bulk import area in Canva).

Use Default Page Setup Settings

By default, this module will use the Trim Size and Margin settings that you can configure at the "Output Settings / Page Format" tab.

If you use a Trim Size of 8 x 10" and 0.5" Margins on each side, there will be a 'body' area left that is 7 x 9". This will be the size for the Puzzle Pieces:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/UbDEDEA56U/Jigsaw%20018%20-%20Page%20Setup%20Default.png (Jigsaw 018 - Page Setup Default.png)

If you change the Page Format and Preview / Create again, you'll get a differently sized image. If you use Time Saver, it will use the current settings when you run the Time Saver (not the settings when the puzzle preset was saved).

However, sometimes you just want the image, and not an entire puzzle book. In that case you can uncheck "Use Default Page Setup Settings" and choose the exact image size that you need (width and height in pixels). The next screenshot shows this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/XbNdH6ZCgf/Jigsaw%20019%20-%20Page%20Setup%20Custom.png (Jigsaw 019 - Page Setup Custom.png)

Choosing Different Page Layouts

Puzzle Maker Pro - JigSaw supports three page layouts. These are selected in the "Puzzle Settings" tab, not in the global "Page Layout" tab.

Single Page
Double Page
Pieces Only

These different options have different impact on your book layout, and serve different purposes.

1 Single Page Layout

This style is used for most of the examples and tutorials. It will print the puzzle pieces and the puzzle grid on a single page.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ju1lwUSyqJ/Jigsaw%20020%20-%20Layout%20Single%20Page.png (Jigsaw 020 - Layout Single Page.png)

This format is intended for jigsaw puzzles you can copy/draw, instead of the cut out jigsaw puzzles. If you do want the ability to cut out the pieces, choose to "Add Blank Page after each puzzle", a checkbox that is below the page layouts. This will make sure the back of the page is blank. Additionally this will force the page to be printed on the right page of a spread, which may introduce another blank page before the current page.

2 Double Page Layout

The double page layout is also intended for copy / draw puzzles. In the preview you see the pieces page:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/mDi9LsLDpH/Jigsaw%20021%20-%20Layout%20Double%20Page.png (Jigsaw 021 - Layout Double Page.png)

if you check "Preview Solution", it will instead show the layout and size of the puzzle grid (the solution is identical to the puzzle, except for the printed puzzle pieces):

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/Ght8pFkkvu/Jigsaw%20022%20-%20Layout%20Double%20Page%20Puzzle%20Pieces.png (Jigsaw 022 - Layout Double Page Puzzle Pieces.png)

The Double Page layout will force a new spread in your book. The pieces will be printed on the left page of the spread, the puzzle grid will be printed on the right page.

The option to add a blank page will have no effect for this format.

3 Pieces Only Layout

The Pieces Only Layout is for cut out puzzles, the puzzle grid will not be included in the puzzle book. (The layout is identical to the first screenshot show for the Double Page Layout.

Just like the Single Page Layout, "Add Blank Page" will force the pieces to be printed on the right page of a spread, and it will keep the back of the page blank. For this setting, this is optimal, so you don't accidentally cut up other puzzles on the back of the page.

Introduction

Ultimate Puzzle Books Menu Option

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/aPpH0I5ezP/01%20Ultimate%20Puzzle%20Books%20Menu%20Option.png (01 Ultimate Puzzle Books Menu Option)

Ultimate Puzzle Books is a separate module, integrated in Puzzle Maker Pro, to create puzzle books or activity books with different types of puzzles. These puzzles can be generated by Puzzle Maker Pro when you create the puzzle book, or imported from other puzzle makers.

When you use puzzles that are generated by Puzzle Maker Pro, the puzzles will be generated when the puzzle book is created. Each time you create a new puzzle book, new puzzles will be generated. This makes it an extremely powerful tool to create a series of mixed puzzle books that have the same mix of puzzles and difficulty levels.

Because the sizes of puzzles can differ, you can specify the layout for each set of puzzles.

Workflow Overview

Ultimate Puzzle Books uses the presets you save for the different puzzle modules, Time Saver add-ons or Imported puzzle sets.

By adding presets to the 'job' table, you'll add all the different puzzles and puzzle types that you want to include in the puzzle book.

Ultimate Puzzle Books Overview

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/VXdbGVBk8t/02%20Ultimate%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20Overview.png (02 Ultimate Puzzle Books - Overview)

The first step for you is to create the presets that you want to use for each puzzle type. Although it is an additional step for Ultimate Puzzle Books, it also makes it a very powerful tool. You can use and combine all the features of the different puzzle modules in these mixed puzzle books.

The next step is to select the Puzzle Type you want to add, select the preset(s) you want to use for that puzzle type, and then click "Add" to build the 'job' table.

The third step is to customize some of the settings, such as the "Type in Title" and "Override Layout" settings.

Type in Title - If you use a title setting like "Puzzle # %TITLE%", this will replace the "%TITLE%" part with the puzzle type. For example, this can result in "Puzzle 13 Latin Squares". This is especially useful if you mix several types of sudoku or logic puzzles, or different types of word puzzles. On the other hand, for word puzzles, it's also possible to use the Word List name in the title.
Override Layout - To use a custom layout for a specific row in the Job table, click the "Special Layout" cell for that row, and then edit the settings.

Final step: Click "Create" to create all the puzzles and create the puzzle book.

Pro Tip: Save the puzzle book setup as a Preset, for later reuse, or in case of issues. Although we do everything we can to eliminate errors and other issues in the software, with the Ultimate Puzzle Books module you can use almost each and every feature that's available in Puzzle Maker Pro. Therefor it can be impacted by any issue anywhere in the software.

Using Puzzle Presets

The first step is to select a puzzle type, for example Sudoku Variations or Standard Word Search.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ZqCSefHOTE/04%20Select%20Puzzle%20Type.png (04 Select Puzzle Type)

After selecting the puzzle type, the dropdown menus for TS Preset and Puzzle Preset will now show all the presets you have for that puzzle type. (TS Preset stands for Time Saver Preset, it will be set to N/A by default).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/DvhAbkWxNr/03%20Select%20Puzzle%20Preset.png (03 Select Puzzle Preset)

Select one of the presets, optionally change the quantity, and click "Add". The new 'job' will be added to the table.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/EdwkggbKx4/05%20Add%20Preset%20to%20Job%20Table.png (05 Add Preset to Job Table)

Adding Word Lists

For all word puzzles, you can select "Add With Word List" instead of "Add". This will allow you to select one or more word lists on your computer (using Windows File Explorer). If you select more than one word list, several rows will be added to the job table, one for each word list. (You can change the word lists later).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/H44aOtlfHG/06%20Add%20Word%20Lists.png (06 Add Word Lists)

The word list(s) you select here will be used to replace the words or word list that may have been saved as part of the preset.

Using Time Saver Presets

Time Saver presets contains a part of the setup to create puzzles. Depending on the puzzle type, the Time Saver presets may contain word lists, grid sizes and other settings. However, the Time Saver presets never contain the basic styling settings of the puzzle type. That means that in addition to the Time Saver preset that you select, you will also have to select a puzzle preset that contains the specific layout settings.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/tJh1jGL7Za/07%20Add%20TS%20Preset.png (07 Add TS Preset)

For Time Saver rows in the job table, the Quantity will be set to 1 (one), because the Time Saver presets also contain quantity settings. For Time Saver presets you can also not add Word Lists, since the Time Savers for word puzzles also include specific word lists.

Using Imported Sets

We completely understand that you also want to include puzzles that have been created with other software than Puzzle Maker Pro. To enable this, we have included an option to import puzzle sets. An "Imported Set" includes of puzzle and solution images in JPG or PNG format. Even though the concept is simple, it's a very powerful feature that enables you to create an endless variety of puzzle books.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/s9s93nF5RJ/02%20Ultimate%20Puzzle%20Books%20-%20Imported%20Sets%20button.png (02 Ultimate Puzzle Books - Imported Sets button)

Manage Import Sets

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/kPSfItwnbR/08%20Manage%20Imported%20Sets.png (08 Manage Imported Sets)

When you open this window using the "Manage Import Sets" button, you'll see an empty list (3). You can then open an existing preset for editing (1), or add a new one.

To add a new one, type the name (or 'puzzle type') (2), then select Puzzles and Solutions.

If the puzzles and solutions are in different folders, first click "Add Puzzles", then click "Add Solutions" (4) and select the puzzles and solutions you want to use. They will be added to the table from top to bottom. Make sure you select the right puzzles and solutions that will be matched.

If the puzzles and solutions are in a single folder and grouped together (e.g. puzzle 1, solution 1, puzzle 2, solution 2, etc), use the "Add P+S Files" button (5). This will expect the selected file list to be alternating puzzle and solution files, and fill the table accordingly.

Save the list as a preset (1) with a name that clearly indicates which type of puzzle, difficulty level, style, etc, it is.

Close the window by clicking OK.

In the main Ultimate Puzzle Books window, use the Puzzle Type "Import Puzzle Sets", select the preset you just created and click "Add". When creating the puzzle book, this set will be used along with all the puzzles that are generated with Puzzle Maker Pro.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/nVSmnY6W2a/09%20Add%20Imported%20Puzzle%20Set.png (09 Add Imported Puzzle Set)

Editing the Job table

At the moment of release, there are several items that you can edit after a 'job' has been added to the table:

Type in Title - this can create a result like "Puzzle 1 - Latin Squares", "Puzzle 2 - Word Search"
Preset - Click the preset you want to replace
Time Saver Preset - Click the Time Saver preset you want to replace
Word List (if applicable)
Quantity (only for Puzzle Presets, for TIme Saver presets this is set to 1)
Override Layout
Special Layout

Page Layout

In the Layout Settings area of Ultimate Puzzle Books, you'll see a short, coded, summary of the current Page Layout, for example:

P:2x2, S:2x2, W:5 - this means that solutions will be collated, both puzzles and solutions will use a page layout with 2x2 puzzles / solutions per page, and the Word Search / Crosswords layout is set to style 5
P/S:3x2, W:1 - No collation, 3x2 puzzles/solutions per page, Word Search / Crosswords layout style 1.

You can click the "Edit Default Layout" button to set the default layout, or click the "Special Layout" cell for a row in the job table that you want to change. This will display the new Layout Edit Window with all the different layout options.

Randomize / Mix the puzzles

With Ultimate Puzzle Books you can mix the puzzles. This will be based on the layout settings. For example, puzzles with a 2x2 puzzles per page layout can be mixed, but will be generated separately from pages with 3x3 puzzles or puzzles with a word list.

Although the system will try to balance the puzzles and pages, randomized mixing of the puzzles works best when there are more or less equal quantities of each puzzle type. (The algorithms will continue to evolve and create better results for unbalanced sets of puzzles).

It's best to just try this option and take a look at the results and see how this works best for your puzzles.

Advanced/Pro Strategies

Layout Considerations

The current version(s) of Puzzle Maker Pro will adjust the puzzle size to the available space for the puzzle. It will never enlarge the puzzle, only make it smaller. However, if you create mixed puzzle books, and especially if you make randomised mixed puzzle books or activity books, it's best to use puzzles with similar grid sizes on each page. For example, if a 4x4 sudoku and a 9x9 sudoku will be printed next to each other, the squares in the 4x4 sudoku will be twice as large as the squares in the 9x9 sudoku. It makes sense to use a different layout setup for the two puzzle variations.

Preset Naming Strategies

The Ultimate Puzzle Books module is completely based on the presets you save for the different puzzles types and Time Saver add-on's. To reduce guesswork when you create these mixed puzzle books, it's best to add information to the presets that will allow you to quickly select the right presets here. For example "9x9 Sudoku Level 4 Arial Font", or "15x15 Word Search Animals Theme - Young Kids".

Themed Puzzle Book Variations

Once you have a setup for your mixed puzzle book or activity books with the right quantities and layouts for all the puzzles, it's relatively easy to change the theme. For example you set up the mixed puzzle book for "Animals" and now you want to create a mixed puzzle book for "Occupations".

For all the word puzzle presets, such as Word Search, Word Scramble, etc, you can just change the word list that needs to be used.

Introduction

Criss Cross is a type of crossword puzzle where words are loosely connected to each other, like the example below.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/naZADEeuKz/Criss-Cross-Overview.png (Criss-Cross-Overview)

In this tutorial we'll show you how to create this type of puzzle using your own word list.

Puzzle Maker Pro - Criss Cross

All the options and functionalities for Criss Cross are covered in the main tutorial for Crossword Variations.

There are a few details to pay attention to:

Style 2 tab

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/jKDtIbzLUu/Criss-Cross-Style-2-tab.png (Criss-Cross-Style-2-tab)

As you can see in this screenshot, using full size word numbers influences the puzzle generation, because each word number needs a separate square. In essence this means that there are fewer squares for the words. In general this is not a problem, but it's good to be aware of the changes in the puzzle.

Grid tab

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/eX8BR18RHe/Criss-Cross-Grid-tab.png (Criss-Cross-Grid-tab)

You can adjust the grid size to create puzzles that fit in the available space. For example with these image settings, there's a rectangular area available for the puzzle, and it makes sense to set a grid size of e.g. 10x25 for a natural look.

Image tab

For Criss Cross puzzles you can use the Set Title, Set Description or a Custom text for the image title and description.

In puzzle Maker Pro, you can select how big you want your puzzle images to be. Starting at 300, up to 3000. With 300DPI that’s 1″ up to 10″.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/JOPzyUGUxP/PMP%20-%20General%20-%20Puzzle%20Size.png (How to set the puzzle size in Puzzle Maker Pro)

How to calculate the font size for a puzzle type

The size of the characters that are used to print a puzzle, depends on the puzzle size you’ve selected.

Let’s take regular 9×9 sudoku as an example:

The total puzzle size (let’s say 2700 pixels) is split into 9 rows and 9 columns. Each row has a height of 2700/9, and each column has a width of 2700/9, which is 300 pixels. Which is 1″

Puzzle Maker Pro automatically calculates the font size for each square. By default it uses 80% of the height, leaving 10% on top and 10% at the bottom as margins. For some puzzle types you can modify this ratio, resulting in a different font size.

To calculate the font size, take 80% of 300 pixels, this is 240 pixels (numbers are rounded here). This is not yet the font size in points.

To go from pixels to points, we divide by 300 (300 pixels per inch) and multiply with 72 (72 points per inch). 240 / 300 * 72 = 57.6 points.

Summarized: A 9×9 sudoku puzzle, rendered to a jpg of 2700 pixels, will use a font size of 57.6 points.

However…

That only applies if you print the image at it’s actual size.

How does the font size change when creating a puzzle book from your puzzles?

When you create your puzzle book, the puzzle images will be resized, and usually the size will be reduced.

For example, let’s create a 6×9″ book interior with 0.5″ margins left and right. 6″ minus 0.5″ (left margin) minus 0.5″ (right margin) leaves 5″ for the puzzle.

5″ at 300 DPI is 1500 pixels.

Let's say we created a puzzle of 3000 pixels, resulting in a font size of 64 points.

You can easily see that it needs to be reduced by 50% (1500 / 3000). In which case the font also will be 50% smaller. 64 points / 2 = 32 points. Still a lot more than 16.

For the 9×9 sudoku puzzles, you’ll usually be fine, but for other sudoku puzzles, you’ll need to do the math, unfortunately.

What are the steps to determine the font size?

In most cases it's enough to approximate the font size, as long as it's clearly over 16 points.

Here are the steps:

Calculate the page body width, which is the trim size minus the margins.
Divide by the number of puzzles in a row.
Calculate the number of pixels for each square in the puzzle. This depends on the puzzle type.
Calculate the font size in pixels for each square. This is 80% of the square size (with 10% padding).
Calculate the font size in points from the font size in pixels: inches * 72 = points.

For some puzzles, for example Word Search and Bingo, you can further modify the font size for each font. In that case these calculations get a bit more difficult, but the slider for the font size also shows the percentage. You can use this percentage to calculate the resulting point size.

Question 10

How to use the Manual mode in Mixed Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)

Accepted Answer

This tutorial explains the Manual mode in Mixed Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)

Overview of the Manual process

Using Mixed Puzzle Books with Manual Layout adds a few steps to the Automatic process:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/WS53HEptbA/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20020%20Manual%20Layout%20Overview.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 020 Manual Layout Overview (1).jpg)

Some of the steps are identical to the "Auto" approach, some are different:

Select Puzzles - Select puzzles and solutions
Set up the Puzzles Grid (this will be used to generate the template in step 4)
Set up the Solutions Grid (this will be used to generate the template in step 4)
Create the Template Pages for your book
Define the Templates to use - you have to tell the plugin which slides are the puzzles templates and which slides are the solutions templates
Create Puzzle Book

In addition to that, you have to click the "Use Manual Layout" box to make sure the settings are used.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/QeCv0UcQaB/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20050%20-%20Manual%20Overview.PNG (Easy Puzzle Books 050 - Manual Overview.PNG)

Step 1: Select Puzzles

This is step is identical for Automatic Layout and Manual Layout. A tutorial can be found here.

Step 2: Set up Puzzles Grid

This is step is identical for Automatic Layout and Manual Layout.

Step 3: Set up Solutions Grid

This is step is identical for Automatic Layout and Manual Layout.

Step 4: Create and Edit the Template Pages

For both the Puzzles template and the Solutions template, there are three things you need to do:

Step 4.1: Specify the number of puzzles for the template

The number of puzzles does not have to be equal to the grid size, because you can select more than one page (slide) for the template. For example, you could choose to create different 'left' and 'right pages.

For example, if you have a 2x2 grid (4 puzzles on a page), you could choose to have 4, or 6 or 8 puzzles in the template. (or any other number!). If you choose a number larger than 4, you'll need multiple pages. By default the nur of puzzles is set to the grid size.

Step 4.2: Create Grid Puzzles (or Solutions)

Click the green button "Create Grid Puzzles" (or "Create Grid Solutions") to create new slides with the specified number of puzzles.

The screenshot shows a grid with 3 rows and 2 columns, and Nr of Puzzles set to 6, so you'd get just 1 single slide.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NTqUsi9n1K/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20041%20-%20Manual%20Create%20Grid.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 041 - Manual Create Grid.jpg)

Here you can see the 6 different placeholders for puzzles, and 6 for puzzle titles. (You'd see the same type of placeholders on the solution template.

As long as these placeholders remain in place, you can completely change the look and feel of this template slide. For example, change the position of titles and puzzles, change the font and color of the titles. You can also change the size of the puzzle placeholders.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/equTmkIObX/Easy%20Puzzle%20Books%20042%20-%20Manual%20Edit%20Grid.jpg (Easy Puzzle Books 042 - Manual Edit Grid.jpg)

You can repeat this step for the Solution Grid, so you'll end up with at least one Puzzle Page Template, and one Solution Page Template.

Summarized: The Grid Size (e.g. 2x2) defines how a basic grid will be generated, the "Nr of Puzzles" controls how many puzzles will be used on the template. (You can leave it to be identical to the default values)

Step 5: Define the Template Pages To Use

You can create 1 or more template slides for the puzzles, and 1 or more tempate slides for the solutions. That means the plugin cannot really know which is which, and you have to specify which slides to use. (That means you can even create one master Powerpoint file with all your templates, and just select the ones you need for this session).

When you use more than 1 template slide for puzzles or solutions, you can also include slides that do not have any placeholders, but other text, images, etc.

In the screenshot below we've used 1 puzzles template slide and 1 solutions template slide:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OfYHNVD1Ta/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20021%20Puzzle%20Templates.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 021 Puzzle Templates (1).jpg)

The red arrows (right to left) show how the "Nr of Puzzles" determines the layout. The green arrows show the definition of Puzzle Template and Solution Template.

To do this: First select the puzzle slide (or slides) in 'Slides Pane'. In the example that's slide 2. With this slide selected, click the green "Set Puzzle Slides" button (Step 4).

Next select the solution slide or slides. In this example that's slide 3. Click "Set Sol Slides".

You can now see a small status text (the red rectangle in the screenshot): "Puzzle Slides: 2" and "Sol Slides: 3". The numbers are the slide numbers.

Finish: Create Puzzle Book

The settings for the final step are identical to the settings for Automatic Layout. Click "Create Puzzle Book" to create slides (optionally in a new file) with your puzzles and your manual layout.

The screenshot below shows the results when you'd use 3 puzzles in the template, in an edited 2x2 grid, and 6 solutions in a 2x3 grid.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/atW1bl6YnS/Mixed%20Puzzle%20Books%20022%20Manual%20Layout%20Result.jpg (Mixed Puzzle Books 022 Manual Layout Result.jpg)

You can see one blue square: That's one of the placeholders in the template that was not replaced by a puzzle (because there were only 200 puzzles, this would be puzzle 201). You'll need to remove these additional placeholders manually.

Final remarks

Feel free to play with the options, and it's best to make a lot of mistakes and learn from them. (That's what I do as well).

The suggested workflow, at least while getting started, is to set up the puzzles and the grid, and create a book from those puzzles. That way you can see how the puzzles work together when mixed. The next step can be to choose a different grid format, or to choose the Manual Layout.

Once you've create a couple of books, you'll probably have a couple of layout templates that work well for you, that can be reused (using presets).

Puzzles / Solutions per Page

The settings for Puzzles per Page and Solutions Per Page is part of the puzzle settings, but it can be adjusted when creating the grids: If you set it to 1, and the grid is 2x3, you'll need 6 puzzles / solutions per page. It will be automatically set to 6. (It's only adjusted when CREATING the grids, not in other steps)

However, there's no automatic check later on, so if you manually adjust these numbers, e.g. set the Puzzles per Page to 4, you may get an incomplete set of puzzles in your book, or worse, you get duplicates.

An example: For the first page, the first puzzle number will be 1. Then 2, etc. For the second page (more precisely: the second copy of the puzzles template slides, the first puzzle number will be 1 + the number of Puzzles per Page. When the Puzzles per Page are set to 4, the second page will start with puzzle 5. When Puzzles per Page is set to 8, the second page will start with puzzle 9.

If you use a grid with 6 puzzles on a page, the first example (with 4 puzzles per page) will result in duplicates, while the second example (with 8 puzzles per page) will never print puzzles 7 and 8.

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How to create Mixed Puzzle Books with the Ultimate Puzzle Books module in Puzzle Maker Pro

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Getting Started with Puzzle Maker Pro Wordsearch

How can I create Large Print books using Puzzle Maker Pro?

How to use the Manual mode in Mixed Puzzle Books (plugin for Powerpoint)