Question 1

How can I set the font for puzzle books?

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows the steps to set the font for the puzzle titles and solution titles in your puzzle books.

By default, these puzzle and solution titles will be created with the font Arial. In most cases that should be fine, and Puzzle Maker Pro has been optimized to use this font.

However, starting at version 11.1, you can now use other fonts as well.

Choosing the font you want

Go to the Instant Puzzle Books tab and select the Titles Setup tab. There you'll see a Title Font Settings section.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TvOo58GsO8/Title%20Font%20Selection%201.jpg (Title Font Selection 1.jpg)

Here you see the standard font preview panel that's also used in other places in Puzzle Maker Pro. You can click the white panel or click the small finder icon to go to the font setup panel.

For the puzzles and solutions titles, only the font will be used. Color and positioning settings are ignored.

Once you select a font and click OK, the font file name will be shown. In the screenshot you can see "Arial.ttf". That means everything is setup and you can create your puzzle book.

Manually selecting the font file for PDF output

In some cases, Puzzle Maker Pro will not be able to automatically find the proper font file. In those cases you'll see something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/R909dAIjtt/Title%20Font%20Selection%202.jpg (Title Font Selection 2.jpg)

That means you'll have to locate the font file manually. (Without a font file, PDF's will use Arial, while Powerpoint will still use the font you selected).

You can click the "Manual Search" button, which will open the fonts folder on your computer:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ufgZm7SIPe/Title%20Font%20Selection%203.jpg (Title Font Selection 3.jpg)

The name of the font is prefilled in the Filename area. In the example you can see two files for that font family. The actual number of files you'll find will depend on the font you selected (obviously).

Note: Even though there appears to be a folder "\Windows\Fonts" on your computer, that's a virtual folder. The files you see there cannot be embedded in a PDF, that's why by default the Fonts folder in AppData is opened.

After selecting the font file, you'll see something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/W84OSCVQ0i/Title%20Font%20Selection%204.jpg (Title Font Selection 4.jpg)

That means the font setup is complete.

Note: Puzzle Maker Pro will do its job even if you select a completely different font file. However, the results may not be what you expected.

Question 2

How to use the Time Saver for Word Puzzles

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to create Word Scramble puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Scramble.

This tutorial applies to:

Time Saver for Word Puzzles

This Time Saver is currently available for:

Puzzle Maker Pro - Time Saver for Word Puzzles

This Time Saver is still being beta tested. An upgrade is expected ultimately on June 1st 2023.

Time Saver Basics

Word File Processing

Combining Word Lists

Layout Options (Instant Puzzle Books)

Puzzle Maker Pro - Zig Zag Word Search Overview

Zig Zag Word Search is an alternative Word Search puzzle, quite different from the regular Word Search. It's also known as Jigsaw and Tetris Word Search.

This tutorial applies to three different products:

Zig Zag Word Search, the standard / regular Zig Zag Word Search module
Zig Zag Word Search - Extras Add-On, an add-on module that adds different complexities and options to the regular Zig Zag Word Search
Zig Zag Word Search Random Shapes, this module can be purchased separately, and adds random shapes (random polygons) to make a completely different type of word search

Additionally there are some Add-Ons available for Zig Zag Word Search

Time Saver for Word Search, this is the same purchase as the regular Word Search. If you already own the Standard Word Seach time saver, you won't need to purchase it a second time.
Masks for Zig Zag Word Search, coming soon

This main tutorial uses the regular Zig Zag Word Search for examples. Paragraphs for the Extras Add-On and the Random Shapes will focus on the differences for these modules.

Zig Zag Word Search Explained

Zig Zag Word Search is a puzzle where you have to find words in a grid. Unlike with regular Word Search puzzles, the words are not placed in straight lines, but a zig-zagging line, where the words can have corners. For generating these we have set up some basic rules:

Letters of a word are connected to each other horizontally or vertically
In general, the words should have exactly the number of letters required for the squares in the grid. If you have a 10x10 grid, then all words together should have 100 letters
Words cannot overlap

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/U78JkEdbbn/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%2010x10%20Grid.png (Zig Zag Word Search 10x10 Grid)

In this image you see an example of a solution for a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle. Words are positioned randomly in the grid.

Zig Zag Word Search Overview

To use Zig Zag Word Search, select the puzzle type in the drop down menu.

To see the solution in the preview screen, toggle the "Preview Solution" option at the bottom right of the window:

Note: You'll need words with at least 100 letters to create a 10x10 puzzle. It's better to use a longer list with more words than needed, and create one or more puzzles from that. This way you won't have to worry about counting the letters. (See "Advanced Options" for additional options.

In addition to the Word List, you can also select a Word List file. This has to be in plain text format (.txt). Pay attention to this when you export from MS Word or MS Excel.

Advanced Options

The Advanced tab has some options to control the word list use, the spelling of the words, and an option for filling the remaining squares with random letters, so the amount of letters doesn't have to be exactly the right amount.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/ofFn83RSUK/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Advanced%20Options.png (Zig Zag Word Search Advanced Options)

1 Wordlist Control

For most puzzles you can control the amount of puzzles using the "Quantity" setting. For Zig Zag Word Search there are other options as well:

Auto: This will try to create as many puzzles as the Quantity setting indicates. However, if it runs out of words in the list, it will stop.
Repeat: This will use all the words in the list, and then repeat the entire wordlist (again and again) to get to the number of puzzles in the quantity setting. Each puzzle will draw random words from the list, so each puzzle will be different
Reset: This will reset the entire word list after a puzzle is created, so every puzzle can use words from the entire word list.

Note: This may work slightly different if you use the Extras Add-On.

2 Remove Characters

Your wordlist may contain characters that you don't want to see in the puzzle. These may be spaces, dashes, or other characters. You can use both checkboxes to filter these characters. The word list will be created from the original words!

Note: the letter count used for the puzzles is based on the 'clean' words, after the spaces etc have been removed.

3 Random Fills

While the words for a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle should have exactly the right number of letters, there's an option to add noise or fill letters as well. This should make it a bit easier for you to set up word lists (but please be aware that your customers may not expect this).

Style

On the Style tab you can change the font, canvas and cell colors and the line colors and weight. (Canvas color is only used for masks, without masks, the entire canvas will be covered by cell backgrounds).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/AdD6AV04xS/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Style.png (Zig Zag Word Search Style)

Click "Next Preview" after changing the settings to see the result.

Extras Add-On

The Extras add-on offers two additional features: Diagonal connections for the regular Zig Zag Word Search, and segmented word lists for all Zig Zag Word Search modules.

Diagonals

Choose "Squares Diagonals" in the Grid Type list, then click "Next Preview" to see an example of a Zig Zag Word Search puzzle with diagonal connections.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/icYNvsua2n/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Diagonals.png (Zig Zag Word Search Diagonals)

As you can see, letters can be connected horizontally, vertically and diagonally, and the diagonal connections can cross each other.

Segmented Word Lists

We use the name "Segmented Word Lists" for word lists that are already divided in several lists of words.

You can do this by using a blank line between the words. Additionally, you can use #title:"title" to add a title, for example "#title:Vegetables"

When you load a word list (click the little looking glass button on the Word List tab), you'll get a status notification showing you how many words and letters are part of each section. (This will take into account that spaces and other characters may be removed).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/9FCBZyPQ9y/Zig%20Zag%20Word%20Search%20Word%20Count.png (Zig Zag Word Search Word Count)

When you use the "Auto" setting for word list control (on the Advanced tab), only one puzzle will be created for each 'segment'.

Random Shapes

To use the Random Shapes variation of Zig Zag Word Search, select "Random Shapes" in the Grid Type list, and click preview. This will display a puzzle like the example below:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/m7FqP0n850/0-20221012105539--1-W-P.png (0-20221012105539--1-W-P)

Controlling the type of path

In addition to the maze generator algorithm, you can also choose how you want the path to run through the maze, by setting the start and end points. By default it runs from top left to bottom right, or in the case of circles, from top to bottom.

Random Path

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/r8Le03N96R/11%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Solution%20Path%20Style%20Random.png (11 Mazes 2D - Solution Path Style Random.png)

The "Random" Path option will randomly set the start and end points at opposite sides of the maze, as can be seen in the screenshot.

Longest Path

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/1mUrVzte4o/12%20Mazes%202D%20-%20Longest%20Path.png (12 Mazes 2D - Longest Path.png)

The "Longest Path" option will look over the generated maze, and find two points that have the longest distance to each other (the highest number of intermediate cells to pass), and choose them as start and end points. In most cases the start and end points will be somewhere in the middle of the maze.

Overview

The Journal Filler Plugin for Powerpoint will save you time with two different options:

To use the Journal Filler Plugin, click on the "Add-ins" option in the Powerpoint menu. This will open the Add-in ribbon, that includes the "BookPublisherTools" options. In the "More Options" menu you can find "Journal Filler". This will open a new side panel in Powerpoint.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/c2xd7twyDJ/Add-in%20menu.jpg (Add-in menu.jpg)

Add lines to a shape with Journal Filler

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/qDKcXOE391/Filler-Lines.jpg (Filler-Lines.jpg)

Adding lines, squares, dots or little plusses to shapes is straightforward:

First, make sure you're looking at the "Lines" tab in Journal Filler.

Choose the fill option you need:

Horizontal lines
Vertical lines
Both (horizontal and vertical lines), resulting in squares or rectangles
Dots
Plusses

Depending on your selection, you'll need to set the Vertical and/or the Horizontal distance between the lines or dots. You can choose to either:

Set a fixed distance between the lines or dots (in inches)
Set the number of lines you want, e.g. 5 lines. The plugin will calculate the line distance for you when you click 'Go'

There are some presets for the line distance, such as medium ruled, wide ruled, 5 per inch, etc.

Once you're done, select one or more shapes that need to be filled, and click "Go".

Question 6

How to use multiple Word Lists in Puzzle Maker Pro - Word Search

Accepted Answer

Warning: this tutorial is for the old version of the Word Search Time Saver. The process has been changed in Puzzle Maker Pro 2023.

Puzzle Maker Pro – Word Search has been optimized to quickly create word search puzzles from large word lists. For example, you can select a list of 1000 or more words to create puzzles.

However, there are situations where you’d to use multiple word lists. Either to combine them automatically in one large list, or to create one or more puzzles for each list. Puzzle Maker Pro – Time Saver for Word Search can do this for you.

Step 1: How to set the Main options

Make sure you have selected “Word Search” in the Puzzle Type menu (1). It doesn’t matter which edition you’re using.

Go to the Time Saver tab page (2), this will show you the Time Saver for Word Search options (3).

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/OnxEdnOwCa/PMP%20-%20Word%20Search%20-%20Word%20Lists%201.png (Time Saver for Word Search - Main tab overview)

The red box (4) indicates the word list options. You can also set all the other options as you wish, these are not part of this tutorial.

Step 2: How to select the Word Lists

Now select the tab “Word Lists” to select all the word lists you want to use.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/9SsAyGnaU5/PMP%20-%20Word%20Search%20-%20Word%20Lists%202.png (Time Saver for Word Search - selecting word lists)

This is fairly straightforward. You can select multiple word lists at once, and select word lists from different folders on your computer.

When you have selected all the lists you want to use, go to the “Batch Creation” tab.

Step 3: How to create multiple Word Search puzzles with one mouse-click

There are two options to create multiple Word Search puzzles at once, when you are using the Time Saver:

"Fast" - Create rectangular word search puzzles with different dimensions

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/qQ5dcIGh40/PMP%20-%20Word%20Search%20-%20Word%20Lists%20-%20Fast.png (PMP - Word Search - Word Lists - Fast.png)

For each row in this table you can set the number of rows and columns, the number of puzzles to be created and some other options.

For each row in this table it will use all the word lists specified in step 2. (Read step 4 for examples)

"Presets" - Create Word Search puzzles from your presets

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/NPCzOuXLLY/PMP%20-%20Word%20Search%20-%20Word%20Lists%20-%20Presets.png (PMP - Word Search - Word Lists - Presets.png)

When you use presets, you can select as many presets as you like for your current project. You can set the quantity (number of puzzles) for each preset, however you should keep in mind that it will process all word lists for each puzzle (see also Step 4).

Once you’ve set the Batch Creation options you need, don’t forget to check the “Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles” at the top left of the window, and click Create to generate the puzzles.

Step 4: How many different puzzles can you expect?

The Time Saver for Word Search can create a lot of puzzles for you: It will use each preset (or each line in the “Fast” table), then take each word list in turn (unless you combine them), and create the “Quantity” number of puzzles for that combination.

An example: let’s say you use 10 different word lists, you use 5 presets, and you set the quantity for each preset to 5. That will create 10x5x5=250 puzzles (instead of 5×5, what some people expect). In most cases you’ll want only 1 puzzle for each preset or use a single preset to create many puzzles. However, it’s up to you to decide and be creative.

Question 7

Getting Started with Mazes 2D Tiles

Accepted Answer

Puzzle Maker Pro – Mazes 2D Tiles is a maze generator to create mazes with your own tiles. Tiles are PNG images with a set format and naming convention. (See also the tile format and conventions tutorial). We have included a default tile set with the software for both isometric and square mazes. However, we also encourage you to create (or buy) and use your own tilesets, to create mazes that are uniquely yours.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/mgGG8OB0gd/Overview%20Mazes%202D.jpg (Overview Mazes 2D)

Overview

The screenshot above shows several things:

The puzzle select screen. You can select the type of puzzle you want to make here.
Grid Type. You can choose between Squares, Isometric Classic, or Isometric Full Square. For the differences between the two isometric styles, we recommend you check out our tutorial: Create Isometric Mazes with Mazes 2D Tiles
The Image Folder is where you can select a folder, using the "browse" button. You can use this to import your own tilesets. Puzzle Maker Pro is installed software, so you don't need to upload your images to use them.
Maze generator settings, to control how the maze is generated, and where the Start and End points will be located.
Preview window. This is where you can see a preview for the maze you are currently generating.

You can also see 5 tabs for this puzzle type

Setting up your maze

Puzzle Size

You can select the number of rows (horizontal) and columns (vertical) for your maze. Both have a mazimum of 100. We chose this maximum because of multiple reasons:

We want to keep the appearance of your tiles intact. If you print too many tiles on a small surface, details could be lost.
Each tile image has to be 'printed' on the maze image. Using larger puzzles will take more time to generate.

However, if you really want larger puzzles, feel free to contact us, and we can see if a larger upper limit is possible.

Empty Cells

You can add empty cells to the maze. Depending on your tile set, these tiles will be actually empty, or you can add specific tiles for these empty cells. For example, if you create a maze with road style tiles, you could add houses or small lakes in the empty cells.

Quantity

Finally, there's an option to set the quantity. This is the number of mazes you want to generate when you click the "create" button. The puzzles will be saved in the location you set up using the Output settings in Puzzle Maker Pro

Selecting the Tiles Folder

To select the Tiles Folder, click the "browse" button, and navigate to the folder where you have stored your images. Select one of the images, and click "open". This will automatically select the entire folder of images.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/6bNZxAf1hA/Mazes%202D%20Tiles%20select%20tiles%20folder.jpg (Mazes 2D Tiles select tiles folder)

The pack shown here is a free Cartography Tiles Pack from Kenney. As you can see, we've renamed the files, with each file now starting with one or more numbers. The numbers indicate the sides of the square that are connected, with 0 having no connections, 12 meaning side 1 and 2 are connected, et cetera. For more information, you can always look at our tile format and naming conventions guide.

Note: The tiles used in this preview are only 64 by 64 pixels, meaning they have to be upscaled if you want to use them in a maze.

After selecting this set, and clicking the "preview" button, you'll see something like this:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/TedRrqgpv6/Mazes%202D%20Tiles%20using%20your%20own%20tile%20set.jpg (Mazes 2D Tiles using your own tile set)

The straight black solution line looks out of place in this maze style, so let's change that up a bit.

Style

The screenshot below shows the style settings for Mazes 2D Tiles

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8N1WT532Nv/Mazes%202D%20Style%20Settings.jpg (Mazes 2D Style Settings)

Mazes 2D Tiles Style Settings

There are several options to customise the way the solution path is drawn:

You can change the width and colour of the solution path. Here we changed the width to 15. The width is a percentage of the square, so when a maze gets drawn the width of the solution path will now be 15%.
Curved line: This will uze Bezier curves (if you've used Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or Affinity before, you may be familiar with these already), to make a curved line. The line will go through the center points of each tile.
Dotted Line: Instead of a single continuous line, you can also create a dotted line. We have chosen this style because it fits the general style of the puzzle more.

In addition to these options, you can also change the canvas colour. We haven't changed that setting here, because the tiles themselves have transparency as well.

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:

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).

Time Saver Features

For each puzzle module, the Time Saver Add-On will unlock different options for faster puzzle creation, as well as advanced Page Layout options.

Time Saver - Fast

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/8QhVGxud68/Latin%20Squares%20Time%20Saver%20Screenshot%20Steps.png (Latin Squares Time Saver Screenshot Steps.png)

The "Fast" mode for the Time Saver allows you to quickly create puzzles with different grid sizes and difficulty levels. These puzzles will use the style settings of the current Puzzle Settings.

Make sure "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles" is checked (1). You'll see the text on the Create button change from "Create" to "Create (TS)" (5), where TS stands for Time Saver.
Choose a Grid Size, Difficulty level and Quantity, and click "Add Row" (2). This will add a row to the table. You can edit the settings for each row afterwards. (Note: The "Variation" option is not used yet)
If you want to edit the settings, click on the downward arrow next to the Grid Size in a row, or click one of the Difficulty or Quantity cells. (Note: if you select a higher difficulty level than is allowed for the grid size, it will use the highest available difficulty level. Example: If you select difficulty level 3 for 3x3 puzzles, it will still use difficulty level 1)
You can delete selected rows or select all rows from the table (4)
Click "Create (TS)" to create a puzzle books with your settings.

Time Saver - Presets

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/2JPeRZGDTr/Latin%20Squares%20Time%20Saver%20Presets%20screenshot%20Steps.png (Latin Squares Time Saver Presets screenshot Steps.png)

You can also use your own presets to create a puzzle book. (You can save presets on the Puzzle Settings tab - it will save all the specific settings, such as grid size, symbol setup and colors).

Make sure the "Use Time Saver to generate Puzzles" and the "Use Time Saver - Preset Puzzles" are checked
The list at the left should show all the presets for "Latin Squares" that you have saved. You can select one or multiple presets to use
Click Add Selected or Add All to add the presets to the list at the right
The list at the right will be used to create puzzles and optionally an Instant Puzzle Book. You can edit the quantity for each preset
Click "Create (TS)" to create puzzles and optional an Instant Puzzle Book from your presets.

Time Saver - Page Layout Options

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/q4mw0xmobJ/Puzzle%20Maker%20Pro%20-%20Time%20Saver%20-%20Layout%20Options.png (Puzzle Maker Pro - Time Saver - Layout Options.png)

With the Time Saver, you can set the layout for your Instant Puzzle Books. For Latin Squares puzzles you should use the settings on the "General Layouts" tab.

You can choose to collate the puzzles and solutions (group all the puzzles together and group all the solutions together)
Set the number of Rows and Columns for your puzzles page. If you use Collate setting A, this layout will also be used for the solutions
Set the number of Rows and Columns for your solutions page
Optionally change the padding between the rows and columns

Question 10

How to create Secret Word and Letter Hints crossword puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Secret Word Grid

Accepted Answer

This tutorial shows how to create Secret Word and Letter Hints crossword puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Secret Word Grid.

The main tutorial for Crossword Variations shows all the steps and information that applies to all the different puzzle types.

Introduction

There are many different types of Secret Word and Letter Hints Crossword puzzles. Secret Word Grid is the name we use for words that are placed in a grid, and that include additional hints to find a secret word, or to suggest additional letters in the grid that make it easier to find all the words in the puzzle.

The example below includes a secret word:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/flJjtwTjTG/Secret-Word-Grid-Overview.png (Secret Word Grid Overview)

Hints Options for Secret Word Grid Puzzles

As mentioned in the introduction, you can use either Secret Word or Alphabet Hints (Letter Hints) for Acrostic Grid puzzles. You cannot have both at the same time.

When you use a secret word, you can set how many 'matching' letters must be available in each word, to be included in the puzzle.

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/MZOE4WCK6D/Secret-Word-Grid-Min-Match.png (Secret Word Grid Minimum Matching Letters)

In the screenshot, Matching Letters is set to 2. For the words Sudoku and Sensei we have indicated some of the matching letters for the word Word Search.

Grid Style

The Secret Word Grid puzzles will always (!) have the word number in a separate square, because the letter hints are shown as small numbers in some of the squares. (You can't have both at the same time)

There are quite a few additional style options, shown on the "Variation" tab:

https://malcolm-en-gb.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/instances/wuGqS3zSeN/resources/tb891Sn0PJ/Secret-Word-Grid-Variation-tab.png (Secret-Word-Grid-Variation-tab)

Max Words per Row - You can set the maximum number of words that can be printed on each row of the puzzle. This allows for interesting layout effects, as you can see in the screenshot
Sort Rows - You can sort the rows by length, or use a 'Diamond' sort option, which sorts the grid rows from short to long to short. (see screenshot)
Align Rows - You can align the rows to the left, right or center.

Note: The software will try to optimize the grid to make each row of equal length, if possible. However, this depends quite a bit on the words in your word list. For best results to get a really square or rectangular grid, use words with complementary lengths, e.g. 8 and 4 letters (to get 12 letter rows).

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How to create Secret Word and Letter Hints crossword puzzles with Puzzle Maker Pro - Secret Word Grid