Crossword Puzzles

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Text File | 1996-09-15 | 36KB | 740 lines

===================================================================== Cross Words Deluxe Edition Written by Edward E. Dellow Copyright (c) 1993, Strategic Solutions Version 2.0 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER ===================================================================== Contents -------- 1.0 The shareware concept ................ 2 1.1 Definition of shareware ........... 2 1.2 Disclaimer - agreement ............ 3 1.3 Registration ...................... 4 2.0 Using Cross Words Deluxe ............ 5 2.1 What is Cross Words Deluxe? ....... 5 2.2 Computer advantages ............... 5 2.3 Hardware\Software Requirements .... 5 2.4 Cell and word cursers ............ 6 2.5 Using the menus .................. 6 2.6 Using the mouse .................. 9 2.7 Using the keyboard ............... 9 2.8 Showing clues .................... 10 2.9 Opening a new book ............... 11 2.10 The puzzle Index ................. 11 2.11 Progress Indicator ................ 11 2.12 The timer ......................... 12 2.13 Auto-Checking ..................... 12 2.14 Fonts ............................. 12 2.15 Printing ......................... 13 3.0 Support policy and Ombudsman ........ 14 1.0 The shareware concept Page 2 ===================================================================== 1.1 Definition of shareware --------------------------- Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. Page 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 Disclaimer - agreement -------------------------- Users of Cross Words Deluxe (c) must accept this disclaimer of warranty: Cross Words Deluxe (c) is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or consequential, which may result from the use of Cross Words Deluxe (c). Cross Words Deluxe (c) is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using Cross Words Deluxe (c) and continue to use Cross Words Deluxe (c) after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $20.00 to Strategic Solutions. The $20.00 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Commercial users of Cross Words Deluxe (c) must register and pay for their copies of Cross Words Deluxe (c) within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Strategic Solutions. Anyone distributing Cross Words Deluxe (c) for any kind of remuneration must first contact Strategic Solutions at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering Cross Words Deluxe (c) immediately (However Strategic Solutions must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of Cross Words Deluxe (c)). You are encouraged to pass a copy of Cross Words Deluxe (c) along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register heir copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the Cross Words Deluxe (c) system. Page 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 Registration ---------------- To register, print and fill out the file ORDERFRM.TXT. Mail it to the address listed on the registration form. You may also print the registration form from within Cross Words Deluxe (c) by selecting Help\Registration. You will receive the latest version of the program which includes 100 puzzles not in the the evaluation copy and printed documentation. When you register, you may SELECT ONE FREE PUZZLEBOOK! This will bring the total number of puzzles in the registered version to 200. In addition to the registration you may order puzzle books and subscriptions. Puzzle books ------------ Each puzzle book contains 100 new puzzles. You may order Easy, Standard, or Challenging or Mixed puzzle books. Subscriptions ------------- Get 12 issues of crosswords delivered to your home. Each month you will get a new puzzle book jammed with 100 new crosswords just waiting to be solved. In addition you will receive a bonus puzzle book each month of 25 puzzles only available to monthly subscribers. A cross words subscription makes a great gift! You may change the type of puzzles you receive at any time during your subscription. 2.0 Using Cross Words Deluxe Page 5 ===================================================================== 2.1 What is Cross Words Deluxe? ------------------------------- Cross Words Deluxe (c) is a software application that allows you to solve cross word puzzles on your computer. The application uses special puzzle books prepared by Strategic Solutions. The evaluation copy comes with a book of 25 puzzles. The registered version comes with 100 puzzles in your choice of Easy, Standard, Challenging or Mixed. As you solve puzzles, your work is automatically saved to disk so that whenever you come back you can pick up right where you left off. And if you want to take the puzzles with you when you leave the computer, you can may printouts (up to four per page) of the puzzles with or without your work in progress. 2.2 Computer advantages ----------------------- Cross Words Deluxe (c) has many advantages over standard puzzle books. For one thing, you can easily peek at a single word with out 'accidentally' seeing the other words. You can also have the computer show you which answers are incorrect without actually seeing the correct answers. If you prefer, you have the computer automatically your answers each time you complete a word! Unlike paper puzzle books, you can erase your answers when you are through so that you or a friend can solve the puzzle all over again. One BIG advantage in a computerized puzzle book is clue assistance. Cross Words Deluxe has two forms of clue assistance. You fill out the puzzle by moving a cursor around and typing. As you move the cursor into a cell on the crossword, the clue for both the Across and Down words are highlighted. In the Show All Clues mode you can also click the mouse on a clue to find where the word is in the puzzle. This clue assistance totally eliminates the need to scan back and forth between the puzzle and the clues. The final and perhaps best reason for computer crossword puzzles is that they are just plain fun! Play them on your home computer for a relaxing evening or load in on your laptop to fill time on that next business trip. 2.3 Hardware\Software Requirements ----------------------------------- Cross Words Deluxe (c) is a windows application. It should run on any configuration supported by windows. It is recommended however that you have a 386 or better and a VGA monitor. The application automatically takes maximum advantage of your displays resolution. Page 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------- This means that it will work on an EGA but may be difficult to read in All Clues Mode. It works well on a standard VGA and great on Super VGA. 2.4 Cell and word Cursors ------------------------- Cross Words Deluxe (c) maintains a cursor on one cell of the rossword. This is independent of the mouse cursor maintained by indows. In addition to the cell cursor, a word cursor will be ighlighted. The word cursor is either the horizontal (across) or vertical (down) word which contains the cell cursor. As you type, the character will be placed at the cell cursor and then the cell cursor will move to the next character in the word cursor. When you fill out the last character in a word, the word and cell cursers will move to the next word in the same direction (unless you turn off 'Automatic tab to next word'). You may move the cell cursor by pressing any of the four cursor keys. If the cell cursor moves another word, the word cursor will move with it. You may move to the next word in the same direction by pressing tab or the previous word in the same direction by pressing shift-tab. You may also move the word/cell cursers to any word at random by clicking on a cell with the left mouse button or by clicking on the clue if all clues are shown. You can toggle the word cursor between an across word and a down word by pressing enter or clicking the right mouse button anywhere on the window. 2.5 Using the menus ------------------- FILE Open Puzzle book Opens a new puzzle book. Save Work Saves your work in progress. Your work is also saved anytime you change puzzles, books or quit Cross words Next page Displays the next page (puzzle) in the current puzzle book You may also go to the next page by pressing <Page-Down>. Prev page Displays the previous page (puzzle) in the current puzzle book You may also go to the previous page by pressing <Page-Up>. Page 7 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Index Displays an index of puzzles in the current book. You may select a puzzle to jump to. You may also get an index list by pressing <Alt-I>. (see The Puzzle index) Erase page Erases all work from the current puzzle. This allows someone else to work the puzzle without the benefit of your progress. You will be prompted to confirm this action before the puzzle is erased. Print Allows you to print one or more puzzles (see Printing) Print setup Allows you to specify the destination for printing puzzles as well as the size and orientation of the paper supply. Exit Exits from Crosswords. Your current work in progress will be saved along with the name of the current book and the current puzzle number. The next time you start Crosswords you will resume right where you left off. SOLVE Peek at solution Fills in the correct answer for the word at the word cursor. Show correct words Shows you which characters and words you have correct so far. All the correct words will remain black and all incorrect words will become red. Solve word Fills in the correct answer for the at Cursor word at the word cursor. Check All words Checks all words in the puzzle. For each correct word, the clue for the word will be crossed off and the progress indicator will be updated to reflect the percent of the puzzle completed. Any incorrect characters will be displayed in red. Check Word at Checks the word at the cursor. If the word cursor is correct its corresponding clue will be crossed off. The progress indicator will be updated to reflect the percentage of the puzzle complete. Page 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------- OPTIONS Show all clues Puts the display in the show all clue mode (see Showing clues ). This mode allows you to see all the clues on the screen at the same time. On a hi-resolution monitor this mode works very well. In lower resolutions the amount of information displayed may make the display difficult to read. If you find this the case then select one of the other three modes. Show One Clue Shows the clue for the words at the cursor. In this mode the puzzle and clue will be displayed in large fonts. This provides maximum readability on any monitor. List clues Top Displays the puzzle with two list boxes. One and bottom list box contains the Across clues and the other contains the Down clues. As you scroll around the puzzle, the clues for the words at the cursor will be shown in the list. List clues Side This mode is the same as the other list mode by Side except that the lists are shown side by side. Uppercase Clues Toggles between all uppercase clues and mixed case clues. The advantage to uppercase clues is that they are more easily read on lower resolution monitors. Gray background Toggles the background color between gray and white. This may improve readability on some displays Automatic Toggles automatic checking option. When checking Automatic checking is turned on, words are checked each time you type a character. When you complete a correct word, the corresponding clue for that word will be crossed off. The progress indicator on the status line will also be kept up to date as you type. If you turn Automatic checking off, words will only be crossed off when you specifically request the current word or all words to be checked. Automatic tab Toggles automatic tabbing. When this option to next word is on, the cursor will automatically tab to the next word when you fill in the last character of the word. With this option off, you must use the tab or arrow keys to move to the next word. You may find it useful to turn this option off when you turn on 'Automatic Checking'. Page 9 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Sound Toggles sound on and off. Timer Toggles the timer on and off. When the timer is on, a clock will be shown on the status line indicating how long you have been working on the current puzzle. Each puzzle keeps track of the time spent solving it. The clock will automatically pause if you display a dialog box, minimize the application to an icon or quit. Fonts Allows you to specify fonts for the puzzle, small clue numbers, clues and the status line. Cross Words Deluxe (c) requires true type fonts. The default font is Arial. HELP About Crosswords Shows the product name and author. Will also play a little tune if sound is on Help on using help Opens a windows help dialog that explains how to use help Help Index Opens a windows help dialog that shows you the index of help available for Crosswords. 2.6 Using the mouse ------------------- Clicking on a cell Single clicking the left mouse button on a crossword cell moves the cursor to that location. The appropriate clue will be displayed for the new cursor locations. Clicking on a clue When all clues are shown, single clicking the left mouse button on a clue move the cursor to that location. If will also change the cursor orientation (across or down) to that of the selected clue. Orientation You may also change the orientation (across or down) by clicking the right mouse button anywhere in the cross word window. 2.7 Using the keyboard ---------------------- Enter key Toggles the clue direction between Across and Down. A single across word or down word is highlighted to indicate the current direction. Page 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- When a character is typed in the highlighted word, the cursor will move to the next character in that word or, if the cursor is on the last character in the highlighted word, the cursor will move to the first character of the next word in the same direction. Tab key Moves to the first character of the next word in the same direction (e.g. if an across word is highlighted, the cursor will move to the next across word, if the cursor is on a down word, the cursor will move to the next downword. If all clues are displayed, the clue for both the across and down word will be highlighted in the clue section. If only a single across and down clue is displayed, the clues will be refreshed for the new word. Pressing Shift-Tab will move the cursor to the previous word in the same direction. Arrow keys The four arrow keys will move the cell cursor in the specified direction. If the cell cursor moves to another word, the word cursor will also move. 2.8 Showing clues ----------------- When working a crossword, you have four options for how the screen will be displayed. Showing all clues Showing all the clues has the advantage of seeing all clues at any point in time and allows you to select a clue with the mouse for navigation in the puzzle. Showing a single Showing a single clue (one across and one clue down) reserves more space for the puzzle thus allowing you to work the crossword puzzle in a smaller window or on a lower resolution display. List clues Top List clues top and bottom shows the clues in and Bottom two list boxes. The clues for the across words are shown in the top list and the words for the down clues are shown in the bottom box. As you move the word cursor around the puzzle each list is automatically scrolled to reveal the clue for the words at the cursor. The clue list boxes are slightly different than other list boxes in windows. Unlike other list boxes, you may not use the arrow keys and page keys for Page 11 --------------------------------------------------------------------- scrolling. Rather, the arrow keys move the puzzle cursors and the page up/page down keys select the next/previous pages in the puzzle book. You may still use the scroll bars on the list for scrolling. List clues Side List clues side to side is the same as List Top to side and Bottom except for the placement of the lists. The list on the left shows the across words and the list on the right shows the down words. 2.9 Opening a new puzzle book ----------------------------- Allows you to open a different installed puzzle book. The dialog box contains two lists. Puzzle books Allows you to choose a book in the current directory. You may double-click on a book to open it or you may single-click on it and then press the OK button. Dirs and Drives Allows you to change the default drive or directory of puzzle books. Each time you click in this list, the left list will display the puzzles at that location. The path shown at the top of the screen will change to reflect the new location. 2.10 The Puzzle Index --------------------- The puzzle index is a list of all puzzles in the current book. The solve time to-date and percent complete is listed for all puzzles. You may move to any puzzle by double-clicking on the puzzle or by single clicking and then pressing the OK button. 2.11 Progress Indicator ---------------------- The progress indicator is located on the status line. It tells you what percentage of the words you have filled in correctly. If you enable automatic checking, the indicator will always be kept up to date. If you turn off automatic checking you will need to used the check all words feature to measure your progress. Any time a change is made with the automatic checking off, the progress indicator become invalid and will show question marks for the percent complete. Page 12 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.12 The timer -------------- The timer is an option that will keep track of how long you took to solve each puzzle. When enabled the time spent on the current puzzle will tick on the status line. Each time you switch to another puzzle the time for that puzzle will be displayed. The time spent on each puzzle will also be displayed in the puzzle book index along with the percent complete. Pausing the timer ----------------- At times, you may wish to pause the timer. This can be accomplished in several ways. Any time a dialog box (Print, Index, about etc..) the timer will pause. The timer will not pause when a help screen is displayed. The timer will also pause if you minimize Cross Words Deluxe (c) to an icon. This is convenient if you need to leave the computer momentarily or answer the phone. Of course the clock will also stop if you turn off the timer or quit. 2.13 Auto-Checking ------------------ Auto-checking is an optional feature that provides instant feedback about the words you are typing. Each time you type a character, Cross Words Deluxe (c) checks the Across word and The Down word. If the word is correct, the clue will be crossed off and the progress indicator will be updated. Likewise, if a correct word is changed, the clue will no longer be crossed off and the progress report will be corrected. If you use this feature, you may wish to turn off automatic tab to next word. This will allow the cursor to stay on the current word until you move it off thus giving you a second chance at solving the word. True crossword lovers may consider this mode cheating but novice users may find this kind of help just the touch to make solving crosswords enjoyable. 2.14 Fonts ---------- The font selection dialog box allows you to customize the font selection to your own tastes. You may specify fonts for The characters in the puzzle, the small numbers shown in the puzzle, the clues and the status line. You may set them all to the same font or each to a different font. Since Cross Words Deluxe (c) allows you to scale the window to any size, you specify only the font family, not a font size. Page 13 --------------------------------------------------------------------- To select a font, press the select button next to the font you wish to change. A list of fonts we be displayed for your selection. You will only be allowed to pick from True Type fonts. Each time you pick a font, the puzzle will be updated so you can see the outcome before closing the font selection dialog box. 2.15 Printing ------------- The print dialog box allows you to select multiple options before printing. Print range Allows you to specify a range of puzzles to print. A valid range is one of the following: Entire puzzle book Selects the entire puzzle book for printing Current puzzle Selects only the current page for printing Range of puzzles Selects a range of puzzles to be printed. If you choose this option, you must specify a range in the From and to boxes. Answers Allows you to specify what answer information will appear in the printed puzzles. Valid answer settings include: None Leave all the cells empty Work in progress Displays the progress you have made so far (right or wrong!). This option allows you to continue solving your puzzle on paper should you leave your computer. Correct answers Show the correct answers to the puzzle in the cells. Page layout Allows you to change the layout of the puzzles on the page. There may also be several printer specific layout options on the setup dialog box. These include paper size and orientation. Margins Contains four data-entry fields for Left, Right, Top, and Bottom. This fields allow you to specify page margins in inches. This may be useful if you wish to put your puzzles in a book. Puzzles per page Allows you to specify 1, 2 or 4 puzzles per page. 3.0 Support Policy Page 14 ===================================================================== Strategic Solutions provides user support to registered versions via mail, telephone, and CompuServe Information Service (R). for 3 months after registration. Strategic Solutions will answer questions and fix serious bugs during the three month period. For problems involving a specific hardware or software environment or feature, we may choose not to modify the program. In that case, if a problem is reported within three months after purchase, then we shall offer to refund the user's purchase price. If a program bug prevents you from evaluating Cross Words Deluxe during the first 30 days (prior to registration), Strategic Solutions will attempt to assist but is not under obligation to resolve issues beyond our control. Phone : (817) 232-8781 CIS : 71321,2745 Address : Strategic Solutions 7908 Firefly Fort Worth, Texas 76137 You may share Cross Words Deluxe with others for the purpose of evaluation as long as it's unaltered and distributed in its entirety. Strategic Solutions is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.