Windows Criss Cross Maker
Windows Criss Cross Maker by David Leithauser

Windows Criss Cross Maker (WCCM) is a program that will automatically generate data files for the Softdisk Criss Cross program. Now, you do not have to wait for Softdisk to publish the data files for Criss Cross games. What's more, you can now have Criss Cross games where the words can be on any subject you like. You can even create educational Criss Cross puzzles that use words from a vocabulary list, names of US presidents, US states, foreign countries, or other types of word or name lists.

Using WCCM requires a few steps. Click on one of the following for instruction on each step:

1)  Create a Data File

2)  Set the Puzzle Parameters

3)  Generate Puzzle


Creating a Data File

Before you use WCCM, you need to create one or more word list data files. These are simply ASCII text files containing lists of words on any subject. You can create such files using the DOS EDIT program, the Windows Notepad program, or any word processor that will allow you to save the file in ASCII text format and give you control of the name of the file you create. You can give the file any legal name for the root name of the file (the part before the extension), but the extension must be WL for WCCM to recognize it. For example, you could create a file called TREES.WL that would contain a list of tree names. The contents of the file would look something like this:

willow

elm

oak

palm

maple

and so on.


Setting Puzzle Parameters

After you have created one or more data files, run WCCM. After you get past the title page, you will see the control panel screen that allows you to set the parameters for the Criss Cross file you will create. Follow these steps to load and set the puzzle parameters:

1)	Open a Criss Cross word list file (.WL) by selecting the Open command from the File menu.

2)	Set the puzzle title and the puzzle's author (your name) in the edit boxes provided in the Puzzle Attributes group.

3)	Below the edit fields of Puzzle Attributes is another group called Puzzle Dimensions. There are two scroll bars that control the width and height, respectively, of the puzzle that WCCM will generate. Normally, it is best to leave these at the default values of 27 characters for width and 21 for height. This is the maximum size that the Windows Criss Cross program can handle, and using this maximum size will make it easier for WCCM to fit in as many words from the WL file as possible. However, if you wish to change these values, you can move either or both of the scroll bars with your mouse to change the width or height to any value from 10 to 27 for width and 10 to 21 for height.

4)	Below these scroll bars is a check box labeled "Continue improving puzzle until stopped." If this box is checked, WCCM will continue to try to make the puzzle it is generating better and better until you tell it that you are satisfied with the best puzzle so far (this will be explained more later). If the box is not checked, WCCM will stop working on the puzzle as soon as it has generated a puzzle that uses all the words in the WL list. The default condition is for this box to be checked.


Generating a Puzzle

When you have set all of these parameters, click on the Generate button with your mouse, or press the ENTER key.

After you select Generate from the parameters control screen, WCCM will begin generating a puzzle. On the right side of the screen, you will see a representation of the layout of the puzzle that WCCM is currently working on. On the left side of the screen, you will see the layout of the best puzzle WCCM has generated so far this time. The layout will not show the actual words in the puzzle, since this would spoil the fun for you. It shows only the squares where letters would go. This allows you to see the shape of the puzzle as it is created.

There are two criteria for the "best" puzzle. A puzzle that has more words in it is better than one that has fewer words. If the number of words is the same in two puzzles, the one that has the most intersections between words is chosen. Intersections between words give you clues as to what words go in each position, and make the puzzle more interesting.

Below the display of the best puzzle, WCCM will display how many words are used in the puzzle and how many intersections it has. Below the display of the current puzzle, WCCM will display how many words it uses and how many words are in the word list. For example, it may say "38 words used out of 50".

Each time that WCCM finds that the current puzzle is better than the previous best puzzle, it will replace the best puzzle with the current one. If you selected not to continue improving the puzzle until stopped at the parameters control screen, WCCM will stop and save the puzzle as soon as it has found a puzzle that uses all the words in the word list file. If you selected for WCCM to continue improving the puzzle until stopped, the process of finding new puzzles and replacing the "best" puzzle with better ones will continue until you click on either the OK button or the Cancel button.

The OK button brings up a save dialog that lets you choose the filename of the data file you have just created. The Cancel button will exit the puzzle generation screen. You would only use the Cancel button if you were totally dissatisfied with the best puzzle generated so far.

When you have created one or more puzzle files, exit Criss Cross Maker and run the Criss Cross program. You will see the new files in the list of input files for that program.