Copyright: Copyright © 1997 by Sam Bellotto Jr.


How to Order
How to Order Crossdown for Windows 95

All registered users of Crossdown receive the latest version of the software available at the time of registration, and the next major upgrade at a significant discount, over 50 professionally constructed crosswords, an indexed, lavishly-illustrated on-screen Help system that is only a mouse click away featuring a specially written section on
“How to Construct Crossword Puzzles,” and unlimited, enhanced product support.

Registration fees make possible further development of Crossdown software and additional puzzle disks.

With the registered Crossdown package, you can contruct crosswords from 11x up to 23x grid sizes. You get access to all the features shown in the Demo, plus many more. And you can even get help with marketing any puzzles you create. The full Crossdown package costs $39.95 in US funds or $43.95 in Canadian funds ($46.95 overseas in US funds).

Like acrostic puzzles? Enigmacross for Windows 95 is a brand new product that brings all the challenge and enjoyment of solving and constructing real acrostic puzzles to your personal computer. Enigmacross for Windows features a scrollable clue list, full sound card support, and a programmable "hot-link" for attaching your favorite digital dictionary, 50 challenging acrostic puzzles by some of the best puzzle-makers in the country, an illustrated, indexed on-screen Help system and many other features. The complete edition of Enigmacross is only $39.95 in US funds or $43.95 in Canadian funds ($46.95 overseas in US funds).

Just wanna have fun? Not interested in constructing your own puzzles? Both Crossdown for Windows and Enigmacross for Windows are available in “Game Editions.” These solve-only packages are strictly for crossword solvers. The Crossdown for Windows “Game Edition” includes more than 60 professionally constructed crosswords by some of the top names in the industry. The Enigmacross for Windows “Game Edition” comes with more than 50 challenging acrostics. The “Game Editions” of Crossdown and Enigmacross sell for only $11.95 each ($13.95 in Canadian dollars or $15.95 overseas in U.S. funds).

BY MAIL

Send your check or money order for any of Crossdown's entertaining and educational word game products to:

CROSSDOWN

133 Akron Street

Rochester, NY 14609-7618

Please specify which operating system--Windows 95 or Windows 3.1--you prefer.

BY CREDIT CARD

You can use your credit card to order any of Crossdown's word game products from either of the two following vendor toll-free numbers.

Altus	1-888-282-5887

RegNet 	1-800-999-2734

All major credit cards are accepted. Orders are usually shipped within two to three days after receipt of order.

BY INTERNET

Log onto the Crossdown home page on the World Wide Web at

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/crossdown

From there you can link to a number of sites which permit credit card ordering via secured connection. You can also use your credit card to order any Crossdown product and download it immediately. You can also contact Crossdown by e-mail at crossdown@compuserve.com. For additional information call us at (716) 482-8092.


Ombudsman
ASP Ombudsman Statement

 Crossdown™ is produced by Sam Bellotto Jr., 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 USA 49442-9427, FAX 616-788-2765, or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.


Uninstalling Crossdown
Un-installing Crossdown

After you have given Crossdown a fair tryout, we hope you will want to order the registered version. In either case, you are obligated to remove the demo from your system. This is very easy to do.

When properly installed, the Crossdown Demo creates its own un-installer. From the Start menu, click on Settings. Then double click on the Control Panel. Click on Add/Remove programs. Follow the instructions in the dialog box.


Crossdown
CROSSDOWN™ DEMO for Windows

Presenting REAL crossword puzzles on your Windows computer! Crossdown for Windows brings all the challenge and enjoyment of solving crosswords exactly like the ones found in the daily or Sunday newspapers to the Microsoft Windows environment in a format that is easy-to-use and hours of fun. Comprehensive on-line help and multimedia enhancements add to the enjoyment.

You can make your own puzzles with Crossdown, too! In fact, Crossdown’s most exciting feature is its powerful, professional puzzle construction mode, used and recommended by many top constructors. Crossword puzzle numbering is down for you by the computer, eliminating time-wasting mistakes. Crossdown’s Autoclue feature guides you effortlessly through the cluing process so that no clues are overlooked or omitted.

You may use this fully-functional Demonstration version of Crossdown for Windows up to a period of 30 days for evaluation purposes only. After that, you are obligated to either register by purchasing the complete version or Game Edition, or you must remove Crossdown for Windows from your computer.


Construction Overview
Getting Started: Construction

From the Main Menu, select Puzzle. Select Construct. If you are going to construct a brand new puzzle, select New. Select Open to work on a puzzle that has already been created and previously saved.

To construct a New puzzle, select the puzzle size. Grid sizes supported include 11x, 13x and 15x. (Puzzles up to 23x are supported with the complete version.). “From the New puzzle for constructing dialog box,” type in a name for the new puzzle or accept UNTITLED as the default. You may change directories if you wish. Click on Save.

To Open an existing puzzle, from the “Open puzzle for constructing dialog box,” select the puzzle to work on. Change directories if necessary. Click on Open.

The complete version of Crossdown supports the Windows 95 “docu-centric” model. To learn how to open a puzzle by clicking on the puzzle icon from Explorer, see Associating Puzzles.

On the Main Window, you have ready access to the Main Menu and all the task buttons necessary to construct a professional crossword puzzle. Click on the Squares Button to design the puzzle grid. Click the Symmetry Button “on” or “off” to control grid symmetry. Click on the Letters Button to place the words in the grid. The Mouse Button configures the mouse. At anytime you can also click on the Autoclue Button to write the clues, however it is recommended that you fully complete the puzzle before using Autoclue.

At any time you can save the puzzle by selecting Save from the Puzzle menu. To print your puzzle, select Print from the Puzzle menu. Quit Crossdown by selecting Exit from the Puzzle menu.


Transforming Grid Image

It is sometimes desired to change the overall design of a grid by turning it “upside down” or rotating it. This feature has been disabled on the Demo version. Several such manipulations are available with the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


Copying Grids

This feature has been disabled on the Demo version. You can easily copy the diagram of one puzzle to a new one with the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


Copying to Clipboard

To include copies of crossword puzzles that you created with Crossdown into other Windows software such as word processors, first “copy” the puzzle onto the Windows Clipboard and then “paste” into the target application.

From the Special menu, select Grid to Clipboard or Solution to Clipboard or Clues to Clipboard, according to the particular task you wish to accomplish. With the first two selections,  a copy of the numbered grid or the solution grid, respectively, is copied to the Windows Clipboard. The third selection copies a list of puzzle clues to the Windows Clipboard as text.

Then open or switch to the target application. Select Paste from the Edit menu. The Clipboard contents is copied to the target document. You must individually copy and paste each crossword puzzle element you require (grid, solution, clues) first, and then design the look of the entire page.


Scratchpad

Puzzle constructors are constantly making notes as they work. You can jot down interesting definitions that might pop into your head, idioms, phrases or even a telephone number. From the Tools menu, click on Scratchpad... This feature has been disabled on the Demo version. The Crossdown Scratchpad plug-in, a separate mini-application, is included with the complete version of Crossdown. The Scratchpad is scrollable and can hold more than 32k of information. The Scratchpad will keep a record of all your notes indefinitely until you erase it.


Diagramming the Grid

You can change the colors of the filled-in squares and the letter squares from the “Preferences dialog box” to suit your own tastes with the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.

On the MainWindow is the Squares Button, as illustrated here. Click on this to add, change or remove black and white squares within the puzzle grid. The Letters Button turns “off” when the Squares Button is activated. And diagonal symmetry, via the Symmetry Button, can be enabled or disabled.

If the Symmetry Button is ON (the default), Crossdown ensures that the puzzle conforms to standard diagonal symmetry by automatically changing the opposite “mirrored” square along with the selected square. In other words, each time you cnage a square you actually chnage two of them. If the Symmetry Button is OFF, only the selected squares are painted.

Position the mouse cursor on any of the grid squares and click the left mouse button to paint that square black. Position the mouse cursor on any of the grid squares and click the right mouse button to paint that square white.

Holding down either mouse button and moving the mouse cursor lets you “paint” multiple squares in succession. Please keep in mind that “painting” is also linked to diagonal symmetry, if enabled.

Clicking on a square containing a letter automatically erases the letter, making puzzle editing much easier and faster.

You can alternate between the Squares Button and the Letters Button as much as you like. When the Squares Button is “on,” any square within the grid is accessible. When the Letters Button is “on,” only the “letter” (white) squares are accessible. So if you want to change the diagram by replacing a pair of black squares with letter squares, first hit the Squares Button. Change the black squares (keeping in mind diagonal symmetry) to white. Then hit the Letters Button and type in the letters. Changing letter squares to black squares is much easier. Just hit the Squares Button  and go.

When diagramming, it is often useful to know the exact center column and row of the grid. This feature has been disabled on the Demo version.


Exporting to Other Formats

With the complete version of Crossdown for Windows you can export crossword puzzles to Windows Metafile (WMF), Encapsulated PostScript (EPS), or Rich Text Format (RTF) files for use in desktop publishing, word processing or similar page layout applications. This feature has been disabled on the Demo version.


Finding Duplicates
Finding Duplicate Entries

This feature lets you scan a crossword for any possible repetitions of a word or fragment within the grid. The search word can be any length up to 23 letters long. A minimum length of 3 characters is the most practical. This feature has been disabled on the Demo version.


Foreign Characters

With the complete version of Crossdown, you can enter letters from the complete set of ASCII Extended Foreign and Symbol Characters in Autoclue. Click on the Foreign Character button. It is the fifth button from the left in the “Autoclue window,” designated by an  Æ  symbol. This feature has been disabled on the Demo version.


Lettering the Grid

This Help Topic assumes the default Crossdown settings. You can change the colors of the letter squares and the font style from the “Preferences dialog box” to suit your own tastes with the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.

On the MainWindow is the Letters Button, as illustrated here. Click on this to type letters into the puzzle grid from the keyboard. The Squares Button turns “off” when the Letters Button is activated, as does the Symmetry Button. The Symmetry Button is unneeded when placing letters.

Position the mouse cursor on any “white” square within the puzzle grid. Click the left mouse button to enter letters Across. Click the right mouse button to enter letters Down. (If you have switched the Mouse Control Button, to its DOWN ARROW position, the directions are reversed!)

All white squares in a line along the selected direction from the initial square to the first encountered black square or the edge of the grid turn yellow.

Fill the squares by typing from the keyboard . After all word entry squares have been filled in, no additional keyboard input is accepted.

You can remove highlighting and stop keyboard entry at any time simply by clicking either mouse button on a black square. Or you can jump to another area on the grid by clicking on it with any mouse button.


Keyboard
Keyboard Input

Letters are filled in directly from the keyboard. Type normally. You do not need to use the Shift key or the Caps Lock key. All letters are entered in upper case. Furthermore, only the letters A through Z , the Spacebar, the Enter key, the Backspace key and the Plus (+) key are allowed during grid input.

Backspacing. If you make a mistake, use the Backspace key as you would with any word processor. Keep in mind that Crossdown uses a non-destructive backspace; backspacing moves your position on the puzzle grid in the reverse direction, a square at a time, highlighting backspaced squares in yellow. Filled in squares are not cleared, but they can be overwritten.

Spacebar. Use the Spacebar to erase a filled in square.

Enter key. Hitting the Enter key while entering letters skips that square. If the square is unfilled, it remains unfilled. If the square contains a previously entered letter, that letter remains unchanged.

Plus (+) key. This is used to make “rebus” puzzles. “Rebus” puzzles contain pictographs or other non-alphabetic symbols in some of the squares. Crossdown does not support drawing in grid squares. Instead, the Plus (+) key enters a question mark into these squares, indicating that they are “rebus” squares. When output to paper or graphic file format, “rebus” squares are empty, facilitating insertion of the correct “rebus” image by other means.

The “rebus” key is intended to be used by constructors who need to output the puzzles as manuscripts or in graphic file formats. For solving, Crossdown does not support “rebus” puzzles and may give unexpected results.


Mouse

Use the mouse pointing device to construct a puzzle and access Crossdown’s many features and options. Both the left and right mouse buttons are used in constructing the grid. Only the left mouse button is used everywhere else.

When the Squares Button is active, the left mouse button is used to fill-in the squares (black) while the right mouse button clears the squares (white). When the Letters Button is active, the mouse buttons behave according to the status of the Mouse Control Button. The default setting is left mouse button to highlight Across words and the right mouse button to highlight Down words.


Configuring the Mouse

Within the “Puzzle Grid window,” clicking the left mouse button highlights the Across words. Clicking the right mouse button highlights the Down words. This is the Crossdown default. You can alternate these settings to suit your personal preference by clicking the Mouse Control Button located on the Main Window, as illustrated here.

Clicking on the Mouse Control Button toggles the grid direction assigned to the left and right mouse buttons. The grid direction of the “primary” (left) mouse button is indicated by the arrow pictured on the button.  Clicking this button toggles the left button direction between Across and Down. The right mouse button will always be the other direction.

Mouse button settings are not permanent. Every time Crossdown is started, it uses the default mouse settings.


Preferences

From the Options menu select Preferences... The “Preferences window” permits you to customize various aspects of Crossdown to your personal specifications. There are four separate pages of preferences, each accessible by clicking on the appropriately labeled tab. This feature has been disabled on the Demo version. However, you can still open the “Preferences window” to examine what the complete version has to offer.


Puzzle Statistics

From the Special menu, select Analyze... The “Puzzle Analysis window” for the current crossword appears. It contains all kinds of useful information about the puzzle, including number of three-letter words, character distribution and counts, and average word length. When finished looking at the statistics, click on Close to close the window.


Saving Puzzles

You can save a puzzle you are constructing at any time. It is a good idea to do this frequently as Crossdown does not automatically save puzzles in Construction Mode. From the Puzzle menu, select Save. You can also press the Ctrl-S key combination from the keyboard.


Status Window
Specifications

At the bottom of the Main Window is the Specifications window. It maintains a continually updated readout of the crossword puzzle’s word total, the ratio of black squares to the “ideal” one-sixth, and the current puzzle’s size.

For example:

Size of Grid: 15×
Black Squares: 40  Par: 37
Word Count: 74  Par: 78

This means that the puzzle contains 74 words and 40 black squares. A word count of 78 is considered average. A black square count of 37 is considered average. The puzzle size is 15 x 15.

Every time you click on the Update Button the Specifications window is updated to reflect any grid design changes made since the last update.


Symmetry Button

 On the MainWindow is the Symmetry Button, as illustrated here. Click on this to turn diagonal symmetry on or off at any time during puzzle construction. The button “lights up” (light blue) when symmetry is ON and “dims” (dark blue) when symmetry is OFF. The Symmetry Button is completely disabled when the Letters Button is active because symmetry is not needed at that time.

Diagonal symmetry—where each square has an opposite and “mirrored” twin square—is a standard requirement of crossword puzzles, so it is the Crossdown default.


Writing Clues

After you have completed the diagram and filled in all the across and down words, you are ready to write the clues, or definitions. Click the Autoclue Button on the Main Window, as illustrated here.

It is recommended that you first complete the puzzle grid before running Autoclue. However, in case you come up with a really terrific definition for a word as you are constructing the puzzle, you can open Autoclue at any time and “store” the definition. Please keep in mind that any subsequent changes to the grid could wipe out previously stored definition data.

Click the Autoclue Button to open the “Autoclue window.” The individual grid entries and positions appear at the top of the Autoclue window in blue. Immediately below is the text input box for typing in or editing definitions. Use the keyboard normally. With the complete version, you can access a special character map to enter foreign characters. You can enter up to a maximum of 60 characters for each clue. Beneath the text input box are six buttons. Click on any of the buttons in the diagram above to see what they do.

To define a specific entry, highlight it on the puzzle grid before clicking on Autoclue. Otherwise, Autoclue always begins with the first Across word.

After opening Autoclue, you can position it and keep it on screen. In this way, you can freely move back and forth between the “Autoclue window” and the puzzle grid. Further, highlighting a word in the puzzle grid always forces Autoclue to display that word for definition writing, making the cluing process much more flexible.

See Editing Clues.


Editing Clues

You do not have to write all of the definitions, or clues, at one sitting. You can go back to your puzzle as often as you like and use Autoclue to enter additional clues or edit existing ones.

If a clue was previously input, it is displayed in the definition text input box. You can press Enter from the keyboard to accept this clue and go on to the next one, or you can change it by backspacing and entering new data from the keyboard.

Hitting the CTRL-Y combination from the keyboard erases the entire definition from the definition text input box.

To access a specific definition within Autoclue, first highlight the entire word in the grid by clicking on the first letter square of that word with the appropriate mouse button. Make certain the entire word is highlighted in yellow. This can be done before you open Autoclue or anytime after Autoclue is open and on the screen.

If you did not enter all your definitions during a previous Autoclue session, to pick up where you left off, start Autoclue and then click on the Next Blank Button, as illustrated here. This causes Autoclue to “fast forward” to the very next undefined puzzle word. If there are no undefined words, Autoclue jumps to the last word in the puzzle and signals that there are “No More Clues.” This is a good way to scan your puzzle for any words you may have unintentionally left undefined.

Autoclue does not define one-letter words.


Associating Puzzles

You can open any puzzle by associating the XWD file type with Crossdown and then double-clicking on the filename or icon symbol of that puzzle. Refer to the Windows documentation for help with associating file types. This feature has been disabled on the Demo version.


Revert to Saved

If you make a complete mess of the puzzle, it is easy to put things back to where you began. From the Options menu, select Revert to Saved. This undoes all changes made to the puzzle since the last time it was saved. Before going ahead with this, Crossdown always asks you to verify the action, so it is relatively safe from accidental usage.

 Remember that in Construction mode, Revert to Saved will also clear any definitions input with Autoclue that have not been saved!


Auto Arrange

In addition to being able to position the Crossdown puzzle elements anywhere you like on the screen, you can have Crossdown “remember” one of four basic screen designs. From the Options menu, select Auto Arrange. The Main Window, the Puzzle Grid Window and the Clue List Window (when solving a puzzle) snap to the basic screen design that you selected. The selected design is also automatically used the first time you open a puzzle in any mode. Auto Arrange can also be invoked with the F9 “hot key.”

The Demo version allows for only the default Auto Arrange design.


Bylines

When solving a puzzle, Crossdown always displays the puzzle author's byline, if the puzzle file contains one. To include yours (or anyone's) byline with a puzzle, from the Special menu, select Byline... This feature has been disabled on the Demo version. With the regsitered version of Crossdown, you can input puzzle bylines.


Exiting Crossdown

From the Puzzle menu, select Exit. If you have any un-saved data in memory, Crossdown will inform you of this before it closes and ask you if you want to first save the data, discard the data, or cancel the Exit request.


Menu Selections

Click on any of the Menu selections below for additional information. Certain Menu selections are only accessible in either Solve or Construct mode.


Guidelines
Show Guidelines

From the Special menu, select Show Guidelines. This draws dotted lines through the exact center of the grid both horizontally and vertically, like a large “crosshairs.” When diagramming, it is often useful to know the exact middle column and row of the grid. This feature has been disabled on the Demo version.


Tools

With the complete version of Crossdown, you can directly “hot link” a variety of useful external applications such as dictionaries and other reference software, eliminating the need to go searching for them each time with Explorer, the Task Bar and so forth. From the Tools menu, you can “hot link” a dictionary, a thesaurus and three Crossdown plug-ins. This feature is disabled on the Demo version.

The complete version of Crossdown also comes with several NEW plug-in tools designed to make crossword construction even easier and more fun.


Printing
Printing Puzzles

From the Puzzle menu, select Print ... The “Print Puzzle window” opens. You have five kinds of Printing Formats from which to choose. You can select one or any combination of these styles:

Manuscript. This option is primarily intended for constructors to output their puzzles in manuscript format. The clue pages are printed double-spaced with definitions listed on the left-hand side of the page and corresponding answers tabbed over to the right. (The complete version of Crossdown gives you the option of reversing this format.) A final page is output of the puzzle grid containing both numbers and the solution.

Manuscript Grid Only. Prints only the final puzzle page of the Manuscript as described above, with both numbers and solution in the grid

Numbered Grid. This option prints out a numbered, blank crossword grid. Each box in the grid is approximately 5/16-inches square.

Solution Grid. This option prints out the crossword grid with all the answers filled in. The boxes are not numbered.

Puzzle Page. This option prints out a blank, numbered crossword grid and the Across and Down clues on a single page, formatted the same way as you might find in the daily newspaper, ready for solving. You can print out puzzles this way to give to others.

The Puzzle Title edit box allows you to enter an optional title line for the puzzle. If you do not wish to enter your own title, the puzzle filename is printed as the default title.

Checking Gray Squares prints the grids with the solid squares as a gray tone instead of black. This feature saves ink and produces cleaner output on some printers.


Other Puzzle Types

You can use Crossdown to create both British style crossword puzzles and cryptic puzzles. Either of these puzzle formats permit “unkeyed” squares and allow a much higher percentage of the total grid to be black. Autoclue and other Crossdown features work flawlessly with these other popular puzzle types.


Technical Support

Both registered and unregistered users of Crossdown are welcome to call Crossdown at (716) 482-8092 during normal business hours, EST, or evenings, generally between the hours of 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., EST, either during the week or on weekends. Letters are answered usually within one to two weeks. Crossdown’s e-mail address is crossdown@compuserve.com. E-mail is responded to almost immediately.

You may freely duplicate and distribute this Demo version of Crossdown for Windows. However, Crossdown, this on-line help and the XWD file format are all copyright © 1997 by Sam Bellotto Jr.

CROSSDOWN
133 Akron Street
Rochester, NY 14609-7618
(716) 482-8092
crossdown@compuserve.com
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/crossdown


DEFINITION TEXT INPUT. Type the definition, or clue, for the indicated Grid Entry Word here. All foreign characters and symbols are permitted. Hitting the CTRL-Y key combination deletes the entire text.


PREVIOUS DEFINITION. Go back to the previous definition, or clue.


NEXT DEFINITION. Advance to the next definition, or clue.


NEXT BLANK PUZZLE ENTRY. Advance to the very next un-defined puzzle word in the grid. If there are no more un-defined puzzle words, advance to the last definition and display "NO MORE CLUES" message.


INSERT TEXT. Inserts text from the Windows Clipboard into the Definition Text Input window at the text cursor position.


FOREIGN CHARACTERS. Opens or closes the "Foreign Character window." Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


DEFINITION LIST. Opens or closes the "Definitions window." This window displays all the puzzle definitions, numbered, in two scrollable lists of all the Across definitions and all the Down definitions along with their corresponding grid words. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


CLOSE. Close Autoclue.


SOLVE. Open a crossword puzzle for solving.


CONSTRUCT. Select "Open" to open an existing crossword puzzle for constructing. Select "New" to create a brand new crossword puzzle in sizes from 11x11 to 23x23.


SAVE. Save the current puzzle. Or hit the CTRL-S key combination.


SAVE AS. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


COPY GRID AS. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


PRINT. In Construct mode, print current puzzle in a variety of formats. In Solve mode, print out current puzzle clues and numbered grid on one page, ready for traditional solving.


PRINTER SETUP. Open the Windows Printer Configuration dialog box to select a printer and setup printer defaults.


EXIT. Close Crossdown.


EXPORT METAFILE. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


EXPORT EPS. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


EXPORT RTF FILE. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


RTF GRID TO CLIPBOARD. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


GRID TO CLIPBOARD. Pastes a numbered grid image of the current puzzle on the Windows Clipboard.


SOLUTION TO CLIPBOARD. Pastes a solution grid image of the current puzzle on the Windows Clipboard.


CLUES TO CLIPBOARD. Copies the current puzzle clues in ANSI text format on the Windows Clipboard.


SHOW GUIDELINES. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


TRANSFORM. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


BYLINE. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


ANALYSIS. Opens the "Puzzle Analysis window" giving a breakdown of current puzzle statistics including letter distribution and counts, number of three-letter words in grid and other useful information.


SCORE PUZZLE. In Solve mode, checks the current puzzle to determine if it has been correctly solved. If errors made, shows errors. Otherwise gives choice of erasing puzzle to solve again or deleting puzzle from system.


REVERT TO SAVED. Discard any recent changes made to puzzle and revert to last saved state.


SCAN GRID. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


AUTO ARRANGE. Position Crossdown elements on screen in one pre-set arrangement. Or hit F9 key. Complete version allows choice of four designs.


PREFERENCES. Open "Preferences window" to configure many of Crossdown's features, such as screen colors, printing options and sounds.


DICTIONARY. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


THESAURUS. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


CLUEBANK. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


SCRATCHPAD. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


MAILBOT. Available only on the complete version of Crossdown for Windows.


HELP TOPICS. Open this Help File.


ABOUT. Crossdown version, date and copyright information.


How to Solve Crosswords
Getting Started: Solving

From the Puzzle menu, select Solve. To open an existing puzzle for solving, from the “Open puzzle for solving dialog box,” select the puzzle to work on. Change directories if necessary. Click on Open. The unsolved puzzle grid is displayed on screen.

You can Open a puzzle at any time. If you are working on a puzzle and decide to open another one, Crossdown automatically saves your work on the old puzzle before opening the new one.

On the Main Window, you have ready access to the Main Menu and all the task buttons necessary to enjoy solving real crossword puzzles right on your computer.

Select a clue from the scrollable Clues List Box or select any unfilled square from the grid. The clue is displayed in the Clue Window, as well. Enter letters with the keyboard. You can move back and forth between the grid and clue list as freely and as often as you like. The Mouse Button configures the mouse. The Cheat Button reveals the puzzle solution.

Crossdown saves your work automatically but it is a good idea to save the puzzle if you have been working on it for a long time.

When the puzzle has been solved, select Score Puzzle from the Options menu to see if the puzzle is correctly solved.


Cheating

On the Main Window is the Cheat Button, as illustrated here. Hopefully, you won't need to, but, to see the correctly solved puzzle, just click and hold down the Cheat Button. Correct answers are shown in gray. Only unfilled boxes are revealed. Entries you have made to the puzzle grid remain. Release the Cheat Button to continue solving the puzzle.

You can also help yourself to a “hint,” letter by letter. When entering letters into the puzzle grid, simply hit the Plus (+) key. This always enters the correct letter into the grid!


Clues List Box

All of the clues for the current puzzle are listed in a scrollable Clues List Box which you can move and resize. Place the Clues List Box anywhere you like on the screen, or use the Auto Arrange feature to configure the screen in the default style.

Use the vertical scroll bar to advance forward or backward through the list of clues. Use the horizontal scroll bar to see the longer clues.

Click on a clue with the left mouse button. The clue is highlighted. The clue appears in the Clue Window at the bottom of the Main Window. The corresponding answer squares in the puzzle grid are highlighted in yellow.

You can now enter the answer directly from the keyboard.

You can also click on any “white” square from within the puzzle grid. The clue associated with the selected square(s) is automatically highlighted and scrolled into view in the Clues List Box and appears in the Clue Window.


Clue Window

The currently selected puzzle clue always appears in its own window at the bottom of the Main Window. This window also indicates whether the clue is an Across or a Down clue. If byline information for the puzzle is present, the byline is displayed below this window.


Keyboard
Keyboard Input

After selecting (highlighting) an entry from the puzzle grid with the mouse, letters can be filled in directly from the keyboard. Type normally. You do not need to use the shift key or the caps lock key. All letters are entered in upper case. Furthermore, only the letters A through Z, the Spacebar, the Enter key, the Backspace key and the Plus (+) key are allowed during grid input.

As letters are entered, the grid squares turn back to white from yellow and are filled in.

Backspacing. If you make a mistake, use the Backspace key as you would with any word processor. Keep in mind that Crossdown uses a non-destructive backspace; backspacing moves your position on the puzzle grid in the reverse direction, a square at a time, highlighting backspaced squares in yellow. Filled in squares are not cleared, but they can be overwritten.

Spacebar. Use the Spacebar to erase a filled in square.

Enter key. Hitting the Enter key while filling in a word skips that square. If the square is unfilled, it remains unfilled. If the square contains a previously entered letter, that letter remains unchanged.

Plus (+) key. If you absolutely require assistance trying to fill in a word, press the Plus (+) key to reveal the next unfilled square. You can keep on hitting the Plus key to reveal as many letters of a word as you like, but, hopefully, you won't.


Mouse

Use the mouse pointing device to work the puzzle grid and access Crossdown’s many features and options. Both the left and right mouse buttons are used to work the puzzle grid. Only the left mouse button is used everywhere else.


Solving Puzzles
How to Solve Crossword Puzzles

Position the mouse cursor on any white square within the puzzle grid. Click the left mouse button to select an Across word. Click the right mouse button to select a Down word. (If you have toggled the Mouse Control Button, the directions are programmed according to the Mouse Control Button's arrow which corresponds to the left mouse button).

All squares from the selected square to the end of the word entry turn yellow. When beginning a crossword puzzle, it is advisable to select only squares that begin word entries.

If you select a black square or a square which does not belong to the requested Across or Down entry, nothing will happen.

The corresponding clue is highlighted and scrolled into view within the Clues List Box. The clue also appears in the Clue Window on the Main Window.

Fill the squares by typing in your answer from the keyboard. After all word entry squares have been filled in, no additional keyboard input is accepted. The clue is no longer highlighted in the Clues List Box and is erased from the Clue Window.

If, after selecting a word from the grid and seeing the clue, you cannot think of the answer (or choose not to solve it), you can cancel the selection by clicking either mouse button on another white square or a black square.

Or you can simply select another clue from the Clues List Box with the mouse. The previous clue and highlighting disappears.


Saving Puzzles

Your puzzle is saved automatically every time you Exit Crossdown or Open another puzzle. To save at any other time simply select Save from the Puzzle menu. Or from the keyboard you can also enter the Ctrl-S combination.


Score Solution
Scoring Your Solution

When you believe you have succcessfully solved a crossword puzzle and want to check your solution, from the Options menu, select Score puzzle. This opens the “official Crossdown Score Card window.”

If you have made errors, along with a distinctive error signal you will get a message that the puzzle is incorrect. You can then choose to see your errors. Click on the Show Errors Button to have the errors in the grid check-marked in red. Or click on the Cancel Button and attempt to correct your errors without this additional help (good for you!)

But if the puzzle is correctly solved, you will be treated to a short surprise, followed by a “Congratulations” message. Pat youself on the back! The “Score Card window” gives you three choices. Select:

Start Over to “wipe” the grid of all solution information so the puzzle may be re-played by you or someone else.

Delete to remove the puzzle altogether from your computer. Keep in mind that a “deleted” puzzle is only logically deleted from the system. The file extension is changed from XWD to XW! so that Crossdown no longer recognizes it. (If you are comfortable with basic Windows file commands, you can easily “bring back” a deleted crossword puzzle.)

Cancel to do nothing. The correctly completed puzzle is saved.


Printing a Crossword

From the Puzzle menu, select Print... When in Solve mode, Crossdown prints a single, complete “Puzzle Page” containing a numbered grid and the clues, exactly like the typical pencil-and-paper printed crosswords you are used to seeing.