Copyright: Copyright © 1997 by Sam Bellotto Jr.


Quiptics for Windows
QUIPTICS™ Demo for Windows

Presenting REAL cryptograms on your Windows computer! Quiptics for Windows brings all the challenge and enjoyment of solving cryptograms 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 cryptograms with Quiptics, too!

You may use this fully-functional Demonstration version of Quiptics 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 Quiptics for Windows from your computer.


About Cryptograms
About Quiptics™ Cryptograms

Quiptics cryptograms are humorous or notable quotations, excerpts or other writings which have been encoded via simple letter substitutions. For example, all of the Bs may have been replaced with Ms, and the Fs with Ys. This is done for every letter in the original text. Letters in kind are always replaced with the same letters in kind. In other words, the phrase “QUIPTICS ARE FUN PUZZLES TO SOLVE” after encryption becomes “TXLSWLFV DUH IXQ SXCCOHV WR VROYH.”

Quiptics adds a few new wrinkles to this enormously entertaining and popular word game. To begin with, Quiptics puzzles have two difficulty levels. Normal mode presents encrypted text in the traditional format—alphabetic letter substitution, at random. Expert mode adds the actual inter-word spaces into the encryption mix! In Expert mode, a space may not actually be a space. Perhaps spaces are really the letter R. By the same token, the letter G may be the space. That is for you to find out.

(Each Quiptic, therefore, incorporates two distinctly separate cryptograms—a Normal puzzle and an Expert puzzle. Each puzzle can be solved on its own.)

Quiptics puzzles also come with optional “hints.” Each puzzle can have from zero to ten of these “hints.” Hints are very broad-ranging in topic, but usually offer a bit of help to get you started decrypting a particularly ornery puzzle. A hint may read something like “There are 8 Ws in this Quiptic.”


Solving Cryptograms
Getting Started: Solving

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

From the Main Window, select Options. Select whether you want to solve the Quiptic in Normal or Expert mode. The current mode is check-marked. Remember that in Expert mode the space is counted as a letter and is part of the encryption mix!

From the Puzzle menu, select Solve. To open an existing puzzle for solving, from the “Open Quiptics 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. With this Demo, you can only open cryptograms with the default file names displayed in the “Open Quiptics puzzle for solving” dialog box.

Solve cryptograms by clicking on any letter square in the Quiptics quotation grid. The letter is highlighted in yellow. Enter a letter from the keyboard. All the letters in the quotation grid matching the selected letter are instantly replaced with the letter you typed from the keyboard. Continue to do this. You can replace letters any number of times. By clicking the Undo Button from the Main Window Toolbar, you can undo previous letter replacements. Click on the Hints Button from the Main Window Toolbar to obtain a hint. Click on the Timer Button from the Main Window Toolbar to start and stop the Quiptics Timer to time yourself (if you like). The Cheat Button reveals the puzzle solution.

Quiptics 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.

To print a puzzle for solving, select Print from the Puzzle menu.


Constructing Cryptograms
Getting Started: Constructing

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 Construct | New from the Puzzle menu. With this Demo, you can only construct a cryptogram with the default file name of DEMOQUIP as displayed in the “Create a new Quiptics puzzle” dialog box. You may change directories if you wish. Click on Save.

The “Cryptogram Entry” window opens. Type in the source text for your Cryptogram. Below this window you can enter an optional Author-Title line for the puzzle, if you like. Then click on Encrypt.

To Open an existing puzzle, from the “Edit existing Quiptics puzzle” dialog box, select the puzzle to work on. With this Demo, you can only open cryptograms with the default file names displayed in the “Create a new Quiptics puzzle” dialog box. Change directories if necessary. Click on Open.

After you have encrypted a new puzzle or selected an existing puzzle to edit, the “Puzzle Hints” window opens. From here you can view the finished puzzle or add anywhere from zero to ten optional hints.

On the Main Window, you have ready access to the Main Menu and all the task buttons necessary to complete the cryptogram. Although you can easily create a cryptogram with this Demo version, many of the advanced features are available only with the Registered Version. 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 Quiptics by selecting Exit from the Puzzle menu.


Cheating

On the Main Window is the Cheat Button, as illustrated here. Hopefully, you won't need to, but, to see the correctly decrypted puzzle, just click and hold down the Cheat Button. The correctly decrypted letters are shown in gray. Only those letters that have not yet been decrypted are revealed. Letters you have decrypted, whether correct or not, remain. Release the Cheat Button to continue solving the puzzle.

You can also help yourself to the correct solution, letter by letter. When entering letters into the Quiptics grid, simply hit the Plus (+) key. This always enters the correctly decrypted letter!


Solving the Cryptogram
Solving Quiptics Cryptograms

The Cryptogram Grid is decrypted exactly the way you decrypt a standard, printed cryptogram puzzle, but it is a lot more fun on the computer.

Position the mouse cursor on any white square within the grid. “Click” the left or right mouse button. The selected square is highlighted yellow. In Expert mode, because the spaces are also encrypted, you can “click” on a space square. If you select a “space” square in Normal mode, nothing happens.

Change the letter in the yellow highlighted square by typing in a letter from the keyboard. All matching letters in the cryptogram are similarly changed. Letters within the grid that you have changed are a different color than the encrypted letters, so you can keep track of your efforts. Also, in Expert mode, encrypted spaces are a darker gray than decrypted spaces.

Quiptics maintains a record of all the letter substitutions made to the Cryptogram Grid during the decrypting process. For whatever reason, if you wish to backtrack your solution, just “click” on the Undo button from the Main Menu. You can “click” Undo one or more times, all the way back to the beginning.

If you desire to start the puzzle from the beginning, from the Main Menu, select Options. Select Restart Puzzle.


Keyboard
Keyboard Input

After selecting (highlighting) an entry from the Cryptogram 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 and the Plus (+) key are allowed during grid input.

As letters are entered, the selected square turns back to white from yellow and all letters in the cryptogram that match the selected letter are changed to the letter typed in from the keyboard.

Spacebar. Use the Spacebar in Expert mode change the selected letter and all matching letters to a space. The Spacebar has no real function in Normal mode; however, in Normal mode it will cause the selected letter and all matching letters to be “erased.”

Plus (+) key. If you absolutely require assistance trying to decrypt the puzzle, press the Plus (+) key to reveal the actual letter solution of any square. You can keep on hitting the Plus key to reveal as many letters of the cryptogram as you like, but, hopefully, you won't.


Mouse

Use the mouse pointing device to solve the Cryptogram Grid by selecting specific letters you want to decrypt, and to access Quiptics’ many other features and options. Both the left and right mouse buttons may be used to solve the puzzle. Only the left mouse button is used everywhere else.


Saving Puzzles

Your puzzle is saved automatically every time you Exit Quiptics 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 successfully solved a cryptogram and want to check your solution, from the Options menu, select Score puzzle. This opens the “official Quiptics 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 yourself 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 QWP to QW! so that Quiptics no longer recognizes it. (If you are comfortable with basic Windows file commands, you can easily “bring back” a deleted cryptogram.)

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


Printing a Cryptogram

Although designed for solving on the computer, Quiptics cryptograms can be printed out to solve the old-fashioned way, with pencil and paper. This way you can take cryptograms with you where a computer would be impractical, or distribute cryptograms you make yourself for others to solve. From the Puzzle menu, select Print... Quiptics prints a single, complete “Puzzle Page” containing the cryptogram exactly like the typical pencil-and-paper printed puzzles you are used to seeing. Before actually printing the puzzle you can select whether or not you want the solution printed on the same page as the cryptogram.

 You can also click on the Print Button from the Main Window.

The cryptogram can be printed out in Normal or Expert mode, depending upon which version has been selected from the Main Window Options Menu.


Preferences

From the Options menu select Preferences... The “Preferences window” permits you to customize various aspects of Quiptics to your personal specifications. There are two pages of preferences, each accessible by clicking on the appropriately labeled tab. With this Demo, the Preferences window is for demonstration purposes only!


Restart Puzzle

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 Restart Puzzle. This undoes all decryptions made to the puzzle. Before going ahead with this, Quiptics always asks you to verify the action, so it is relatively safe from accidental usage.

You can also “click” the Undo button from the Main Window toolbar to “rewind” your solution letter by letter.


Auto Arrange

In addition to being able to position the Quiptics puzzle elements anywhere you like on the screen, you can have Quiptics “remember” one of four basic screen designs. From the Options menu, select Auto Arrange. This Demo is preset to the default screen design only!


Exiting Quiptics

From the Puzzle menu, select Exit. When solving a puzzle, Quiptics always saves your work automatically before it closes. When constructing or editing a puzzle, Quiptics will remind you to save your work before exiting. Or you can click on Save at any time from the Puzzle menu to save your work.


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.


Toolbar Buttons

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


Dictionary

With the fully-registered version of Quiptics, you can directly “hot link” an external application such as a dictionary or other reference software, eliminating the need to go searching for it each time with Explorer, the Task Bar and so forth.


Solution Status
Puzzle Solution Status

While solving a cryptogram, this window maintains information about your progress. You can also access the Timer and obtain optional hints to help you solve a particularly ornery cryptogram from this window.

The top left corner displays the level of difficulty you are currently at—green is for Normal mode and red is for Expert mode. Below this is the Hint panel. A Quiptics puzzle can have up to ten individual hints, or it may have no hints at all. “Click” on the Hints button from the Main Window toolbar to draw a hint. Hints are displayed one by one until you run out of hints. Once a hint is shown, it remains on screen until another hint is requested or there are no more hints available. Hints can not be recalled once they are gone. A status line above the Hint panel keeps track of how many hints have been requested.

At the top right of the Status window is the Timer. Use this in whatever manner you prefer to make Quiptics more enjoyable, or don’t use it at all. “Click” on the Timer button from the Main Window toolbar to start and stop the Timer. To reset the Timer, from the Main Menu, select Special. Select Reset Timer.


Hints Entry Window

After successfully encrypting a brand-new puzzle, or opening an existing puzzle for editing, Quiptics displays the Hints Entry Window. Here you can view the cryptogram in Normal or Expert mode. You can also view the cryptogram’s solution. If you desire, you can input up to ten hints. The hints can be anything you like, or you can select from a lengthy list of “canned” hints which Quiptics can generate for you.

“Click” on the Solution, Normal or Expert button to view the cryptogram in any of those three formats. This option is read-only. You cannot do any editing at this point. The place to do editing or proofreading was at the original input step. In any case, even if you do need to edit the text, it is much easier to just start from scratch than to make any corrections at this point.

Hints are entered into the puzzle very easily. “Click” on the Hint text window to position the text cursor if it is not already there and type in your hint. Each hint can be up to 60 characters long. “Click” the right arrow button to proceed to the next hint. “Click” the left arrow button to return to a previous hint.

With the Registered Version of Quiptics you can “click” on the Hint List button to the right of the right arrow button to bring up a scrollable listing of any and all existing hints.

With the Registered Version of Quiptics you can “click” on the Suggested Hints button at the far right, identified by a magnifying glass icon. This brings up a scrollable listing of hints which Quiptics generates for you.


Modes
Cryptogram Modes

Quiptics cryptograms come in two modes. Each mode is actually a different puzzle altogether with a different encryption scheme. The primary difference is that Expert mode includes the “space” as part of the cryptogram. In other words, in Expert mode, what appears to be a space is actually a letter, and, for example, the letter R might actually be the space.

When you construct your own cryptograms, Quiptics generates both modes automatically which you can subsequently view in the Hints Entry window.

When solving a cryptogram, select the mode you wish to use from the Main Menu by selecting Options and then checking the desired mode. You can always tell which mode you are in from the Solution Status window. You can even arbitrarily jump back and forth between modes, if you like.


Technical Support

Both registered and unregistered users of Quiptics 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.

Registered users are entitled to unlimited technical support. Registered users are also invited to suggest features they would like to see incorporated into future releases of Quiptics.

This version of Quiptics and all puzzles in the QWP file format offered for sale or distributed by Crossdown may not be reproduced, distributed, sold, altered or incorporated into any other software product, in whole or in part, without express permission from the author.

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


GET A HINT. Display a hint to help you solve the puzzle. Quiptics cryptograms can include up to ten hints. Or they may not include any  hints at all! Hints remain on screen until another hint is requested. Hints cannot be re-displayed.


CHEAT. Shows the correctly decrypted puzzle. But why would you want to do this in the first place?


UNDO SOLUTION. Reverts puzzle decryption back to the original unsolved puzzle, letter by letter.


TIMER. Start or pause the Quiptics on-board timer. The timer displays seconds, minutes and hours and can clock up to ten hours before resetting itself.


DICTIONARY. Launch or bring to front an external dictionary application, if one has been linked into Quiptics. Available only with the Registered Version.


PRINT. Prints the current cryptogram in a typical papper-and-pencil format. From the Print dialog box, select whether or not to print the solution on a second page.


SOLVE. Open a Demo cryptogram for solving.


CONSTRUCT. Select "Open" to open a Demo cryptogram for constructing. Select "New" to create a Demo cryptogram.


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


PRINT. Prints the current cryptogram in a typical papper-and-pencil format. From the Print dialog box, select whether or not to print the solution on a second page.


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


EXIT. Close Quiptics.


PUZZLE TO CLIPBOARD. Pastes the cryptogram along with the solution to the Windows Clipboard. Available only with the Registered Version.


EXPORT RTF FILE. Export current puzzle in Microsoft Rich Text File (RTF) format for use in word processors. Both the cryptogram and its solution are exported. Available only with the Registered Version.


EXPORT TEXT FILE. Export current puzzle in standard ASCII text (TXT) format for use in word processors. Both the cryptogram and its solution are exported. Available only with the Registered Version.


RESET TIMER. Resets the Quiptics on-board timer back to zero.


DIFFICULTY LEVEL. Set the difficulty level for solving cryptograms. The current level is checkmarked. Normal mode is standard cryptogram format. Expert mode encrypts the word spaces as well as the letters. You can switch back-and-forth between modes.


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.


RESTART PUZZLE. Discard all decryption work made to the puzzle and revert back to the fully encrypted state.


AUTO ARRANGE. Position Quiptics interface elements on screen in one of four pre-set arrangements. Or hit F9 key. Available only with the Registered Version.


PREFERENCES. Open "Preferences window" to configure many of Quiptics' features, such as screen colors and sounds. Available only with the Registered Version.


HELP TOPICS. Open this Help File.


ABOUT. Quiptics Demo version, date and copyright information.


How to Construct Cryptograms

There is really only one way to put together a cryptogram. Begin by selecting a good quotation or text passage.You are, of course, free to select anything that pleases you personally. But the reason for the name Quiptics is that most Quiptics cryptograms tend to be humorous or, if not uplifting, at least unusual enough to tickle the solver’s intelligence.

So when looking for cryptogram material, select a quotation or writing that is interesting or amusing. After spending 30 minutes or more on the puzzle, the typical solver is not going to appreciate a paragraph that sounds like it came from a financial or medical textbook

From the Puzzle Menu, select Construct. Select New. In the New Puzzle dialog box, enter a name for the puzzle and select a subdirectory. Select Save. The Cryptogram Input window appears, as illustrated at left.

1. Input the source text. You can type it in exactly as it appears in the original source, for ease and accuracy. You can use upper and lower case characters, as well as all punctuation marks. Quiptics automatically converts the text to all upper case and removes non-alphabetic characters during the encryption process. Quiptics will also automatically replace hyphens with a space so, after encryption, a word like THREE-D will properly decode as THREE D and not THREED.

Your cryptogram can be any size from just a few words to about 400 characters (including spaces). If you exceed the maximum size, Quiptics will warn you so you can amend the text.

2. Input the author-title line. This doesn’t always have to be an author-title line, per se. You can actually input anything here. Or nothing. This line is completely optional. Like the source text window, data is automatically converted to uppercase (which is done here at the same time as you key it in) and punctuation marks are stripped out during encryption. You can input up to 31 characters.

3. Begin encryption. After you have carefully proofed and edited both the cryptogram body text and author-title line (if any), “click” here to initiate the encryption process.

Start over. If for some reason you are not happy with the cryptogram text and wish to start from scratch, “click” this button. It clears out the cryptogram body text and the author-title line (if any).

4. Cancel. Do not continue with the encryption process. Discard anything entered in the cryptogram input window and the author-title text box.

A few tips

Quiptics cryptograms have no minimum length. However, an extremely short puzzle—of only a few words—would be exceedingly difficult to decrypt, and probably not a whole lot of fun. Quiptics maximum length is around 400 characters. Anywhere from 150 characters up to the maximum is probably a good length.

Because Quiptics cryptograms do not include punctuation marks, it is also best to avoid highly stylized or complex text that requires lots of punctuation to make it intelligible.

On the other hand, very plainly written text with no “big” words, with “the” repeated frequently, can be obvious even after encryption and quite easy to solve.

If you decide to include a few hints with your cryptogram other than those suggested by the software, think indirectly rather than flatly revealing parts of the puzzle. The software already includes a number of “cheat” options that do the latter, anyway. For instance, hinting that “the puzzle is not in the first person” requires the solver to make a few logical deductions. A first person quotation would most likely include an “I” or two. If the puzzle indeed has some one-letter words, and they are not “I,” then they are probably “A.” (The only other single-letter word in the language.)

Make your hints progressively more helpful. The first few hints should be somewhat obscure. The later hints can be more obvious. An example of a good first hint: “This cryptogram is about a woman.” Therefore, one or more of those three-letter words is likely a SHE, and only a single-letter different from THE. A later hint can be: “This cryptogram includes the word TATTOO.” Pretty easy, that.

Copyright © 1997 by SAM BELLOTTO JR.


How to Order
How to Order Quiptics for Windows 95

All registered users of Quiptics receive the latest version of the software available at the time of registration, and the next major upgrade at a significant discount, plus 100 professionally constructed cryptograms, an indexed, lavishly-illustrated on-screen Help system that is only a mouse click away, and unlimited, enhanced product support.

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

With the registered Quiptics package, you can contruct your own cryptograms. 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 Quiptics package costs $19.95 in US funds or $23.95 in Canadian funds ($25.95 overseas in US funds).

Like crossword puzzles? Crossdown for Windows 95 is a brand new product that brings all the challenge and enjoyment of solving and constructing real crossword puzzles to your personal computer. Crossdown for Windows features a scrollable clue list, full sound card support, and a programmable "hot-link" for attaching your favorite digital dictionary, 50 challenging crossword 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 Crossdown is only $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 puzzle 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. Quiptics is only available for Windows 95!

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://www.crossdown.com

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

 Quiptics™ 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 Quuiptics
Un-installing Quiptics

After you have given Quiptics 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 Quiptics 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.