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1991-09-07
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6KB
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198 lines
-----------------------------
XWORD-VGA
Ver. 0.9
by
Mike Stephens
copyright (c) 1991
-----------------------------
GETTING STARTED
---------------
To begin with place all the XWORDVGA files on a single disk or
a subdirectory of your hard drive. You should have the
XWORDVGA.EXE file, twenty crossword files (*.PZO) and seven word
base files (*.WDS). The program must find at least one puzzle file
and all seven word base files to run.
Once the files are in place, set the default directory to the
disk and/or directory where they are stored and type XWORDVGA.
OPENING SCREEN
--------------
The opening screen will offer you a selection of puzzles by
number. The puzzle number is shown and also, in brackets, is the
size of the puzzle.
Select the number you wish to play, enter it and press return.
PLAY SCREEN
-----------
Once the puzzle has been selected the play screen will show.
This screen is basically divided into three areas.
1. The top right is a function key command list. (This is
not a complete listing of all the command keys, but will
show most of them).
2. The top left of the screen will contain the puzzle.
3. The lower few lines of the screen will contain the clues
and messages used during the solving of the puzzle.
The opening screen will show the puzzle and the 1st clue in
the across direction.
SOLVING THE PUZZLE
------------------
Play is straight forward. The clue line will identify the
clue number, the clue itself followed by a series of dots. The
number of dots correspond to the length of the word needed.
Just type in your answer and you are on you way to solving the
puzzle!
Any ALPHABETIC character key, SPACE or BACKSPACE is
acceptable. The space will erase anything that was there
previously but will allow you to enter a partial word if you want
to. The backspace will allow you to back up if you made a mistake.
(I often use that key).
GETTING AROUND
--------------
If you solve a puzzle like I do you have to do a lot of
jumping around and so I have tried to provide some ease to do that
in the program. (I really hate people that solve a puzzle
completely by just going through the across clues!!).
The RETURN key, at any time, will cause the clue to advance to
the next clue. You only need to do this if you have a partial
entry or just want to skip it. The program will automatically
advance the clue when the correct number of letters have been typed
in. (Note that a partial entry is kept as part of the solution).
The ARROW keys also serve to move the current clue. The DOWN
ARROW and the RIGHT ARROW will move the clue across or down one
while the UP ARROW and LEFT ARROW keys will move the clue back one.
Pressing the PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN keys will move the clue
about 1/4 of the way through the puzzle.
Pressing the HOME or "ALT+B" key will move the clue to the
first clue number and pressing the END key will take the clue to
the last clue number.
Finally, pressing "ALT+M" will take the clue to the middle
clue number of the puzzle.
There remains the question of direction. This can be switched
by pressing either the F3 key or the "ALT+D" combination.
SAVE AND RESTORE
----------------
I don't often have time to solve a large puzzle at one sitting
so there is a way to take a break without loosing your work.
The F1 key or the "ALT+S" combination will save the puzzle
that is currently being displayed.
The F2 key or the "ALT+R" combination will reload the saved
puzzle. Note: To restore a puzzle you must first load it from the
opening screen. Once the puzzle has been loaded you may load your
saved work.
SWITCHING
---------
Tired of one puzzle. No problem. Hit the F6 key or the
"ALT+N" combination and you will be able to change puzzles.
QUITTING
-------
To end the session hit the F9 or the "ALT+Q" combination. You
will have the opportunity to save your work before exiting.
HELP !!!
--------
If you need help (with the puzzle) there are a few features
that allow you to peek.... (My wife calls it cheating...What does
she know!)
The biggest way of course is to look at the whole puzzle and
this can be done by hitting the F7 key or the "ALT+P" combination.
You can see a little less by hitting the F4 or "ALT+W". This
will show only the word that is pointed to by the current clue.
If you want to see your mistakes, hit the F8 or "ALT+E" keys.
This will highlight all the letters that show on the puzzle that
are not correct.
Finally if you just want to get a little help the are the F5
or "ALT+H" keys. When this key is hit, a line will appear at the
bottom of the screen with the word "HINT". At this point enter
letters and spaces in a pattern you want help on. For example:
Type [space] [e] [space] [space] [e] [d] [RETURN].
The following will show next to the word hint .E..ED
What will follow will be a list of all 6 letter words whose
2nd letter is E, whose 5th letter is E and whose 6th letter is D.
Be a little careful with this one. If you were to enter 4
spaces you would then get a look at all of the 4 letter words in
the word bank, nearly a thousand. If you do want to get out of
that kind of situation hit the ESCAPE key and you will exit.
FINALLY
-------
I hope you have as much fun using this as I have had writing
it. I also hope you have no problems with it. Since I no other
systems available except my own, I don't have a good opportunity to
check things out thoroughly.
If you have any comments, suggestions or problems I can be
reached via GENIE at MSAKRONOHIO or you can drop me a note at my
home in Virginia.
Mike Stephens
707 Jefferson Ave.
Waynesboro, VA 22980