Black Box 4/BlackBox.cdr/gameword/enigmax.arj/ENIGMAX.DOC

Text File | 1992-04-05 | 44KB | 933 lines

*****************************************************************
*                          ENIGMACROSS                          *
*                              the                              *
*                    acrostics puzzle program                   *
*                       copyright (c) 1992                      *
*                               by                              *
*                        Sam Bellotto Jr.                       *
*****************************************************************
*  VERSION 1.0                                  MARCH 29, 1992  *
*****************************************************************

Presenting REAL acrostic puzzles on your computer. ENIGMACROSS
brings all the challenge and enjoyment of solving acrostics
exactly like the ones found in newspapers and puzzle magazines to
a brand new PC software package. ENIGMACROSS employs a
sophisticated graphical interface which is fun and intuitive for
anyone to use. Experienced acrostics fans will also be happy to
learn that ENIGMACROSS does all letter transposition and cross-
referencing for you!

ENIGMACROSS works on any IBM-compatible computer. System
requirements include MS-DOS 3.1 or greater, an EGA or VGA
monitor, a mouse and 640K of RAM.


****************************************************************
INSTALLATION

You can run ENIGMACROSS from a hard disk, a floppy disk or even
from a RAM disk. Because the program accesses the disk only when
it loads a puzzle file or saves the "working" puzzle file, any
speed improvements gained from keeping it on a hard disk are
really minimal.

Before you continue, make a copy of your ENIGMACROSS master disk
right now. Store the master disk in a safe location and work with
the copy.

The following files are all that are necessary to run
ENIGMACROSS:

   ENIGMAX.EXE .............................. the program
   *.EMX ............................... the puzzle files

Copy these files to your hard drive, a floppy disk, or a RAM
drive--wherever you decide to keep ENIGMACROSS. These files must
be together on the same drive\directory\subdirectory.


****************************************************************
ABOUT ACROSTICS

Acrostic puzzles are short quotations or text paragraphs that
read from left to right, top to bottom. The text is plotted into
a rectangular grid, one letter per square, with spaces
represented as black squares. All punctuation marks such as
commas, periods, and so forth, are eliminated. The letters of the
quotation or text are then randomly re-organized into a number of
unrelated words or short phrases. Each of these words or short
phrases is given a definition.

Acrostics are solved by figuring out the definitions and filling
in the answers. Printed acrostics have the definition answer
letters keyed to corresponding squares in the quotation diagram
so the solver can transpose the definition answer letters to the
quotation. With ENIGMACROSS, this transposition is done for you.

As more letters are transposed to the diagram, individual words
of the quotation become apparent and can be completed. In the
same way, letters from the diagram are transposed to the
definition answer words, aiding in their solution.

By working back and forth, between the diagram and the answers to
the definitions, the puzzle is thus completed.

When solved, the first letter of each definition word, in order,
spells out the author and source of the quotation.


****************************************************************
SOLVING ACROSTICS

The following words have specific meanings throughout this
documentation and are explained here:

Quotation Diagram: the rectangular grid appearing in the upper
part of the ENIGMACROSS screen. It contains the puzzle quotation,
reading from left to right, top to bottom. Also referred to as
the grid.

Acrostic Row: the row of squares directly below the Quotation
Diagram. It is comprised of the first letter of each Clue Word
and, reading left to right, gives the quoter's name and source of
the quotation.

Clue Word: one of the words or phrases made from letters of the
quotation. Its initial letter is part of the Acrostic. By
figuring out the Clue Words and transposing their letters to the
Quotation Diagram, the puzzle is solved.

Definition: a synonym or phrase describing the Clue Word from
which the solver guesses the Clue Word.

Move to the drive\directory\subdirectory where the ENIGMACROSS
files are stored. Start up ENIGMACROSS by typing ENIGMAX at the
DOS prompt, followed by hitting the ENTER key.

After a few seconds, the graphical user interface comes up on
your screen (in color if you have a color monitor). This is the
ENIGMACROSS desktop. You navigate this desktop with the mouse. By
positioning the mouse cursor on specific areas of the desktop and
"clicking" the left mouse button, you access ENIGMACROSS' many
features.

Directly to the left of the ENIGMACROSS logo/copyright panel is a
"radio button" labeled CONSTRUCT. Clicking on this button places
you into ENIGMACROSS' puzzle construction mode. DO NOT click on
this button now. The CONSTRUCT mode is discussed later.

At the bottom left of the desktop are two "radio buttons" labeled
NEW and QUIT. Position the mouse cursor on the NEW button and
"click" the left mouse button.


***************************************************************
THE PUZZLE SELECTION WINDOW

"Clicking" on the NEW radio button pops up a vertical window in
the middle of the desktop containing the names of any available
acrostic puzzles. Select a puzzle by positioning the mouse cursor
on its name. The puzzle name is highlighted against a blue bar.

As of the present revision of ENIGMACROSS, up to 18 puzzle files
can be displayed in the puzzle selection window at one time. If
you have more than 18 puzzles residing in the same
drive/subdirectory as ENIGMACROSS only 18 of them will be
immediately available for selection, which should be plenty for
anybody.

You can copy up to 18 acrostic puzzles to the ENIGMACROSS
drive/subdirectory for solving, storing the remainder somewhere
else for later use. Alternatively, you can keep more than 18
puzzles on the ENIGMACROSS drive/subdirectory. Every time you
successfully solve a puzzle its extension is changed to EM!, it
no longer appears in the puzzle selection window, and a new
puzzle (as long as you have more than 18 unsolved puzzles
present) takes its place in the window.

To load the highlighted puzzle, "click" the left mouse button. To
close the puzzle selection window without opening a new puzzle,
"click" the right mouse button.

NOTE: Every time you want to load a acrostic puzzle, you have to
"click" on the NEW button, highlight the puzzle's name in the
selection window by pointing to it and "click" the left mouse
button.

You can open another puzzle even if you are in the middle of
solving one puzzle. Any entries made to a puzzle are
automatically saved before opening another puzzle or quitting
ENIGMACROSS.

After completing the load puzzle procedure by pointing to the
puzzle's name and "clicking" the left mouse button, the puzzle
grid with the Acrostic Row directly below it come up on the
ENIGMACROSS desktop. If this is the first time that particular
puzzle has been opened, both the grid and bar are empty.
Otherwise, any entries made during previous accesses to the
puzzle also appear. This automatic save feature allows you to
work on one or more acrostic puzzles at your leisure.

The name of the opened acrostic puzzle now appears on the desktop
to the left of the ENIGMACROSS logo/copyright panel.

ENIGMACROSS puzzles are solved in virtually the same fashion as
printed acrostics. Find the clue corresponding to one of the
acrostic squares, read the clue, figure it out, and fill in the
answer; or fill in one or more words within the Quotation
Diagram. As you work back and forth between the Acrostic Row and
the Quotation Diagram, corresponding letters are filled in and/or
changed automatically.


****************************************************************
THE ACROSTIC ROW

The Acrostic Row is the straight line of white squares running
from left to right directly beneath the Quotation Diagram.

Position the mouse cursor on any square of the Bar. "Click" the
left mouse button. The selected square is highlighted yellow.
Directly beneath the Acrostic Row, a Clue Word entry field
appears, highlighted yellow and containing one square for each
letter of the Clue Word. The first letter of the Clue Word is the
same as the highlighted letter on the Acrostic Row. At the same
time, the Definition appears in the white Definition Box at the
bottom of the screen.

Fill in the squares of the yellow Clue Word entry field by typing
in your answer from the keyboard. Letters are simultaneously
entered into their corresponding positions in the Diagram.
Letters are automatically entered in upper case. It is
unnecessary to use the shift key or the caps lock key.
Furthermore, only the letters A through Z, the BACKSPACE key, the
ESCAPE key (or right mouse button), the SPACE BAR, the PLUS (+)
key and the ENTER key are allowed during grid input. As letters
are entered, the Clue Word entry field squares turn back to white
from yellow and are filled in. The corresponding Diagram squares
are filled in. After all the Clue Word squares have been filled
in, no additional keyboard input is accepted. The mouse cursor
reappears. The Definition is erased from the Definition Box. The
Clue Word entry field disappears. The first letter of the Clue
Word remains in its corresponding position on the Acrostic Row.
The corresponding letters of the Clue Word remain in their
corresponding squares in the Diagram. (Of course you can always
go back and change any previous entries you made to the puzzle
-- a lot easier than you can with a printed puzzle!)


****************************************************************
THE QUOTATION DIAGRAM

The Quotation Diagram is the large rectangular area consisting of
both white and black squares in the upper portion of the
ENIGMACROSS desktop.

Position the mouse cursor on any white square within the Diagram.
"Click" the left mouse button. The selected square is highlighted
yellow. All succeeding squares up to the very next black square
are also highlighted yellow. If you erroneously select a black
square, you hear a warning buzz and nothing happens.

Fill in the yellow highlighted squares by typing in letters from
the keyboard. As you do, letters are simultaneously entered into
their corresponding positions in one or more of the Clue Words
that make up the Acrostic Row. Because the Acrostic Row itself
consists of the first letters of the Clue Words, any letters
input to the Diagram which correspond to initial Clue Word
letters immediately appear in the Acrostic Row. Letters input to
the Diagram which correspond to other letters of the Clue Words
appear only upon subsequent accesses to those Clue Words.

ENIGMACROSS fully supports backspacing during puzzle input to
either the Acrostic Row or the Quotation Diagram. If you make a
mistake, use the backspace key as you would with any word
processor. Note, however, that ENIGMACROSS employs a destructive
backspace; backspacing erases previously entered letters from
their respective squares of both the Quotation Diagram and the
Clue Word entry field, and highlights the erased squares of the
Clue Word entry field yellow.

ENIGMACROSS also features a helpful "hint" key. If you absolutely
require assistance trying to fill in a word, press the PLUS (+)
key to reveal the next letter of that word. You can keep on
hitting the PLUS key to reveal as many letters of a word as you
like but, hopefully, you won't.

You have the following options:

Hitting any of the keyboard keys A through Z fills in blank
squares and overwrites squares containing previously entered
letters. (In case you made a mistake, guessed the wrong answer to
a clue, spelled a word wrong, you can always go back and change
it!)

Hitting the BACKSPACE key erases the current entry from either
the Diagram or the Clue Word, square by square, and highlights
the erased squares in yellow.

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.

Hitting the SPACE BAR while filling in a word erases that letter
from the Clue Word entry field and its corresponding square in
the Diagram.

Hitting the PLUS key while filling in a word reveals the next
letter of the word.

Hitting the ESCAPE key (or right mouse button) while filling in a
word skips all the remaining squares and ends the input procedure
for the current clue only. Any unfilled squares are unfilled. Any
squares containing previously entered letters (not overwritten)
stay the same.


****************************************************************
CHEATING

Okay. You've worked on a the puzzle for hours and, face it,
you're stuck. You've simply got to get some help, and fast. You
can judiciously use the PLUS key or, in case you want to cheat on
a grand scale, ENIGMACROSS offers a whole hog "Cheat Mode."
(Shame on you!) Position the mouse cursor on the puzzle name bar,
just to the left of the ENIGMACROSS logo box. "Click" on the left
mouse button. The puzzle grid now displays all the right answers.

To get out of "Cheat Mode," simply "click" the left mouse button
once more. The puzzle goes back to normal and you can continue
working the solution.


****************************************************************
QUITTING

You can quit ENIGMACROSS at anytime. You can quit from one puzzle
and open a new one. Every time you exit a puzzle, either to quit
the program or open a new puzzle, entries made to the previous
puzzle are saved. This allows you to work on one or more puzzles
over a period of time.

To specifically QUIT from the program, position the cursor on the
QUIT radio button and "click" on the left mouse button. Before
exiting, ENIGMACROSS checks the status of the current puzzle. If
it has been correctly completed, you are treated to a short
surprise. If the puzzle is incomplete, or incorrectly completed,
a pop-up dialog box gives you the option of quitting or returning
to the puzzle. (You can always go back to an incorrectly solved
or incomplete puzzle after you have quit, anyway, because
ENIGMACROSS automatically saves all work done on a puzzle before
exiting the puzzle.)

NOTE: In addition to informing you that you have correctly
completed a puzzle, ENIGMACROSS changes the extension of all
correctly completed puzzles from "EMX" to "EM!" so they no longer
appear in the puzzle selection window. If, for any reason, you
want to re-work a puzzle that was correctly solved, simply make a
fresh copy from the master diskette.

Solve ENIGMACROSS acrostic puzzles in this manner.

1. "Click" on any square of the Quotation Diagram or Acrostic
Row. With a brand new puzzle, it is best to begin with the
Acrostic Row.
2. It turns yellow.
3. If you "clicked" on the Acrostic Row, the corresponding Clue
Word entry area, in yellow, opens up under the Acrostic Row.
4. If you "clicked" on the Quotation Diagram, all succeeding
squares up to the next black square turn yellow.
5. If you "clicked" on the Acrostic Row, the Definition appears.
6. Fill in the squares from the keyboard using the A through Z
keys to enter letters, the BACKSPACE key to correct input
mistakes, the ENTER key to bypass single squares, the SPACE BAR
to erase letters, the PLUS key to obtain a hint, or the ESCAPE
key (or right mouse button) to bypass the entire word.


****************************************************************
CONSTRUCTING YOUR OWN PUZZLES

There is really only one way to construct an acrostic puzzle.
Begin by selecting a quotation or text passage, making sure that
whatever you select contains enough letters to spell out the
author's name and the title of the source. ENIGMACROSS diagrams
start at 10x8 (80 characters) and have a maximum size of 31x12
(372 characters), so make certain that the quotation you select
fits into these parameters.

Go to the drive\directory\subdirectory where the ENIGMACROSS
files are stored. Start up ENIGMACROSS by typing ENIGMAX at the
DOS prompt, followed by hitting the ENTER key.

After a few seconds, you will see the ENIGMACROSS desktop.
Position the mouse cursor on the CONSTRUCT bar which is located
to the left of the logo/copyright panel and "click" the left
mouse. The screen now displays the CONSTRUCT desktop and you are
ready to construct your own acrostic.

You navigate the desktop with the mouse. By positioning the mouse
cursor on specific areas of the desktop and "clicking" the left
mouse button, you can access a variety of features.

In the lower left corner of the desktop are two "radio buttons"
labeled OPEN and QUIT. They are turned on (yellow). Below is an
additional radio button labeled SPILL. It is turned off (black).
To begin constructing a puzzle, position the mouse cursor on the
OPEN button and "click" the left mouse button.

This pops up a puzzle selection window on the right side of the
screen. At the top of this window is the label [CREATE] followed
by the names of any existing acrostic puzzles. To construct a NEW
puzzle, position the mouse cursor on [CREATE] and "click" the
left mouse button. Pointing to the label [CREATE] highlights it
as white text against a blue bar. "Clicking" the left mouse
button begins the puzzle construction process.

To cancel puzzle construction, "click" the right mouse button.

If you "clicked" on [CREATE], a dialog box pops onto the screen
to verify that you wish to construct a new puzzle. "Click" on YES
to continue or NO to return to the puzzle selection window.

NOTE: Every time you want to create a new acrostic puzzle, you
have to "click" on the OPEN button, highlight [CREATE] from the
selection window, "click" on the left mouse button, and "click"
YES in response to the dialog box. Do this only the first time
for each new puzzle you create. To re-open a puzzle, either to
complete the construction or edit it, refer to the section "OPEN
AN EXISTING PUZZLE."

THE FOLLOWING STEPS MUST BE COMPLETED, IN THE ORDER DESCRIBED,
BEFORE A NEW PUZZLE FILE CAN BE OPENED.

NOTE: Beginning with the name input step, on-screen dialog
boxes assist you during the puzzle creation process.

Now you must name your new puzzle. To guide you, the empty bar
below the GRID buttons turns yellow. From the keyboard, type in
an eight-letter name for your new puzzle. As you type, the name
appears inside the yellow bar. You can only enter up to eight
letters. You can only enter valid MS-DOS filename characters.

There is no need to use the shift key, as everything is
automatically converted to upper case. If you make a mistake, you
can use the backspace key to correct your input. When you are
done, press the ENTER key to accept the name.

NOTE: if another puzzle by the same name already exists, a dialog
box asks you whether or not you want to overwrite it. Overwriting
an existing ENIGMACROSS puzzle wipes out any clue, letter or
diagram data the puzzle may have originally contained! Only an
empty grid remains!

If you hit ENTER instead of typing in any title at all,
ENIGMACROSS opens a new puzzle and gives it the default name of
UNTITLED. (You can do this intentionally if you want to go ahead
and create a new puzzle, and name it later through DOS.)

If you have followed the process successfully so far, a blank
window appears on the desktop, ready to fill in.

From the keyboard, type in the quotation or text passage
using only the letters A to Z, the space bar, BACKSPACE, and the
ESCAPE key. ENIGMACROSS converts all letters to upper case and
recognizes only the letters A to Z, the space bar, BACKSPACE, and
the ESCAPE key, anyway. Punctuation marks are ignored, as are
numbers. Type from margin to margin. Words will wrap to the next
line. It does not matter where the words break. BACKSPACE
normally to correct typing errors. When you are done typing in
the quotation, press the ESCAPE key.

NOTE: There are limitations as to the minimum and maximum sizes
permitted in an ENIGMACROSS puzzle. You can not ESCAPE from the
quotation input window until you have entered at least 24 characters.
You automatically exit from the quotation input window after
entering 372 characters, the maximum size of a quotation ENIGMACROSS
can handle.

Almost immediately, ENIGMACROSS displays the finished grid.

At this point, ENIGMACROSS automatically shifts into Grid Edit
Mode. You now have the opportunity to check the quotation and make
any corrections. Edits are made by "clicking" on any square of
the Diagram with either the left or the right mouse button. By
"clicking" on a square with the left mouse button, the square is
cleared white; you must enter a letter into this square. By
"clicking" on a square with the right mouse button, the square is
filled black.

When you are done editing the grid, "click" the left mouse button
on the pop-up dialog box.

Now you must enter the acrostic. The acrostic is generally the
name of the author and source of the quote, but it can actually
be almost anything you like. Remember, each letter of the
acrostic is also the first letter of a Clue Word, and the Clue
Words together must contain every letter of the quotation. So
don't make the acrostic so short you wind up having to develop
Clue Words that are all more than 20 characters long, for
example!

ENIGMACROSS allows the acrostic to be up to 31 characters in
length. Clue Words can also be up to 31 characters long. This
should be more than enough for most acrostics.

"Click" on letters from the Quotation Diagram with the left mouse
button. As you do, the letters are removed from the Quotation
Diagram and added to the Acrostic Row. The empty squares on the
Quotation Diagram are subsequently colored in yellow. If you make
a mistake or change your mind, you can use the BACKSPACE key on
the Acrostic Row. The BACKSPACE key erases letters from the
Acrostic Row and returns them to their original places on the
Quotation Diagram.

When you are satisfied with the acrostic hit the ENTER key to
save it. This process opens a new puzzle file.

NOTE: At this point, the new puzzle can be put aside and you can
quit. You can now work on the Clue Words and the Definitions on
and off, at your leisure.


****************************************************************
OPEN AN EXISTING PUZZLE

To resume constructing, or to edit, a puzzle that has already
been created, after loading ENIGMACROSS and going to CONSTRUCT
mode, "click" on the OPEN button.

From the puzzle selection window on the right side of the screen,
point to the name of the existing acrostic puzzle you want to re-
open by positioning the mouse cursor on its name. Do not point to
[CREATE]. The name becomes highlighted as white text against a
blue bar.

In CONSTRUCT mode, a maximum of 17 existing puzzle files can be
displayed in the puzzle selection window at one time. (This is
because [CREATE], always listed first, is treated as the 18th
filename.) If you have more than 17 puzzles residing in the same
drive/subdirectory as ENIGMACROSS, only 17 of them will be
immediately available for selection.

You can still create as many new puzzles as you like. However,
they may not subsequently always appear in the puzzle selection
window. If you are going to be creating puzzles, it is best to
leave enough room in the selection window for the new puzzles.
Keep no more than 8 or 9 puzzles in the same drive/directory as
ENIGMACROSS, storing the rest elsewhere.

"Click" on the highlighted selection with the left mouse button.
To close the puzzle selection window without making a selection,
"click" on the right mouse button.

NOTE: Every time you want to work on an existing acrostic puzzle,
you have to "click" on the OPEN button, highlight its name from
the selection window by pointing to it, and "click" on the left
mouse button.

If you have followed these steps correctly, the selected puzzle's
grid comes up on the desktop, its name appears in the bar just to
the left of the ENIGMACROSS logo/copyright panel, and its grid
size appears in the three GRID SIZE radio buttons.


****************************************************************

MAKING PUZZLES

After the puzzle has been opened and the Quotation Diagram
displayed with the Acrostic Row underneath, you use a variety of
radio buttons accessible on bottom of the screen. You can
only access buttons which are "turned on" (yellow).

At the far left side are three buttons marked SAVE, QUIT and
SPILL. In the middle of the screen, near the bottom, is a bar
labeled AUTOCLUE. These are the only buttons used during puzzle
construction.

Acrostics are based on specific quotations or text passages plus
the acrostic itself which spells out the author and source of the
quotation. Changes CANNOT be made to these elements at this time.
ENIGMACROSS provides ample opportunity to edit the quotation and
the acrostic during the steps previously discussed

"Click" on any of the letter squares that make up the Acrostic
Row. The selected square is highlighted yellow and the letter
itself moves to the initial square of the next row. This is the
first letter of a Clue Word. The letter's origination square in
the Quotation Diagram is also highlighted yellow. Complete the Clue
Word by using the mouse to pick additional letters from the
Quotation Diagram.

"Click" on letters from the Quotation Diagram with the left mouse
button. As you do, the letters are removed from the Quotation
Diagram and added to the Clue Word. The empty squares on the
Quotation Diagram are subsequently colored in yellow. If you make
a mistake or change your mind, you can use the BACKSPACE key on
the Clue Word. The BACKSPACE key erases letters from the Clue
Word and returns them to their original places on the Quotation
Diagram. You cannot BACKSPACE over the first letter of any Clue
Word, however.

NOTE: An important rule of most acrostics is that Clue Words may
use only one letter each from any of the words in the Quotation
Diagram. ENIGMACROSS helps you to keep track of where the letters
are coming from by highlighting yellow the source squares in the
Quotation Diagram.

When you are satisfied with the Clue Word hit the ENTER key or
"click" the right mouse button to save it.

You can save a Clue Word by hitting the ENTER key or "clicking"
the right mouse button at any stage of its development. For
instance, if you want a Clue Word to begin with PR but aren't
ready to complete the word, you can save it as PR and return to
complete it another time.

You can "click" on any of the Acrostic Row letters and work on
their equivalent Clue Words as often as you like. You can SAVE
your work, quit the puzzle, re-open it at a later time and
continue to work on it.

The Spill Button. When constructing an acrostic, often it turns
out that a Clue Word does not work and must be wholly erased
(except for the first letter, of course.) You can "click" on the
Clue Word's first letter from the Acrostic Row, display it, and
use the BACKSPACE key to return all the letters to the Quotation
Diagram. Alternatively, after displaying the Clue Word, you can
"click" on the SPILL button. It does the same thing. The SPILL
button spills all the letters of the selected Clue Word back to
their original places in the Quotation Diagram.

NOTE: All construction work done on Clue Words is saved to the
computer's memory, but not actually saved to disk. Before exiting
ENIGMACROSS, "click" on the SAVE button to write your work to
disk and then QUIT.

When every letter of the acrostic begins a legitimate Clue Word
and all the letters from the Quotation Diagram have been used up,
it is time to write the Definitions.

Autoclue. The defining task is made exceptionally easy with the
Autoclue feature. You don't have to worry about overlooking a
Clue Word. Autoclue sniffs them all out and presents them to you
in a sequential fashion.

To start, "click" on the Autoclue bar. If the puzzle is not fully
completed (one or more letters from the Quotation Diagram not
part of any Clue Word), Autoclue informs you of this fact with a
pop-up dialog box and returns you to the construction process! If
the puzzle is properly finished, Autoclue displays a Definition
input window on screen. The mouse cursor disappears.

The Clue Words are displayed, in turn, at the top left of the
window. Use the keyboard to type the clue for each word in the
space provided. All alphanumeric letters, both upper case and
lower case, punctuation marks and various symbols can be used.
Backspace normally to correct any input errors. You have a
maximum of 60 characters for each clue.

To accept your clue, press the ENTER key. Autoclue clears the
Definition window and goes on to the next puzzle word. You can
quit out of Autoclue at any time. To quit, press the ESC key.

NOTE: If you input or edit a clue and then press the ESC key to
quit, the new clue or current edits are not saved. To quit
Autoclue following any new input or changes, press the ENTER key
first to accept the data and then press the ESC key.

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

NOTE: If a clue was previously input, it is displayed in the
Definition window. You can press ENTER to accept this clue and go
on to the next one, or you can edit the existing clue.

Keep in mind that every time you start up Autoclue, it begins
with the first Clue Word. However, all you have to do is press
ENTER to accept an existing clue. By holding down the ENTER key,
you can cycle through clues so fast that it takes only seconds to
find your place.

After entering the last clue of the puzzle, Autoclue exits
automatically.


****************************************************************
SAVING OR QUITTING

You can exit from ENIGMACROSS at any time by "clicking" on either
the SAVE or QUIT radio button. The SAVE button does what it says:
it lets you SAVE your work without having to exit from the
ENIGMACROSS program. At any time during puzzle construction,
position the cursor on the SAVE radio button and "click" the left
mouse button. Continue constructing your puzzle, secure in the
knowledge that all your efforts up to this point have been saved
to disk.

The QUIT button exits from ENIGMACROSS, but does not save any
work done during the current session. Before exiting, if any
recent work has been done to the puzzle and it has not been
saved, QUIT presents you with a dialog box to verify that you
really want to exit without saving. "Click" on YES to discard
your work and exit, NO to return to ENIGMACROSS.


****************************************************************
PRINTING PUZZLES

ENIGACROSS is primarily intended to help produce puzzles for use
in ENIGMACROSS. Supplementary printer drivers are provided to
registered users as a convenience so they may output hard copies
of ENIGMACROSS puzzles for a variety of other purposes.

The shareware version of ENIGMACROSS includes the single Epson-
compatible 9-pin dot matrix printer utility. The EMX2MX80 utility
prints the blank grid, the solution grid, and a complete puzzle on
a single page ready for solving with the proper numbering and cross
referencing of acrostics and quotation grid done for you!

To print an acrostic puzzle, you have to select the specific
EMX2xxx driver for your printer. There are four drivers currently
available to registered users as follows:

         EMX2MX80.EXE .... for older Epson 9-pin impact printers
         EMX2EP9.EXE ..... for hi-res Epson 9-Pin impact printers
                           and IBM 9-Pin Proprinters
         EMX2EP24.EXE .... for Epson 24-Pin impact printers
         EMX2HPL.EXE ..... for Hewlett-Packard Laserjets

These drivers are run directly from the DOS prompt. The printing
procedure is exactly the same for all drivers.

At the DOS prompt, type the filename of the driver, leaving off
the EXE extension just the way you would run any other executable
application file. Follow this with a space and the name of the
puzzle file. (The EMX extension is unnecessary.) Follow this with
a space and type in one or more of four possible command line
switches, with a space separating each additional switch. Hit
ENTER to begin.

         EMX2xxx  puzzle[.EMX]  /p  [/p]  [/p]

You can also type the filename of the driver all by itself to
obtain an on-screen usage guide.

         EMX2xxx

The command line switches tell the program what types of output
you want. Each switch is preceded with a slash. They are:

         /n ............. print a numbered grid
         /s ............. print the solution
         /1 ............. print a complete puzzle

The /n switch. This option prints out a numbered, blank acrostic
grid in maximum resolution. Each box in the grid is approximately
1/3-inches square. The /n switch is the best choice for
producing a very high-quality, camera-ready puzzle grid for
publication.

The /s switch. This option prints out the acrostic grid with all
the answers filled in.

The /1 switch. (A slash, followed by the number one.) This option
prints out a blank, numbered acrostic grid and the cross-referenced
definitions on a single page, formatted the same way as daily
newspaper puzzles, ready for solving. You can print out your
puzzles this way to give to others. Because it outputs in maximum
resolution, you can also use the /1 switch to produce a complete
puzzle on a single page for inclusion in newsletters and the
like.

PLEASE NOTE: With larger puzzles (more than 18 clues), it isn't
always possible to contain the grid and clues on a single page
and still maintain legibility. In such cases, ENIGMACROSS fits as
many clues as it can on the first page and prints the rest, in
columns, on a second page.

Here's what a typical command line looks like:

         C:\>EMX2MX80  PUZZLE5  /n  /1

At the DOS prompt, the driver for an Epson 9-Pin impact printer
is invoked to print PUZZLE5.EMX. The first command line
parameter, /n, requests a blank, numbered grid. The second
command line parameter requests a complete puzzle on one page.

Output produced by ENIGMACROSS is in rasterized, or bit mapped,
form. Because of this, printing can take from a few minutes to
nearly one-half hour, depending upon puzzle size and combination
of options chosen.

Impact printer users obtain best results by setting the zero mark
on their printer platens about one-quarter inch to the right of
the left side paper perforations.

The EMX2MX80 printer utility has also been thoroughly tested and
does work on the newer Epson-compatible 24-pin printers. However,
the resulting grids will often extend past the edge perforations
onto a second page. This may be perfectly acceptable for many
requirements, but it is best to use the 24-pin utility for 24-pin
printers.

It is also advisable to run ENIGMACROSS printer utilities from a
hard drive. The program saves temporary data to disk and makes
frequent disk accesses. A hard drive speeds the process
immeasurably.

NOTE: these printer drivers store rasterization information
in a temporary disk file, which can be quite large. THERE MUST BE
AT LEAST 500K OF FREE DISK SPACE available on the drive/directory
from which you are printing or unexpected results can occur!
(Many thanks to Alan J. Cohen of Silver Spring, MD., for his
efforts in helping to figure this one out.)

Printer drivers are time consuming to write (there are so many
different printers, too.) More drivers are being developed for
Okidata, IBM and PostScript printers and they will be shipped to
registered users of ENIGMACROSS as soon as they are available.

****************************************************************
ABOUT ENIGMACROSS

"Why doesn't ENIGMACROSS construct acrostic puzzles for me?"
ENIGMACROSS is not a toy. It was developed to assist in the
construction of professional quality puzzles. This process
normally involves a lexicon of several hundred thousand words and
phrases. Add diagraming, quotation selection to the task and you
end up with infinite variables and permutations--no problem for
an intuitive human brain. But software to do this would take
years to code, cost hundreds of dollars, probably need to run on
a mainframe, and would be eschewed by the majority of
professional constructors, anyway!

"What can I do with puzzles I make with ENIGMACROSS?" Puzzles
constructed with ENIGMACROSS can, of course, be solved with
ENIGMACROSS. You can duplicate or distribute your own puzzles as
far and wide as you please, either by themselves or with the RUN-
TIME version of ENIGMACROSS which is included on your master
disk. And you can even submit your puzzles to ENIGMACROSS c/o Sam
Bellotto Jr. If accepted, your puzzle is included in an upcoming
ENIGMACROSS Puzzle Disk and you receive payment for it.


****************************************************************
ERROR MESSAGES

If something goes wrong, ENIGMACROSS is usually the first to tell
you about it. The on-screen error messages are really self-
explanatory.

**ERROR: No mouse currently installed! If ENIGMACROSS fails to
load and this message appears, it means that your mouse driver is
missing from RAM. Check your system hardware or CONFIG.SYS file.
You do have a mouse, don't you?

**ERROR: This isn't an EGA or VGA monitor! ENIGMACROSS only runs
on computers with EGA or VGA monitors. Again, check your system
hardware. If you are certain you have the right monitor, maybe
something is wrong with your video or you may have a non-standard
EGA or VGA card.

**ERROR: Cannot find any acrostic files! The acrostic puzzle
files have an EMX extension and they must reside on the same
drive\directory\subdirectory as the main ENIGMAX.EXE program. You
must be logged onto that drive\directory\subdirectory or it must
be in your path statement.

**ERROR: Not in EMX file format! The puzzle file you tried to
load was probably corrupt. In which case, ENIGMACROSS renames the
damaged file with the extension of BAD. Get a new copy of the
problem acrostic file from the master disk and erase the old one
(now with the extension BAD).


****************************************************************
ABOUT THE AUTHOR

ENIGMACROSS' developer, Sam Bellotto Jr., has been constructing
word puzzles professionally since 1979. He is a frequent
contributor to The New York Times and his crossword puzzles have
also appeared in numerous Simon and Schuster collections, the
pages of Games magazine and other popular puzzle markets.
Bellotto is a charter member of the American Crossword Puzzle
Academy.


****************************************************************
PLEASE REGISTER NOW!

If, after a reasonable trial period, you find ENIGMACROSS
worthwhile, you are encouraged to become a registered user.
Registration fees make possible further development of
ENIGMACROSS and additional sets of puzzles.

All registered users of ENIGMACROSS receive not only the latest
version of the software available at the time of registration,
but the next major upgrade after that absolutely FREE! In
addition, registrants get regular mailings about ENIGMACROSS
software, additional sets of puzzles and enhanced product
support. But you can't get any of this if you don't register. So
register NOW by sending your check or money order for the sum of
$25.00 plus $ 0.75 shipping for a total of $25.75 in US funds to:

   Sam Bellotto Jr.
   133 Akron Street
   Rochester, NY 14609-7618

Please print the accompanying file, REGISTER.FRM, fill it out and
send it in with your registration fee.

Orders are normally shipped within 24 hours of receipt of
registration; checks are not deposited until AFTER the order is
shipped.


****************************************************************
UNLIMITED PRODUCT SUPPORT

Both registered and unregistered users of ENIGMACROSS are welcome
to call me at [phone] evenings, generally between the
hours of 7 pm and 12 pm, and anytime on weekends. Letters are
answered usually within a couple of days. My E-mail address on
GEnie is S.BELLOTTOJ. My E-mail address on CompuServe is
70724,2075. Registered users, in case of a dire emergency, can
call me collect. Registered users are also invited to suggest
features they would like to see incorporated into future releases
of ENIGMACROSS or ask for particular kinds of puzzles or puzzle
themes. No request is too extreme.


****************************************************************
ABOUT SHAREWARE

The concept of shareware has proven to be a very successful way
to market computer software. Shareware products are NOT public
domain. You may freely duplicate and distribute the shareware
version of ENIGMACROSS, and any puzzles you construct yourself
with it. However, ENIGMACROSS, and the EMX file format are all
copyright (c) 1992 by Sam Bellotto Jr.

The registered version of ENIGMACROSS and all puzzles in the EMX
file format offered for sale or distributed by Sam Bellotto Jr.
are owned exclusively by Sam Bellotto Jr. and may not be
reproduced, distributed, sold, altered or incorporated into any
other software product, in whole or in part, without express
written permission from the author.
                                     _______
                                ____|__     |                (R)
                             --|       |    |-------------------
March 29, 1992                 |   ____|__  |  Association of
Sam Bellotto Jr.               |  |       |_|  Shareware
133 Akron Street               |__|   o   |    Professionals
Rochester, NY 14609-7618     -----|   |   |---------------------
[phone]                    |___|___|    MEMBER

****************************************************************
****************************************************************