Copyright: Copyright ® 1995 by Sam Bellotto Jr.


Crossdown Help
Help on Crossdown™ Demo

Welcome to Crossdown on-line Help. The following topics, accessed through the Windows hypertext-based Help system, give a quick understanding of the software.

Solving Puzzles

Constructing Puzzles

Dictionary

How to Register

ASP Ombudsman

Un-installing Crossdown


Solving Puzzles

With Crossdown, you get all the challenge and enjoyment of solving crosswords exactly like those found in the daily or Sunday newspapers right on your computer.Please select from the following topics for more information:

Arrow Bars

Cheating

Clue Scan List

Clue Window

Get Hint

Keyboard

Mouse

Opening a Puzzle

Preferences

Printing

Puzzle Grid

Saving Puzzles

Score Solution

Tool Box

Undo Work


Constructing Puzzles

With Crossdown, constructing professional puzzles is virtually foolproof. The computer eliminates erasers, pencils and stacks of paper forms. You can't omit a clue or make errors in the grid. Puzzle numbering is done automatically. Please select from the following topics for more information:

Arrow Bars

Diagramming the Grid

Foreign Characters

Grid Size Bar

Keyboard

Lettering the Grid

Mouse

Opening a Puzzle

Preferences

Printing

Saving Puzzles

Status Window

Symmetry Bar

Tool Box

Writing Clues

Undo Work


Dictionary

With Crossdown, you can "hot link" your favorite dictionary so it is only a mouse-click away. If the dictionary supports the Windows Clipboard, definitions can be transferred directly into Autoclue. Please select from the following topics for more information:

Linking

Accessing

Data Transfer


Ombudsman
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.


Registration
How to Register Crossdown

All registered users of Crossdown receive not only the latest version of the software available at the time of registration, but the next major upgrade at a significant discount, over 25 professionally constructed crosswords, a spiral-bound Users' Manual and unlimited, enhanced product support.

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

Register by sending a check or money order in the amount of $55.75 in US funds or $63.75 in Canadian funds ($68.75 overseas in US finds) to:

CROSSDOWN

133 Akron Street

Rochester, NY 14609-7618

For your convenience, this demo includes the file REGISTER.WRI which may be printed out with the Windows Write application. Fill out the form and mail it in with the registration fee ... today!


Uninstall
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 eay to do.

From Windows File Manager, highlight the XWINDEMO subdirectory (or highlight the subdirectory to which you installed Crossdown.) Select File then select Delete, or simply hit the Delete key. Answer OK to all prompts. Now go ahead and remove the Crossdown group and/or Crossdown icon from the Windows desktop itself. Refer to your Windows Users' Guide if you don't know how to do this.


Arrow Bars

The two Arrow Bars in the Tool Box at the right of the screen assign directions to the mouse buttons. Clicking on the "left-right" Arrow Bar makes the left mouse button select only across words and the right mouse button select only down words. This is the default Crossdown setup.

Clicking on the "up-down" Arrow Bar makes the left mouse button select only down words and the right mouse button select only across words.

The blue dots above the Arrow Bars show which direction mode is currently active.


Cheating

Press the Question (?) Bar in the Solve Tool Box at the right of the screen to see the correctly solved puzzle. Do this by clicking and holding down the left mouse button. Correct answers are shown in gray. Only unfilled boxes are revealed. Entries you have made to the puzzle grid remain. Release the left mouse button to continue solving the puzzle.


Clue Scan List

All of the clues for the current puzzle are listed in a scrollable box below the Question (?) Bar in the Solve Tool Box. 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 directly below the Solve Tool Box. The corresponding answer squares in the puzzle grid are highlighted in yellow.

You can now enter the answer directly from the keyboard.


Clue Window

The box titled Clue at the lower right of the screen displays the currently selected puzzle clue.This window can be moved to any location on the screen for convenience.


Get Hint

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.


Keyboard

After selecting a word from the puzzle grid with the mouse, 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.

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. Press this key to get a hint.


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.


Opening a Puzzle

Select Puzzle from the Main Window menu. Select Solve... Highlight and select a puzzle from the Solve Puzzle dialog box. Click on OK to open that puzzle.

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.


Puzzle Grid

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 activated the "up-down" Arrow Bar, the directions are reversed!)

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 appropriate clue appears in the Clue Window at the lower right of the screen.

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 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 any non-grid part of the screen, an invalid white square or a black square.

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


Saving Puzzles

Your puzzle is saved automatically every time you Exit or open another puzzle. To save at any other time simply select Puzzle from the Main Menu and then select Save. From the keyboard you can also enter the Ctrl-S combination.


Score Solution

When the puzzle is completed, click on Options from the Main Menu. Select Score puzzle.

If you have made errors, an error notification box pops up. You can choose to see your errors, which will be check-marked in red, or attempt to correct your errors without this additional help (good for you!)

If the puzzle is correctly solved, you are presented with a Congratulations dialog box having three choices. Select:

Clear to "wipe" the grid so the puzzle may be re-played by you or someone else.

Delete to erase the puzzle altogether from your computer. After you close a deleted puzzle, either by quitting or opening another puzzle, the deleted puzzle is removed from the system.

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

If you try to score an incomplete puzzle, you get an error message telling you that the puzzle has not been completed!


Tool Box

To the right of the puzzle grid is the Solve Tool Box. The Solve Tool Box contains the two Arrow Bars, the Question (?) Bar and the Clue Scan List. These are the elements most frequently needed for solving Crossdown puzzles so they have been placed within easy reach.


Revert to Saved

If you make a complete mess of the grid, it is easy to put things back to where you began. Click on Options from the Main Menu and select Revert to Saved... A verification dialog box appears. Selecting OK returns the puzzle to the way it was when last saved.

In Construction Mode, Revert to Saved also wipes out any clues input through Autoclue that have not been saved!


Diagramming the Grid

At the upper left of the Construct Tool Box is the Squares Bar. Click on this to add change or remove black and white squares within the puzzle grid. The Arrow Bars turn "off" when the Squares Bar is activated.

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 button and moving the mouse cursor lets you paint multiple squares in succession.

If the Symmetry Bar is on, the "opposite" squares are painted black or white also. If the Symmetry Bar is off, only the selected squares are painted.


Foreign Characters

You can access the complete set of ASCII Extended Foreign and Symbol Characters in Autoclue. Generate these characters by holding down the ALT key and pressing 0 (zero) on the numeric keypad, followed by the three other numbers listed below:

199	Ç	230	æ	243	ó

252	ü	198	Æ	250	ú

233	é	244	ô	241	ñ

226	â	246	ö	209	Ñ

228	ä	242	ò	170	ª

224	à	251	û	186	º

229	å	249	ù	191	¿

231	ç	255	ÿ	181	µ

234	ê	214	Ö	172	¬

235	ë	220	Ü	189	½

232	è	162	¢	188	¼

239	ï	163	£	161	¡

238	î	165	¥	171	«

236	ì	167	§	187	»

196	Ä	182	¶	223	ß

197	Å	225	á	177	±

201	É	237	í	176	°


Grid Size Bar

At the lower right of the Construct Tool Box is the Grid Size Bar. It displays the size of the puzzle grid currently on -screen.


Lettering the Grid

At the upper right of the Construct Tool Box is the Letters Bar. Click on this to type letters into the puzzle grid from the keyboard. The Arrow Bars turn "on" when the Letters Bar is activated.

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 activated the "up-down" Arrow Bar, 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 stop at any time by clicking either mouse button on any non-grid part of the screen or a black square. Or you can simply go to another area on the grid by clicking with any mouse button.


Keyboard

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. On screen, the plus (+) key enters a question mark into the square, indicating that it is a "rebus" square. When output, the "rebus" squares are empty, facilitating insertion of the correct "rebus" image by other means.


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 Bar is active, the left mouse button is used to color the squares (black) while the right mouse button clears the squares (white). When the Letters Bar is active, the mouse buttons behave according to the status of the Arrow Bars.


Opening a Puzzle

From the Main Window menu select Puzzle. Select Construct. To open a new puzzle, click on New. To open a pre-existing puzzle, click on Open.

If you clicked on New to create a brand new puzzle, you must select and click on a puzzle grid size. Grid sizes supported include 11x, 13x, and 15x. (Larger puzzle sizes are supported with the registered version of Crossdown only!) The Construct new puzzle file dialog box opens. Enter a title for the new puzzle or accept UNTITLED.XWD as the default. Select a destination directory, if required. Click on OK.

If you clicked on Open to access an existing puzzle, the Construct open puzzle dialog box appears. Change directories if necessary. Select the puzzle you want to work on. Click OK.


Preferences

From the Main Window menu select Options. Select Preferences... The Preferences dialog box enables you to customize various aspects of Crossdown to your specifications.

Manuscript Heading. You can enter your name and up to two additional lines of address information to be used in puzzle printouts. This information will be printed on the first page of each manuscript. (Five lines of heading information are available with the registered version!)

Clues On Left. If you want the clues in your manuscripts to print on the right side of the page (as per the Dell Publications format), then clear the checkbox labeled Clues On Left. The default setting (checked) prints the clues on the left side of the page with the answers down the right.

Dictionary Path. Under Dictionary Path, enter the complete path and filename of any Dictionary you wish to "hot link."

Sound Card. Sound card support is available with the registered version only!

Page Length. You can adjust the bottom margin of printouts by changing this setting. The default of 62 works fine with most printers. You can set the page length between 56 and 62 lines per page.

Text Out. This option is available with the registered version only!


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 option of the Main Window menu, select Save. You can also press the Ctrl-S key combination from the keyboard.


Status Window

Directly below the Construct Tool Box is the Status Window. It maintains a continually updated readout of the crossword puzzle's word total and ratio of black squares to the "ideal" one-sixth.

For example:	Words: 94   Ratio: 45/48

This means that the puzzle contains 94 words and 45 back squares. A black square count of 48 is considered average.

Every time you click on the Squares Bar the Status Window is updated.


Tool Box

To the right of the puzzle grid is the Construct Tool Box. The Construct Tool Box contains the Grid Diagramming Bars the two Arrow Bars, the Autoclue Bar, the Symmetry Bar, and the Grid Size Bar.These are the elements most frequently needed for constructing crossword puzzles, so they have been placed within easy reach.


Symmetry Bar

At the bottom left corner of the Construct Tool Box is the Symmetry Bar identified by three parallel lines. You can turn diagonal symmetry on or off at any time during puzzle construction by clicking the bar. The blue dots above the Symmetry Bar indicate if symmetry is on (solid blue) or off (white).


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 on the Autoclue Bar (identified by a magnifying glass icon) just below the Arrow Bars in the Construct Tool Box.

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

The individual grid entries and positions appear at the top of the Autoclue dialog box in red.

Immediately below is the Text Input Box for typing in or editing clues.Use the keyboard normally. You can also enter foreign characters. You have a maximum of 60 characters for each clue.

Beneath the Text Input Box are five buttons:

<<<<	Backs up to the previous definition.

>>>>	Advances to the next definition.

#	Advances to the next blank definition.

+	Copies data from the Clipboard.

Done	Quits and closes Autoclue.

If you have linked a dictionary to work with Crossdown and the dictionary supports copying to the Windows Clipboard, you can use the + pushbutton to transfer data into Autoclue.


Printing

Select Puzzle from the Main Window menu. Select Print ... The Print dialog box opens. You have four kinds of Print Styles from which to choose:

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. A final page is output of the puzzle grid with numbers and the solution

Selecting Manuscript from Solve Mode omits the answers on the definition pages and prints the grid with numbers only.

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.

Selecting Solution Grid from Solve Mode prints out the crossword grid as it appears on the screen.

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.

With large crossword puzzles, it isn't always possible to contain the grid and clues on a single page. In such cases, Crossdown fits as many clues as it can on the first page and prints the rest on a second page.

The Puzzle Title edit box allows you to enter an optional title line for the puzzle. If you leave this blank, the puzzle filename is printed as the default title.

After making your selection, click on OK to print.


Linking a Dictionary

First, install the dictionary if it is not already installed. The dictionary can reside on your computer's hard drive or a CD-ROM. However, it must be a Windows application and it must itself be accessible through Windows.

From the Crossdown Main Menu, click on Options then click on Preferences.... The Preferences dialog box appears. In the Edit Box labeled Dictionary Path type the full path and name of the dictionary's executable file.

This is the same Command Line that Windows uses. You can find it by highlighting the title under the dictionary's icon in the Windows desktop. Then click on File. Then click on Properties. Then click on Command Line from the Program Item Properties box.

The Dictionary Path entry in the Preferences dialog box should look something like this:

C:\DICPATH\MYDIC.EXE

Where DICPATH and MYDIC.EXE are the actual pathname and filename of the dictionary that you have installed. Click on OK to save the information.


Accessing the Dictionary

Click on Options from the Main Menu. Click on Dictionary. If correctly linked, the dictionary window appears on top of the Crossdown window.

The first time the dictionary is accessed in this way, it must be "launched" and takes a little longer to appear. If you are going to be using the dictionary repeatedly, do not close it after use. Simply click anywhere on the Crossdown window. The dictionary is moved to the back. Subsequent selections of Dictionary from Options brings up the dictionary almost instantaneously.


Data Transfer

Follow the instructions of your dictionary for copying definition data into the Windows Clipboard. Return to Crossdown. From the Autoclue dialog box, click on the Plus (+) Pushbutton. The information copied to the Windows Clipboard is in turn copied into the Autoclue text bar. You can edit this information as you desire.