Copyright: Copyright Antony Lewis 1995


Crossword Compiler Help Contents

Press F1 to learn how to use Help.

		Editing the Puzzle What you need to know to get started.
		Finding Words and Filling Automatically How to find words to fit in the puzzle and how to get Crossword Compiler to fill grids for you.
		Editing Clues How to write and edit clues for words in the puzzle.
		Printing How to print out puzzles and clues.
		Desktop Publishing Copying puzzles and clues to the clipboard. How to save puzzles for DTP programs and how to export puzzles for non-Windows programs.
		Index Alphabetical list of all help topics.
		Crossword Reference Reference information for writing cryptic crosswords, an introduction to cryptics and guide to crossword jargon.
		Other Related Software Information about Anagram Genius, a dedicated anagram program.


Index

Anagram

Autofind

Block Filling

Clear Letters

Clipboard

Clue Databases

Configuration Files

Desk Top Publishing

Filling Automatically

Find Word

Flip puzzle

Font

Format

Information

Keyboard

Linking Clues

Mouse

New

Open

Ordering in N. America

Ordering outside N. America

Page Setup

Preferences

Printer Setup

Printing

Puzzle editing

Reference

Removing Blanks

Review Clues

Save As

Square Sizes

Symmetry

Toolbar

Word Format

Word List Usage

Writing Clues


Block Filling

A British-style puzzle, in which words are linked every alternate letter, has a regular pattern of blocks. The basic pattern can be filled in quickly by choosing Fill Blocks from the Pattern menu.

Block filling fills in every alternate block on alternate rows. There are four choices of starting position:

Fill from (1,1):	Fill from (2,1):

Fill from (1,2):	Fill from (2,2):

Note that fill from (2,1) and (1,2) is not compatible with dual-symmetry.


Symmetry

You can automatically create a symmetric pattern by selecting one of the symmetry options from the Pattern menu. You can have normal S-Symmetry or Dual-Symmetry (Dual-Symmetry only works if you have a square puzzle).

This pattern shows Dual-Symmetry:

Whereas this one only has S-Symmetry:


Autofind

Autofind can be used to find words to fit in the puzzle. Select Autofind from the Words menu, or click the right mouse button on a square in the word. Words are found to fit in the current type direction, but if there is only one possible word through the cursor's square, words are found to fit there.

For example if you had a puzzle that looked like this:

You may want to find a word to fit down the middle. Click with the right mouse button on one of the squares, for example, above the 'D', and a scrollable list of words that fit is produced. Simply scroll through and select the word you want and press Insert. If you selected the word  ADMIRAL then the puzzle would look like this:

Note that compound words in the word list are not punctuated, eg. 'OUT OF DATE' appears as 'OUTOFDATE', as it will in the puzzle.

If not words are found that fit you will prompted to search the secondary word list. You can also toggle between the main and secondary word list by pressing the Other button on the Word Found dialog box. Change the word lists used as the main and secondary lists using the Word List Usage command on the Words menu.

To find a word to fit a given template use the Find Word... command on the Words menu. To find a fit for whole sections of the puzzle rather than just one word at a time us the Fill Automatically command on the Words menu.


Find Words

If you want to find words that match a specific pattern you can use the Find Word... command on the Words menu.

In the dialogue box enter the template for the word, using '?' for letters you don't know, or a '*'  for any number of unknown letters. Eg. to find a 5 letter word that starts in 'T' and ends in 'ND' enter 'T??ND', and the program will find all the words in the lists which match (eg. 'TREND'). To find all words starting with 'H'  and ending in 'K'  enter 'H*K'.

'*' can stand for any number of letters, including no letters. If you wish to find a word starting with an 'L'  ending in an 'N' at least two letters behind the 'L', you can enter '*L??*N'. This will find, for example, 'ALIEN' which has two letters between the 'L' and 'N', and 'ALLERGEN'  which has many letters between them. '*L*N' would include words like 'KILN' in the list, where the 'L' and 'N'  follow each other.

If you want to find words to fit in the puzzle it is easier to use the Autofind facility.


Puzzle Flipping

A puzzle may be flipped to its mirror image by selecting Flip Pattern from the Pattern menu. This has not effect other than the numbering and order of the clues, and the appearance of the puzzle. A flip can be undone by doing another flip. Here is a puzzle, one before and one after a flip:


Change Font
Font

You may change the font used to display and print the puzzle and clues by selecting Font... from the Options menu. You can only use True Type fonts with Crossword Compiler. The point size you choose has no effect on the puzzle but is used in Printing the clues. Here is what a sample puzzle looks like with some of the standard fonts:

Arial:	Arial Bold:

Courier New:	Times New Roman:


Anagram

You can search for multiple word anagrams of a given word, either from the Clue Editor or by choosing Anagram... from the Words menu.

If you run it from the Clue Editor the word you are clueing will be anagrammed automatically. If you choose Anagram... from the menu you should enter the word in the dialogue box. If you wish to anagram for multiple words just enter the words you want to anagram.

Anagram finds all the multiple word anagrams of the given word up to a certain maximum number of component words. The maximum number of words in the multi-word anagram can be specified in the Preferences dialog box. If you choose a large number the search is slower as there will be a lot of different anagrams. Specifying a small number also makes it easier to find a suitable anagram.

Anagrams are displayed as they are found. The words in multi-word anagrams are not sorted, but anagrams are found in order of word length, so you should get all the straight anagrams before the multi-word ones etc.

The Search can be aborted at any time by pressing OK. Anagrams are added to the bottom of the list as they are found. If there are a lot of possible anagrams they may not all be found, but you should always get at least the first thousand or so. The finder will work in the background as you edit other clues or whatever. To bring the window to the top just click on it. You can leave the anagram window open, and it will be reset with a new word whenever you select Anag... in the clue editor, or New in the anagram window. Anag... sets the word to the word you are clueing, New prompts you for a new word to anagram.

Anagrams are found using the word file selected in the Anag files'  path and name input line in the  Word List Usage box. The program uses a list of words from 1 to 3 letters long for anagrams, specified at the bottom of the Word List Usage dialog box. This should contain the words in decreasing order of length, one word per line. It is best not to have very obscure short words otherwise the program will find very many obscure and meaningless anagrams. You should normally only change the default list of short words if you want to find anagrams in some other language.

The anagram feature is a quick and easy way to find anagrams of words. However if you wish to find meaningful anagrams of longer words, phrases or names, it will take quite a long time, and you may have to look through a list of 16000 anagrams to find the best one.  There is however a dedicated anagram program that I can recommend to anyone with a special interest in anagrams, called Anagram Genius.


 Anagram Genius for the PC

  After six years of development what is probably the world's most  sophisticated anagram generator has finally been ported to a  mass-market platform: Microsoft Windows.

  This highly unusual software takes the names of your friends, employers and competitors and transforms them in ways you would never believe. It rearranges the letters and uses powerful Artificial Intelligence techniques to say things that are weird, wonderful (and  sometimes extremely insulting!)

  For example:

  ** type in "Ronald Wilson Reagan" and tell the software he is male, a politician and you want satirical anagrams. It rearranges the letters of his name to say he is "a long-insane Warlord"!

    ** You want to do some research into fundamental philosophy. Type in "The meaning of life" and out comes (along with many others) "The fine game of nil".

  ** Type in "The best things in life are free" and it produces "Nail-biting refreshes the feet": it is free after all (although you may need to pay for some yoga lessons first!)

  ** Type in "The end of the world is nigh!" and get "Down this hole, frightened".

  There are many many more examples, buy the software and you can add to them with (amongst others) your name, the names of your friends and colleagues, your employer, acquaintances, commercial rivals etc. Etc.

  (Thanks to Donald L. Holmes for finding the last two examples).

  Correspondence from existing owners of anagram genius

** Your latest version of Anagram Genius defies superlatives! What  a fantastic and fascinating creation!

** One friend turned out to be an anagram of "recombined anus", another "I'm a jolly anarchic poker" and my wife "And in herself weary"; all of which were appropriate. My yuppy boss found out her name was an anagram of "She'll engineer gain" which she thought appropriate.

** Terrific! It has brought me and my friends considerable entertainment.

** I was interested to note that an anagram of Virginia Bottomley "I'm an evil Tory bigot" made it into the national press - I'd spotted that one a year earlier using the original version of Anagram Genius!

** May I congratulate you on an excellent product.

** There isn't anything I don't like about it ... I think you have a hit!

** It is much better and more sophisticated than I could imagine.

** The program is great and I am amazing my friends with it.

** Anagram Genius is wonderful.

... plus many many others.

(All quotes can be proven genuine on request. Some of the quotes refer to 'Supergram', the name of the same software on the Acorn Archimedes. To avoid confusion 'Anagram Genius' was substituted into these examples.)

  Selected features of the latest version

** Choice between American or British English. The default is automatically selected from the computer's country code.

** 'Satire' flag for wildly satirical anagrams, 'Flattery' flag for flattering anagrams. 'Normal' flag for no good or bad bias.

** 'Vulgar words' flag allows on censors coarse or obscene language. (When not censored and combined with the 'Satire' flag these words are considered highly desirable!)

** Limit the number of anagrams to keep. Keep only anagrams scoring above a certain score. Limit the number of words in the found anagrams.

** Describe the text by gender, political, computer or business associations. Describe the text in detail by specifying the relevance of individual words. Your description is used by the artificial intelligence routines to find relevant and meaningful anagrams for that subject.

** Include interjections, dropped 'H' words ("'ello", "'orrible" etc.) and others. Penalise anagrams for not being a good mix of the initial text.

** Automatic intelligent default punctuation and choice of word-order for each anagram which is completely overridable if you so choose.

** Print or save out reports, word lists and anagrams. Fully-featured print-preview option.

** All anagrams are given a score and sorted into order. For texts which contain many anagrams you only need look at the best ones.

** The powerful back-end works hand-in-hand with an excellent user interface which is both logical and powerful. The process of finding anagrams is divided into four conceptually clear stages. The stages can be flicked between and the computer's choices overridden or left as you choose. At all times you are in control.

** It can deal with short texts of just a few letters or long  texts of thirty letters or more which would choke any other software. Most texts are processed in just a few seconds but a powerful scheduling algorithm keeps the search within reasonable timescales no matter how massive its task.

*** All for just 19.99 pounds sterling! ***

  Anagram Genius ordering information

To run Anagram Genius you will need a machine running Windows 3.1 (or another compatible Operating System), 4Mb of RAM or more, at least 386 processor and a mouse. The software is supplied on a high density 3.5" PC disc.

** All orders should be sent to:

        Genius 2000 Software

        Dept AL

        P.O. Box 395

        Cambridge CB3 9PJ

        United Kingdom

** In the United Kingdom: Send a cheque for 19.99 + 1.65 S&H (total 21.64 pounds) payable to "Genius 2000 Software" to the above address.

** In the United States: Send a check for $29.95 made payable to "Genius 2000 Software" to the above address. Current airmail postage from the US to the UK is 50 cents (write "airmail" on the envelope). Your order will be dispatched back to you by fast international airmail. This price includes shipping, handling, bank charges and all sales taxes.

** In other countries: send a cheque for 22.99 pounds sterling (19.99 + 3.00 shipping and handling) drawn on a British bank to the above address. Alternatively add 5 pounds to cover bank charges (totalling 28.00), convert to your local currency and send a cheque in your native currency drawn on a local bank. All cheques should be payable to "Genius 2000 Software". Exchange rates are published in most newspapers.

These prices buy a single copy of the software and a licence to use it on one machine by one person at a time. If the software is to be used by more than one person you will probably need to buy a site licence: send email to AGenius@genius.demon.co.uk or write for details.

If you have any further questions please email: AGenius@genius.demon.co.uk


Square Sizes
Changing Square Sizes

The size at which the puzzle and solution are displayed, printed, and copied to the clipboard can be customised. Select Square Sizes... from the Options menu to bring up a dialogue box.

Puzzle  - Specifies the size in millimetres of the puzzle used in printing and the suggested puzzle size when it is copied to the clipboard.

Solution  - Size in millimetres of the solution.

Zoom % of puzzle size  - Specifies the factor by which the puzzle size is enlarged when you edit it on the screen. This does not effect the printed size.


Puzzle Editing
 Editing the Puzzle

When you start a New puzzle, or Open an existing one, the puzzle is displayed in the window with a cursor in the top left hand corner.

You enter letters from the current cursor position by typing as normal. Black squares (blocks) are inserted by pressing the space bar. In the puzzle there are usually words going in two directions; to change the direction of typing press tab, or click on the direction icon on the Toolbar. This then displays the current type direction. The cursor also changes to show the type direction:

     To type Horizontally

     To type Vertically

You can use the cursors to move round the puzzle, or click with the left mouse button to move to a certain square. You can also insert blocks by double clicking with the left mouse button.

For a full list of keyboard commands see Keyboard.

You can fill in some of the pattern by using the Fill Blocks command on the Pattern menu.

To automatically insert blocks in symmetrical positions select one of the Symmetry options on the Pattern  menu.

You can create irregular puzzles by removing unwanted squares from the puzzle. Press Ctrl+Delete with the cursor on the square to be removed. To remove all blank squares from the puzzle, select the Remove Blanks command from the Pattern  menu. This makes the puzzle only have lines around squares with letters or blocks in, so giving it an irregular outline.

 You can Undo editing by pressing Alt+ Backspace. This moves the cursor to the end of the last editing action and then undoes the action. This can be repeated a large number of times to undo chunks of the puzzle. Interlocking letters are not removed using Undo, so leaving the intersecting words intact. Undo is particularly useful with Autofind to test words in certain positions and then undo them if necessary.


Reference
Giving the puzzle a reference

You can give a reference to a puzzle in addition to its file name by selecting Reference... from the File menu. Enter anything you want, typically information about who wrote the puzzle, when etc. It has no effect other than to give some extra information about the puzzle, and it can be printed when you Print the puzzle.


Clipboard
Copying to the clipboard

You can copy the puzzle, clues, solution or answers to the clipboard to use them in other Windows programs. Select Copy to Clipboard from the file menu, and select what you want copied from the submenu.

 The puzzle and solution are copied as pictures (metafiles) that can be resized in the host application. They are copied by default at the size specified in the Square Sizes dialogue box, but can then be resized without any loss in quality.

  The clues and answers are copied as Rich Text Format (RTF) and plain text. The host application will use the appropriate format. Most word processors (but NOT Write) and DTP programs will accept RTF, which gives formatted text, bold clue numbers right aligned etc. Other programs can use the plain text, but it won't look as good.

  The space between clues, and the space between the clue number and the clue can be customised in the Format dialogue box for RTF. The relative size of the numbers in the puzzle can also be changed. The font in the puzzle and solution is set in the Font dialogue box, the font for the clues and answers is set by the host program so it will match the font you are using in that. If you find that the clues do not copy correctly then try increasing the Number/Clue space in the format dialog box.

The answers option copies the answers in text form eg.

Across: 1 Cueing, 4 Abbott, 9 Infant prodigy, 10 Connoisseurs, 12 Alcove, 14 Shinto, 16 Overdecorate, 19 Command module, 20 Donate, 21 Oyster.

Down: 1 Chitchat, 2 Elfin, 3 Non-conversant, 5 Biotechnology, 6 Omicron, 7 Toys, 8 Spasm, 11 Forebear, 13 Cavemen, 15 Bendy, 17 Adult, 18 Scud.

The solution option copies the completed puzzle, as it looks when you edit it, eg.

The clues and answers can then be put into columns or whatever in the host program.


Review Clues
Reviewing the Clues

  You can view the clues written so far using the Review Clues... command in the Clue menu. The clues are shown in two scrollable lists, with the clue number at the left, and the solution to the right. If a word is unclued the clue reads 'No Clue'. If  there are incomplete words in the puzzle the solution appears with question marks for the missing letters.

   You can edit a clue by selecting the clue by scrolling through the lists and pressing the Edit button (Alt+E), or double clicking on the clue with the left mouse button. This brings up the Clue Editor dialogue box which you can use normally. You can move between the Across and Down clues using Tab and Shift+Tab.

It is a good idea to review the clues before you Print them to check you haven't missed any clues, or that any words are incomplete. It also makes quite a convenient way to edit the clues.


Keyboard

Keyboard controls when editing puzzle:

CURSORS	Move the cursor

CTRL+CURSORS	Skip to next or previous word start

TAB	Toggle type direction

ENTER	Move to left or top of next line

SPACEBAR	Insert Block

DELETE	Delete letter/block at cursor

CTRL+DELETE	Remove square from puzzle

SHIFT+DELETE	Delete word. Doesn't effect intersecting words

ALT+BACKSPACE 	Undo

ALT+A	Autofind

ALT+E	Edit Clue

F1	Help Index

F2	Save

CTRL+ESC	Switch to another program

See Mouse for mouse combinations and the Toolbar topic


Mouse

Left Button	Move cursor to square clicked on

Double Left Button	Insert block in square clicked on

Right Button	Autofind words to fit in word clicked on

See Keyboard for keyboard shortcuts, and the Toolbar topic.


Open
Open an existing file

  You can open an existing crossword file by selecting Open... from the File menu.

Enter the name of the file to open, or select the directory and file from the list boxes and press Open. If you have an unsaved puzzle already open you will be prompted to ask if you want to save it or not before opening the new puzzle.

Crossword Compiler puzzle files have the .CWD extension, and are in a special format, you cannot open files saved by another application.


New
Starting a new crossword

  You can start a new crossword with a blank grid by selecting New from the File menu.

You are prompted for the size of the puzzle you want to create. Valid sizes are between 3 and 39 squares height and width. If you have an unsaved puzzle already open you will be prompted to save it.


Save As
Saving a puzzle with a name

You can give a puzzle a name, or save under a new name by selecting Save As... from the File menu. Enter the name for the puzzle and press OK. You can select a different directory by using the list box on the right.

 You can save the puzzle as a .CWD file for further editing with Crossword Compiler, or as Rich Text Format, to use in other applications. Change the selection in the Save file as type input box to change the setting and give the file a name ending in '.RTF' Puzzles saves as Rich Text Format (RTF) with the .RTF extension cannot be reopened from Crossword Compiler, but does allow you to save the puzzle clues etc. so that they can be used in word processing, DTP programs etc. If you save as RTF you are prompted for what you want saved in the file, the puzzle, clues, solution, answers or a combination.

You can save a puzzle as a .CWD file with its present name by pressing F2 or selecting Save from the File menu.


Save

Select Save from the file menu or press F2 to save the puzzle with its present name. If the puzzle is un-named the Save As dialogue box will open for you to choose a name.


Printer Setup

Select Printer Setup... from the File menu to select and setup a printer for Printing. Select the printer you want from the drop down list. You can press the Setup... button to set other options such as page orientation, size etc.


Toolbar

The toolbar is the array of icons at the to of the program window. By clicking on them with the mouse you can quickly invoke the command they represent. By holding the mouse cursor over a button for a short time you will pop up some text which tells you what the button does. Use this feature if you are unsure what any button does.

Here is a complete description of all the buttons:

		Get Help
		Open an existing file
		Save the crossword
		Invoke Autofind
		Fill Automatically from cursor
		Toggle type direction
		Undo last change. Can be used multiple times.
		Edit Clue

See Editing the Puzzle for more information on undoing  and type directions.


Editing Clues
Writing Clues

You can edit the clue for a particular word in the puzzle by pressing Alt+E with the cursor on the word of the clue you want to edit, or by using the Edit tool on the Toolbar. If there are two words through the letter at the cursor, it will select the word in the current type direction. A dialog box will pop up in which you enter the clue. Once you have finished the clue press Enter to close the dialog box or Alt+> to edit the next clue. The number of the clue is displayed in the title bar of the dialog box and the word the clue is for is displayed below. There is a large input box for entering the clue and an input line for entering the format of the word.

Here's a summary of clue dialog box commands, which can also be called by clicking with the mouse on the buttons at the top of the dialog box:

 Enter	Close editor, saving changes

 ESC	Close editor without saving changes

 Alt+D	Delete the clue

 Alt+>	Move to next clue, saving changes

 Alt+< 	Move to previous clue, saving changes

 Alt+K	Link the clue

 Alt+A	Find Anagrams

 Alt+P	Paste in clue from the Clue Database

 F1	Bring up this help screen

I suggest that you complete the puzzle network before starting to write clues, so then you can systematically write each clue in order with no chance of missing a clue or writing a clue for a word which will be changed later. Once you have finished you can review the clues by selecting Review Clues from the Clue menu.

 Editing the Clue

To edit the clue, or write a new one, simply type the clue in the Clue editor box. The editor word-wraps the clue as you type so there is no need to press Enter to end a line, and the clue will then be correctly wrapped when it is printed as well. The clue can be of any length up to a maximum of 400 characters, which should be long enough for anyone's purposes. The cursor can be moved within the editor box using the cursor keys, or by clicking with the mouse. You can skip to the next word using Ctrl-Right or the last word with Ctrl-Left.

You can change the format of the solution by entering the format in the Word Format input line.


Word Format
 Word Format - Automatic Word length

Do not include the length of the clue in the clue editor, but in the Word Format input line. By default this is just the number of letters in the word, which is entered automatically. However if the 'word' is in fact hyphenated or more than one word you can enter the format here. Just type the number of letters in each word, or hyphened half word, and a comma to indicate a new word or a hyphen to indicate a hyphen. The format is then automatically included in brackets at the end of the clue when it is printed, and the word is correctly formatted in the dialog box and if you print the answers.

For example if the word is displayed as ONTOPOFTHEWORLD (On top of the world), then in the format line type '2,3,2,3,5'. On pressing tab the correctly formatted word will appear at the top of the dialog box. If the clue is linked then the format should be entered for the linked solution.


Printing
 Printing the Crossword

Select Print... from the File menu to print the crossword. A dialog box is displayed showing the various print options. Check the check boxes for what you want printed. 'Puzzle' just prints the blank numbered puzzle as it would appear in a newspaper. You can also print the solution with the words in.

You can choose to print just the clues, in which case they are printed word wrapped in two columns, or you can print the clues with answers - word wrapped clue on the left and the solutions on the right (as when you review the clues).

If you try to print the clues before you have written the clues the program will print out the clue numbers with a blank space next to it. If you like to work to a hard copy when writing clues you can do this by printing out the clues and answers before writing the clues. Doing this will leave you a space to write the clue on the printout sheet. You can then type in the clues when you are satisfied with them.

Note that very large puzzles may not fit on A4 paper. If not you will be asked whether the square sizes you have chosen should be shrunk to make it fit. To change the margins choose the Page Setup... command  from the File menu. The printer can be changed by selecting Printer Setup... on the File menu.

Printing the puzzle uses all the settings set in the various Options dialog boxes.

See Square Sizes , Font and  Format for more information.


Word List Usage

Selecting Word List Usage... form the Words menu allows you to set and change the word file directory settings. To set the word files' directory, Click on the Set button by the relevant entry. Select the word file that you want to use and press OK. The files are given with a '.X7' extension in the file box, just select one of these, the entire list will be used.

The main word list is used by Autofind and Find Word to search for words. If no words are found in that list then the secondary list, if it is not the same, is scanned. This allows you to specify a specialised word list as the main list, and a general word list as the secondary list. This is useful for creating subject specific crosswords, as often the specialised word list will not be big enough to find words to fit in all the spaces. It also allows you to scan the shorter SHORTS word list which contains few obscure words and endings, and then to search the more comprehensive WORDS list if few matches are found.

By default the SHORTS.X?? word list is used for Automatic Filling, as it contains less obscure words, and far fewer parts of speech than the WORDS word list. If AutoFill cannot fill in a section using the specified word list, it will prompt to see if you want to try doing a fill from the secondary word list.


Preferences

Selecting Preferences... under the Options menu allows you to change various program options.

You can disable ToolTips for the ToolBar by deselecting  the check box. You can also specify if you want backup files made whenever you save a puzzle. If this is selected, a file with the '.BAK'  extension will be created. This helps to prevent disaster if you accidentally delete the crossword file, or make some change that you later decide was unnecessary.

You can also change the default puzzle size, so if, for example, you always produce 13x13 puzzles you could change the default settings so that you do not need to change the size settings when you start a new crossword.

The maximum number of words found by Autofind can also be altered. Specifying a very large number may slow down the search considerably, and a huge list of words is not very helpful. Suggested numbers are in the range of hundreds or a couple of thousands. Specifying a small number would probably only increase the search speed significantly on a very slow computer. Larger figures are recommended as you can then scroll through the list so that your puzzle does not end up with all its words beginning with 'A'.

The maximum number of words in multi-word anagrams found by the Anagram facility can also be changed. Numbers larger than 3 or 4 will tend to make the search slow and produce vast numbers of anagrams for long words.

Settings in the Preferences... box are saved automatically to your currently selected configuration file when you quit the program.


Linking Clues

It is possible that you have two or more words in the crossword for which you wish to write a combined clue. For example, if somewhere in the puzzle there are the two words PREGNANT and PAUSE you may wish to write one clue for the phrase 'PREGNANT PAUSE' rather than two separate clues. To do this bring up the Clue Editor with the cursor on the word 'PREGNANT'. Press Alt+L, or click with the mouse on the Link button at the top of the dialog box. Enter the number(s) of the clues to link to (the number of the clue is displayed at the top of the dialog box when you edit the clue). In the example above, 'PREGNANT' may for example be 1 Across, and 'PAUSE' 5 Across. To link the two simply enter '5' in the input line and press Enter. The word at the top of the editor dialog box will now be PREGNANTPAUSE, and to format this correctly you should enter '8,5' in the Word Format  input line.

From now on these two words will be linked, and if you select Edit Clue with the cursor on 'PAUSE' it will automatically show you the clue you have written for 'PREGNANT PAUSE'. If you Print the puzzle 5 Across will have the clue 'See 1', and 1 Across will have the linked clue. If you print the answers the linked word will be printed after 1 Across and not after 5 Across. If at some point you change the puzzle layout so that 'PAUSE' is no longer 5 Across but, say, 7 Across the linking will still be done correctly.

You can link more than two words by entering the clue numbers you want linked separated by '/'. Do not enter the number of the clue you are editing, but just the clues you want linked to the end of it. You must be editing the first clue in the link so that you get the words linked in the correct order. Links can only be done on words in the same direction. To try to link clues that are already linked would be an error as you can only link a given word once.

Note that pressing OK in the Link dialog box saves the clue as it is when you close the box, and that the link will not be undone if you Cancel the clue editor box after making a link. To remove a link bring up the Link dialog box and press delete to clear the input line. There will then be no links, and the clues of the words which were linked will be returned to the state they were in before the link was made.


Ordering outside N. America
Ordering Crossword Compiler

This program is distributed as Shareware. You may use the program for a maximum of 30 days for evaluation. If you wish to use the program after this period you must order a licensed copy. The program costs only £28 including P&P for EEC, and £30 for other countries. A order form is provided in the ORDER.WRI file, and can be printed out by pressing Alt+O or the Order form... button when at the program start-up screen, entering your details and printing the form.

Otherwise send a cheque, Eurocheque or PO/International Money Order (sorry, I can't take credit cards) to

Antony Lewis, 16 Townley Rd, London SE22 8SR, England.

I can accept cheques made out in any convertible currrency: please calculate what £32 comes to in your local currency and make out a cheque for that amount (the extra £4 is to cover the bank charge for accepting foreign cheques). If you would like to order word lists as well then please add £6 for each word list you want before converting.

Licensed uses get the latest version of the program, with word lists for 3 to 20 letters, including compound words. The licensed version also has facilities for adding and removing words from the word lists, and manipulating word lists. It comes with an installation program to set it all up for you.

You may also buy some additional word lists at £6 each.

The sets are as follows:

Disk 1 - Medical, legal, ethnic, names, food, US places, UK places, cities, literature, Old Testament, RAF, IATA, Olympic, school chemistry,

174000+ unusual words and variant spellings.

Disk 2 -  233000+ Words from Webster's second edition, 75000+ Expressions from Webster's second.

Disk 3 - 156000+ German, 131000+ French, 85000+ Spanish, 60000+ Italian.

Disk 4 - 270000+ Finnish, 61000+ Norwegian, 24000+ Danish, 11000+ Swedish.

UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary v1.2


Ordering in N. America
Ordering Crossword Compiler in N. America

This program is distributed as Shareware. You may use the program for a maximum of 30 days for evaluation, if you wish to use the program after this period you must order a licensed copy. The program costs only $45 including P&P in the US and Canada. You can also order two disks of additional word lists for $25, inc P&P.

You can order from M&G Services by check, cash, money order or C.O.D. The numbers for ordering are 1-800-425-7775 or 1-404-513-6566. Faxes are also accepted at these numbers. You can E-Mail to mab@netcom.com. There is an extra charge of $5 for C.O.D. A registration form is provided in the ORDERUS.WRI file, and can be printed out by pressing Alt+O or the Order form... button when at the program start-up screen, entering your details and printing the form.

CREDIT CARD ORDERS ONLY -

You can order with MC, Visa, Amex, or Discover from Public (software)Library by calling 800-2424-PsL or 713-524-6394 or by FAX to 713-524-6398 or by CIS Email to 71355,470. You can also mail credit card orders to PsL at P.O.Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235-5705.

THE ABOVE NUMBERS ARE FOR ORDERS ONLY.

Any questions about the status of the shipment of the order, refunds, registration options, product details, volume discounts, site licenses, etc, must be directed to M&G Services.

Licensed users get the latest version of the program, with word lists from 3 to 20 letters. The licensed version also has facilities for adding and removing words from the word lists, and combining word lists. It comes with an installation program to set it all up for you.

The additional word disks include the following lists:

174000+ Unusual words and variant spellings

233000+ Words from Webster's second edition

75000+ Expressions from Webster's second

medical, legal, names, ethno, literature, Old Testament, US places, UK places, cities, IATA, RAF, Olympic and food and drink


 Format

  They layout of the puzzle and clues when printed or copied to the clipboard can be changed by selecting Format... from the  Options menu.

Spacings

These specify the gap left between the number of the clue and the clue itself, and the vertical space between different clues when printed or copied. If you have problems copying clues to the clipboard, or opening a file save as Rich Text Format you could try increasing the value of the number/clue space as some programs don't like small measurements.

Size % of Squares

Here you can change the relative size of the squares and the numbers, the letters and the lines. Give a value in terms of the percentage of the Square Size. These ratios will then be preserved if you change the square sizes, or change the size once copied into another application.

Across/Down

Enter the text you want to head the across and down clues here. This setting is used when the clues are printed or exported. You could change the default settings to, for example, 'ACROSS'  and 'DOWN'  to use capitals, or a foreign translation of 'across'  and 'down'  to use with non-English puzzles.

Print Clues in Roman

Check this box to print the clues in Times New Roman font, regardless of the setting in the Font dialog box. Otherwise the same font is used for the clues as for the puzzle.

All changes in this box are saved automatically when you quit the program.

See Page Setup for changing the margins.


Information

For statistics and file information about a crossword select the Information... item on the File menu.

Labels in box are self explanatory.


Remove Blanks
Removing Blanks

To remove all squares in the puzzle with no letter or block in, select the Remove Blanks  item on the Pattern menu.

Removing blanks gives the puzzle an outline that goes round every filled square, allowing you to create free-form puzzles. A square can be toggled between being removed and blank by pressing ctrl+delete with the cursor on the square to be toggled. Here is an example of a puzzle before and after removing the blanks:


Clear Letters

Select Clear Letters form the Pattern menu to clear all the letters in the grid leaving a blank grid. If you have written some clues for the words you are clearing you will be prompted to delete all the clues as well. If you choose to clear the clues they will be lost for ever, however you can replace the letters you cleared by using the undo button on the Toolbar.

You can use Clear Letters to extract a blank grid from a puzzle you or someone else has already written, saving you the trouble of creating a new grid.


Page Setup

Select Page Setup... from the File menu to change the margins used when the puzzle is printed.

All measurements are in centimetres.


Automatic Filling
Filling the Puzzle Automatically

 You can fill in complete puzzles, or sections of puzzles from a word list using the Fill Automatically command on the Words menu. You can also click on the AutoFill icon in the Toolbar.

 AutoFill attempts to fill in all non-complete words connected with the word the cursor is in. Place the cursor in a square in the section you want to fill, or place it in a blank square at the top of the grid to fill a blank puzzle. You need to have your array of black squares finalised before invoking AutoFill, which then fills round the blocks you have.

For example, if you had a crossword that looked like this:

you could place the cursor next to the 'E' in 'STICKER', and invoke AutoFill, to get a complete crossword. For example

Where there is a choice of words that will fit, one is chosen at random. By pressing Alt+Backspace to undo one fill, and invoking AutoFill again, you may be able to produce many different fits.

  AutoFill uses the word files specified in the AutoFill  files' path and name input line in the Word List Usage dialog box. By default, if you installed for British English, this is the SHORTS word list, which is much shorter than the full WORDS word list, and contains words more likely to be acceptable in a British crossword. If you installed for American English the default is the WORDS word list which is much larger. You need to use a large word list to be successful in filling American style grids.

While the computer is searching, words that it is trying are shown in the puzzle. The program actually looks 1 to 2 levels deeper than is displayed, but it gives you some idea  of the progress that it is making. You can cancel or stop the search at any time by pressing the buttons on the dialog box which pops up. There is a beep when the search is complete.


Clue databases

Clue databases allow you to database clues from puzzles that you have written, or to store your flashes of inspiration until the word comes up in a crossword. You can open a clue database, or create a new one, by selecting Open Database... item on the Clue menu.

You can add clues from puzzles to the database using the Add clues from puzzle command, or by adding new clues using the Add clue to database or Browse Clues... command.

Clues can be pasted from the database when editing a clue by selecting the Paste... button at the top of the clue editor. A box is popped up showing all the clues databased for that word. You need not paste in the clue, you could use the facility to check that your clue is sufficiently different from the previous clues that you have written.

 Databases can be merged using the Merge Databases... command, including ones that were not created using Crossword Compiler. This should save you from re-entering all the clues if you already have a database on computer.

Crossword Compiler clue database files have the .CDB extension, and are in the format of

keyword in capitals, space, then the clue. Each entry like this is on a separate line.


Creating new word lists

To create a new word list select the Make New List... option from the  Words menu. Select the directory you want and type in a name for the new list. Press OK when done. You will be prompted to make to new list the main word list. You will probably wish to do this as you will then be able to add some words to the empty word list. See the Changing Word Lists topic


Merging word lists

Select Merge File... or UnMerge file... from the Main Word List sub-menu of the Words menu to add or remove an entire file of words from the main word list. The words will be added or removed from the main word list currently selected in the Word List Usage dialog box. You can merge in either merge files (one word on each line), or Crossword Compiler word files. For the purpose of choosing the file to add the word files are shown in the box with a '.X7' extension. This is just for illustration, the entire word list will be (un)merged in if you select one .X7 file.

Merge files to add must be in the format of one word per line. The words in the file can be punctuated, out of order and in upper or lower case. If the word file you want to merge in was created using DOS and contains non-English characters, you should run the DOSTOWIN.EXE program in the Crossword Compiler root directory. This will then allow you to merge in the file correctly, as long as your computer is set up in the same way as when the word list was created.

Only words which are not already present will be added, so avoiding double entries. If you are adding a very large file of words, be prepared to have a coffee while you wait - it may take some time. A count of the number of words added or removed is given when finished.


Browse Clues
Browsing clues

You can browse the clues in the currently select clue database by selecting Browse Clues... from the Clue menu. Type in the word to browse in the input line and all clues in the database for that word will be displayed. Double click on a clue to edit it, or select it and press Delete to delete it. You can add new clues by pressing the New button. When you have finished browsing press OK to save the changes, or cancel not to save. Saving may take several seconds if you have a large database, please be patient!

See the  Clue Databases topic for more information on clue databases.


Configuration Files

The configurations that you have set are saved every time the program is closed. You can specify a different configuration file by selecting Configuration File... from the Options menu. To open an existing config. file just type the name.

To create a new configuration file enter a name for the new file. You will be prompted to create a Program Manager icon for each configuration file you make. You can then start Crossword Compiler  with a particular configuration by clicking on the relevant icon in the Program Manager.

The program settings will then be saved in whichever configuration file is selected when you close the program. You will also be prompted to save the configuration whenever you change configuration files.

Multiple configuration files can be useful if you create crosswords matching widely different specifications. For example, if you create a specialised crossword on some topic, but also general crosswords, you would probably wish to use different word lists for the two. You may also wish to set the font, size, format etc. differently if the puzzles are going to be used in different ways. By saving each set-up in a different configuration file you can easily switch between the two.


MergeClues
Merging clue databases

You can merge clue databases together by using the Merge Databases... command. Just select a database to merge into the currently selected one. If the database you are merging in was not created by Crossword Compiler you should check that the database is in the following format:

   WORD Clue after a space

Each clue should be on a separate line, and they must be in strict alphabetical order. You cannot merge in non-Crossword Compiler databases if they contain non English characters in the databased words.


Adding clue to database
Adding a clue to the database

To add a clue to the current clue database select the Add clue to database... option on the Clue menu. Type in the word and then the clue and format just as you would when editing a clue. Press Add to add the clue to the database. To add all the clues from a puzzle use the Add clue from puzzle command on the same menu. You can browse, delete, add and edit clues in the database by selecting the Browse Clues... command.  See the Clue Databases topic for more information on clue databases.


Destop Publishing
Desktop Publishing

 Crossword Compiler for Windows has various features to help you DTP your crosswords. To use them in another application that you run, they can be  Copied to the Clipboard  and pasted into the host application.

If you wish to save them so that other people can use them in their publisher programs then save the puzzle as Rich Text Format (see  Saving). This is the best way of transferring puzzles, clues etc. between Windows based systems. However if you want the puzzle to be used in a Macintosh publishing program you may be better off saving the puzzle and solution as an EPS file. Macintosh should have no problem with Rich Text Format clues and answers, but some programs cannot always use the puzzle and solution reliably.

To print puzzles and solutions as EPS files (encapsulated PostScript) for non-Windows publishers:

1. Install a PostScript printer driver, i.e. one for a HP LaserJet PostScript printer. If you use a PostScript printer or already have this installed anyway then go to step 3.

2. To Install the driver run the Print Manager (in the Main program group). Select Options Printer Setup... from the menu. Click on Add>> button. Select HP LaserJet 3 PostScript. Click on Install... You will need your original Windows disk 2 at this point. If you use Windows 95+, this may be slightly different, see the manual.

3. Using CCW select Printer Setup from the File menu. Select the LaserJet printer. Click on the Setup... button. Click on the Options button. Select Print to Encapsulated PostScript file and enter a file name. Keep pressing OK to close all the dialog boxes.

4. Select Print and print the Puzzle or the Solution. It will be printed to the file.


Crossword Reference

Introduction to cryptic crosswords

Crossword Jargon

Anagram Indicators

Letter Indicators


Introduction to Cryptics

Cryptic clues are very popular in Britain, and have a following in North America. In cryptics, unlike 'quick' or American crosswords, the clue has a cryptic part in addition to a definition part. This makes them harder to solve, but  there should be no ambiguity about whether an answer is correct or not. The cryptic part of the clue consists of some instructions on how to put together the answer from it's letters, a play on words,  or some other quirkiness. Here is an explanation of some of the more common clue types, though in practice many clues will be a combination of these simple types:

Double Definition

Here the clue consists of two parts, both of which are synonyms or definitions of the word. E.g.

  Calling charge (6)

=CAREER, calling (meaning job) and charge (as in to charge round)  both mean career, though not in the meaning first implied by the clue.

Likewise

 Money-lust (3) = YEN	Cook fish (3) = FRY

Anagram

This consists of two parts, an anagram of the word and a definition. Often the anagram is indicated by some Anagram Indicator, meaning 'mixed up', 'shuffled' or whatever. E.g.

  Platter to cook waffle (6)

=PRATTLE, anagram of 'platter', meaning to waffle. 'To cook'  indicates the anagram, though more properly 'to cook'  would be before the anagram. However misplacing of the indicator, or complete omission of the indicator are quite common.

Likewise

 Rioted to get control of news! (6)

 = EDITOR, an anagram of  'rioted' . The anagram indicator here is 'rioted' , which is also the word to be anagrammed, hence the exclamation mark which usually indicates some overlap in the clue.

Reversal clues are a special cases of anagram clues, where the anagram happens to be just the word backwards. In this case it would be indicated by some word such as 'back' or 'rising'.

Hidden Word

Here the word can be found in the middle of the clue. It is normally indicated by some word like 'inside'. E.g.

 Uncover a veneer, inside is black (5)

=RAVEN, meaning black. The word is hidden in 'UncoveR A VENeer' .

Homophone

This is where the cryptic part of the clue leads to a word which is pronounced the same as the answer but spelled differently. It is usually indicated by some word or phrase like 'we hear' or 'reportedly'. E.g.

 Heard the branch bend (3)

=BOW, meaning 'bend', a homophone of 'bough' (meaning 'branch'). These type of clues can turn into more of a pun, where the clue is followed by a question mark:

  Poem heard from soprano pigeon? (5)

=HAIKU, a Japanese poem, pronounced roughly as 'high-coo'.

Charade

Parts of the word are spelled out in the clue. E.g.

 Failed English dandy (4)

=DUDE, meaning dandy. Failed=DUD, English=E (this is a standard pointer to the letter E), hence DUD+E=DUDE.

Often these have more than two parts.

Container

The clue instructs you to place some letters inside others, producing the word. E.g.

 Complain when club admits the French (5)

=BLEAT, meaning complain. Club=BAT, the French=LE (this is another standard crossword trick, using foreign words like this), admit 'LE' to the middle of 'BAT' and you get 'BLEAT'.

? clues

The '?' is used to indicate some pun or weirdness in the clue. It can be used on almost any clue that doesn't follow the usual forms of clue. E.g.

 Meeting needed to make pear juice? (5,10)

=PRESS CONFERENCE, you need to press conference pears in order to make pear juice.

 Park? (6,4)

=COMMON NOUN, 'park' can mean a common, and is also a common noun.

It is used in 'backwards clues', where the answer to the clue could be a clue itself, E.g.

  Wot, wot ?(3,4)

= TWO FOLD, if you take 'two'  and 'fold'  it you get 'wot' . 'Wot' occurs two fold in the clue. Likewise

  Draw? (8)

=BACKWARD, 'draw' ='ward'  back(wards). These clue does not have a definition part, this is usually only acceptable if the clue has some other particular merit.

'!'  clues

Like the '?' , the exclamation mark is sometimes used to indicate something unusual. However it is usually used to indicate some overlap in the clue, where say the word to be anagrammed also forms part of the definition. An example is

  It's in hearing! (3)

=EAR, 'ear'  occurs in 'hEARing'  and if you are in hearing your ear certainly is!

The exclamation mark is also used very occasionally in ultra-short clues, E.g.

  L! (4,3) = TAIL END 	or 	J!(4,5) = JUMP START

The clues lack any definition part, and the '!'  could equally well be replaced by a question mark.

Indirect Anagram

These clues are like anagram clues except that the anagram is not given explicitly and must be deduced from a synonym or whatever. This type of clue is very difficult unless the word is very short, and is frowned upon in many circles. E.g.

  Find hole in tangled string (4)

=PORE, meaning 'hole', an anagram of 'rope' which is itself a synonym of 'string'

  Must go round garden (4)

=NEED, anagram of 'EDEN' , a garden.

Others

There are numerous other varieties of clue, most of which are used in special crosswords where the solver is told about the type of clue used. For example misprint clues, where a part of the clue has been misspelled, and the misspelling must be corrected before the clue can be solved. E.g. the definition part of the clue may be 'harp', but it would appear in the clue as 'hard' . This makes everything much trickier!


Crossword Jargon

Here are some definitions of words that crop up in crossword literature. They are not used in the documentation of Crossword Compiler, so you don't need to learn them!

Cruciverbalism	Wordsmithism
Light	A word in a puzzle which is to be clued
Unch	A letter in a light that does not intersect  with another light
&Lit	A cryptic clue where the entire clue is also a 'literal'  definition of the light.


Anagram Indicators

A
aberrant	abnormal	abnormally
absurd	accident	about
accommodated	accommodation	accidental
adaptation	adapted	adapt
addled	adjust	addle
adrift	adversely	adjusted
affected	afflict	affect
afresh	after a fashion	afflicted
agitated	agitator	agitate
all at sea	all over the place	aimless
alter	altered	all wrong
alternatively	amalgam	alternative
ambiguous	ambiguously	amalgamate
amiss	amok	amended
anomalous	another	anew
anyhow	anyway	another way
arising from	around	appear
arranged	arrangement	arrange
assembled	assembly	askew
astray	at fault	assorted
at sea	at sixes and sevens	at odds
awful	awfully	at variance
awkwardly	awry	awkward
B
badly	baffled	battered
beaten up	become	becomes
becoming	befuddled	bend
bends	bent	bewildered
bizarre	blend	blending
blended	blunder	botched
break	break down	break out
break up	breaking	breaks
brew	brewed	broadcast
broke	broken	broken down
broken up	buckle	buckles
buckled	buckling	build
builder	builders	building
built	bungled	bust
busted	by accident	by arrangement
by mistake
C
calamitous	calamitously	can be
capricious	capriciously	careless
carelessly	catastrophic	catastrophically
causes	cavort	cavorted
cavorting	change	changeable
changed	chaos	chaotic
chaotically	characters	chew up
chewed up	chop up	chopped up
churn	circling	circulated
clarify	clumsy	cocktail
collapse	collapsed	combination
come to	come to be	come to grief
comes to	comic	comical
complicated	components	compose
composed	composer	composition
compound	comprise	comprised
comprises	comprising	concealing
concoct	concocted	concoction
confounded	confuse	confused
confusion	constituents	constitution
construct	constructed	construction
contort	contorted	contraption
contrariwise	contrary	contrivance
contrived	conversion	convert
converted	convertible	converts
convulse	cook	cooked
correct	corrected	correction
corrupt	corrupted	corruption
could be	cracked	crack up
cracked up	crash	crashed
crazily	crazy	create
creation	crooked	crude
crumbled	crumbling	crumple
crumpled	crush	crushed
cunning	cunningly	curious
curiously
D
damage	damaged	dance
danced	dealt with	deception
decomposed	defected	defective
deformed	deformity	demented
demolished	demolition	deplorably
deployed	derange	deranged
derivation	derivative	derived from
design	designed	destroyed
devastated	devastation	develop
developer	development	deviant
deviating	deviation	devious
deviously	devised	dicky
different	differently	difficult
dilapidated	disarranged	disarray
disaster	disastrous	discomposed
disclose	disconcerted	discord
discordance	discordant	disfigured
disfigurement	disguise	disguised
dishevelled	disintegrated	disintegration
dislocate	dislocated	dislocation
dismantled	disorder	disordered
disorderly	disorganisation	disorganise
disorganised	disoriented	dispersal
disperse	dispersed	disposed
disposition	disquieted	disrupted
disruption	dissembling	disseminated
dissipated	dissonance	dissonant
distorted	distortion	distracted
distractedly	distraught	distressed
distributed	disturb	disturbance
disturbed	dithering	divergence
divergent	diversification	diversified
divert	diverted	dizzy
doctor	doctored	doddery
dotty	doubtful	doubtfully
dreadful	dreadfully	dressed
drunk	drunken	drunkenly
dubious	dubiously	dud
E
eccentric	effect	effected
effects	embody	embroil
emend	emendation	emended
engendering	engineered	enough for
ensemble	entangled	entanglement
equivocal	erratic	erratically
erring	erroneous	error
erupting	eruption	essentials
exceptional	exceptionally	excited
exotic	exploded	explosion
extraordinarily
F
fabricate	fabricated	fabrication
failing	failure	fallacious
false	falsely	falsified
faltering	fanciful	fantastic
fashion	fashioned	fashioning
faulty	fermented	fickle
fiddle	figuring in	find
fixed	flaw	flawed
flounder	fluctuating	fluctuation
flummoxed	flurried	fluster
flustered	foolish	foolishly
for a change	forced	forged
form of	forms	formulating
fracas	fractured	fracturing
fragments	freakish	free
freely	frenzied	fresh
frisky	frolic	frolicking
from	fudge	function
funnily	funny	funny looking
fused
G
garbled	generating	get
get-up	get face-lift	gets
gets face-lift	give rise to	gives
gives rise to	gives	go amok
go astray	go bad	go berserk
go off	go straight	go to pieces
go to pot	go to the dogs	go wrong
goes	goes off	gone off
grotesque	gyrate	gyrates
gyrated
H
haphazard	hapless	harassed
hash	havoc	haywire
helter-skelter	hide	higgledy-piggledy
hidden	hopeless	horrible
horribly	hotchpotch	hybrid
I
idly	ill	ill-disposed
ill-formed	ill-made	ill-treated
ill-used	impaired	imperfect
improper	in	in a bad way
in a fashion	in a ferment	in a frenzy
in a heap	in a jumble	in a knot
in a mess	in a muddle	in a riot
in a tangle	in a tizzy	in a tumult
in a turmoil	in a whirl	in chaos
in commotion	in confusion	in disarray
in disguise	in disorder	in error
in knots	in order	in other words
in pieces	in rebellion	in revolt
in ruins	in shreds	in trouble
in uproar	inaccurate	incoherent
inconstant	incorrect	incorrectly
induce	infirm	ingredients
injure	injured	inordinately
insane	insanely	interfered with
intricate	involve	involved
irregular	irregularity	irritated
J
jerky	jerkily	jittery
joggle	juggled	jumble
jumbled
K
kind	kind of	kinky
knotted
L
lawless	let loose	letters of
liquid	loosely	lousily
lousy	ludicrous	lunatic
M
mad	maddened	made
made from	made of	made up
madly	make a bungle of	make a hash of
make a mess of	make	makes
make-up	making	maladjusted
maladroit	malformation	malformed
malfunction	maltreated	maltreatment
manage	managed	management
manager	mangle	mangled
manifest	manifestation	manipulate
manipulated	manoeuvre	manoeuvred
marred	mashed	material for
materials for	mauled	maybe
mayhem	meandering	medley
melt	melted	mended
mercurial	mess	messed
messily	messy	metamorphosis
mince	minced	mingled
misapplied	misbehaved	misconstrued
miserable	mishandled	mishap
misrepresentation	misrepresented	misshapen
mistake	mistreated	misused
mix	mixed	mixture
mix-up	mobile	model
modelled	modification	modified
modify	molested	mongrel
mould	moulded	moving
muddied	muddle	muddled
muddly	mutable	mutative
mutilated	mutilation	mutinous
mysterious	mysteriously
N
nasty	naughty	negotiation
negotiated	new	new fashion
new form of	new order	new style
newly formed	newly made	not exactly
not in order	not properly	not right
not straight	novel
O
obscure	obscured	obscurely
obstreperous	occasion	odd
odd looking	oddly	off
operate	order	ordered
orderly	organisation	organise
organised	original	originally
otherwise	out	outcome of
outed	out of	out of gear
out of joint	out of order	out of sorts
outlandish	over	overthrow
overturn
P
peculiar	peculiar looking	peculiarly
perfidious	perhaps	permutation
perplexed	perverse	perversely
pervert	perverted	phoney
pie	placed	plagued
plastic	playing tricks	poor
poorly	positioned	possible
possibly	potential	potentially
preparation	prepared	problem
problematic	problematical	processed
processing	production	properly organised
properly presented	pseudo	pulverised
put another way	put out	put right
put straight
Q
queer	queered	queer-looking
queerly	questionable	quite different
R
rabid	ragged	rambling
ran amok	ravage	ravelled
readjusted	rearrange	rearranged
rearrangement	reassembled	rebel
rebellious	rebuild	rebuilding
rebuilt	recalcitrant	recast
recollected	reconstructed	recreate
rectification	rectified	redesign
redesigned	refine	refined
reform	reformation	reformed
refractory	regenerate	regulated
regulation	remade	remodel
remodelled	rendering	rendition
renovated	renovation	re-order
re-ordered	reorganisation	reorganise
reorganised	repack	repair
repaired	replaced	replacement
represent	representation	represented by
represented in	reproduce	reproduced
reproduction	resettle	resettled
reshape	reshaped	reshuffle
reshuffled	resolution	resolve
resolved	resort	resulting from
resulting in	reveal	reviewed
revise	revised	revolting
revolutionary	revolutionised	revolve
revolved	revolving	revolution
reword	reworded	rewrite
rewritten	rickety	ridiculous
rigged	riot	rioted
rioting	riotous	rocky
rotten	rough	roughly
roving	rude	ruffled
ruin	ruins	ruined
ruinous	rum	rumpled
run amok	running amok	running wild
ruptured
S
sad	sadly	scatter
scattered	scatters	scramble
scrambled	scruffy	serve up
served up	set	set differently
set off	set out	setting
shake	shaken	shaky
shambles	shape	shaped
shatter	shattered	shift
shifted	shifting	shilly-shally
ship-shape	show mutation	shuffle
shuffled	silly	singular
skittish	slipping	slipshod
sloppy	slovenly	smash
smashed	smashing	snarl up
somehow	sorry	sort
sorted	sorted out	sort of
sorting	source of	spinning
split	spoil	spoiled
spoilt	sport	sporting
spurious	squiggles	staggered
stew	stewed	stir
stirred	stirred up	storm
stormy	straight	strange
strange-looking	strangely	straying
stricken	stumbling	stupid
stupidly	substitute	subtle
subvert	subverted	surprising
surprisingly	swap	swapped
swapping	swirl	swirled
swirling	switch	switches
switched
T
tampered with	tangled	tattered
temper	tempestuous	tempestuously
tentative	tentatively	terrible
terribly	the result of	throw
thrown	tidied up	tip
tipped	tipsy	to pot
topsy-turvy	to rights	torn
tortuous	toss	tossed
tousle	tousled	transform
transformation	transformed	translate
translated	translation	transmutation
transmuted	transport	transported
transposed	transposition	treacherous
treated	trick	tricked
tricky	trouble	troubled
troublesome	tumble-down	tumbling
tumultuous	turbulent	turn
turned	turned out	twist
twisted	twister	twisting
U
uncertain	unclear	uncommon
undecided	undisciplined	undoing
undone	uneasy	unfamiliar
unhappy	unnatural	unorthodox
unravelled	unreliable	unrest
unrestrained	unruly	unsettled
unsettling	unsound	unstable
unsteady	untidy	untie
untied	unusual	unusually
unwonted	upheaval	upset
usage	use	used
uses
V
vacillating	vague	vaguely
vandalise	vandalised	variable
varied	variety	various
variously	vary	version
version of	violent	violently
volatile
W
wander	wandering	warp
warped	warring	wavering
way	way out	wayward
weave	weird	weirdly
well-formed	well-ordered	well-organised
well-varied	went off	went to pieces
whirling	wild	wildly
wobbly	woolly	work out
works	worried	woven
wreck	wrecked	writhing
wrong	wrongly

Many thanks to Tom Rayfield for compiling most of this list.


Letter Indicators
Letter Indicators        A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Letters can often be indicated by using words to point to a specific letter in a word, e.g. 'capital of France'  for the letter F. Some of these are given below, but most of the 'capital of' ones have been omitted since there are so many.

A
absolute temperature	about	absent
Academician	Academy	acceleration
accepted	ace	acre(s)
acreage	across	acting
active	adjective	adult
adults only	advance(d)	advisory
AE	African leader	afternoon
Alpha	alto	amateur
American	American capital	ammeter
ampere(s)	Ångström(s)	anonymous
answer	anterior	are(s)
area	argon	article
atomic	atomic weight	atto
Australia(n)	Austria(n)	before
beginning	beginning of April	beginning of August
bomb	ein	first
first of April	first of August	key
middle class	middleman	midday
middle of May	midway	note
one	per	year
B
300	a follower	bachelor
bad start	barn	baron
barrel(s)	baryon number	bass
basso	bay	Belgium
Beta	Bible	bighead
billion	bishop	black
Blessed	blockhead	blood group
book	born	boron
bottle opener	bowled	Bravo
breadth	Britain	British
British capital	Burmese leader	bye
key	note	second class
second side	supporting film
C
100	$100	about
calorie	Cambridge	canine
can-opener	caught by	capacitance
Cape	carat	carbon
castle	Catholic	caught
Celsius	Celtic	cent(s)
Centigrade	centime	century
chapter	Charlie	circa
cloudy	clubs	cocaine
cold	college	college head
Coloured	colt	common time
Commons' leader	compliance	Conservative
constant	contralto	copyright
Corps	could start	coulomb(s)
Cuba	cubic	cycle
first course	head of clan	key
many	note	number
speed of light
D
500	bad end	beginning of December
Danish leader	date	daughter
day	dead	death's-head
degree	delete	Delta
Democrat(ic)	denarius	density
Department	depart(s)	depth
deputy head	deserted	Deus
deuterium	Deutsch	diameter
diamonds	died	dimension
dinar	diopter	Director
directed	Dominus	duke
dunderhead	Dutch	first of December
Germany	head of department	key
large number	Lord	many
note	old penny	penny
ring	should end	U.S. Democrat
E
2.71828...	250	bearing
boat	bridge player	direction
Earl	East	eastern
Echo	Ecstasy	egghead
Egyptian	Egyptian leader	electron
end of June	energy	engineer
engineering	England	English
English leader	Epsilon	eye opener
final score for bridge player	key	kind of mail
log base	middle of September	middlemen
note	number	oriental
point	quarter	Spain
sweetheart
F
40	beginning of February	fag end
Fahrenheit	famous word	farad
faraday	farthing	fast
fathom	fellow	female
feminine	fighter plane	figurehead
filly	fine	first of February
fluorine	folio	following
foot	force	foreign
forte	franc	France
French	French capital	frequency
Friday	function of	furlong
key	loud	loud music
note	offend
G
400	£1,000	acceleration
clef	dog's tail	force
gallon(s)	Gamma	gauges
Gauss	gelding	George
German	German capital	German leader
Germany	giga	Golf
good	Government	gram(s)
gramme(s)	grand	gravity
great	Greek leader	guilder
guinea(s)	Gulf	head of Government
inflatable suit	key	king
legend	middle-age	midnight
note	pig's tail	string
H
200	Ache	aitch
aspirate	beam	bomb
end of March	end of the month	fashion centre
harbour	hard	headfirst
head of hair	head start	hearts
height	henry	henries
her head	heroin	high
Hindu leader	his head	hogshead
hospital	hot	Hotel
hothead	hour	Hungary
husband	hydrant	hydrogen
Planck's constant
I
1	a	ace
beam	current	dotted
ego	electric current	first person
his heart	Ich	imaginary number
indeed	Independence	Independent
India	Institute	International
international leader	iodine	Iota
island	isle	isospin
Italy	me	mid-air
number	number one	one
personal pronoun	second time	single
unit
J
beginning of January	beginning of June	beginning of July
curve	first of January	first of June
first of July	jack	James the First
Japan	joint	joule
Journal	Judge	Juliet
jump start	Justice	pen
K
250	1,000	1,024 bits
back end	Boltzmann constant	cocktail
cork tip	Kampuchea	kaon
Kappa	karat	keen beginner
Kelvin	kick-start	kilo
kilogramme	kilometre	king
knight	knot(s)	Köchel
kopeck	krona	króna
krone	kwacha	potassium
velocity constant	weekend
L
50	beginner	central Ireland
coin	elevated railway	end of April
heart of England	inductance	inexperienced driver
Labour leader	laevorotatory	lake
lambert(s)	Lambda	large
Latin	latitude	law
leaf	league	learner
learner driver	lecturer	left
length	letterhead	Liberal
Libra	Lima	line
link	lira	lire
litre(s)	little	long
longitude	long lead	love
low	lumen	luminance
Luxembourg	many	mid-Wales
money	novice	number
port	pound	pound sign
pupil	second class	sovereign
tail-end	trainee
M
1,000	beginning of March	beginning of May
beginning of the month	Bond's boss	central Denmark
central Germany	end of term	first of March
first of May	Frenchman	head of MI5
large number	mach	maiden
maiden over	Majesty	male
Malta	mare	mark(s)
married	masculine	mass
Master	meal starter	Mediaeval
medium	mega	member
meridian	meso	meta
metre(s)	Mike	mile(s)
military leader	million(s)	minute(s)
molar	Monday	money
monsieur	month	Moslem leader
mother	motorway	Mu
noon	very many
N
90	and ('n' )	bearing
beginning of November	bridge player	direction
end of autumn	first news	first of November
indefinite number	mid-evening	mid-morning
middle of the month	naira	name
named	Napoleon	Nationalist
Navy	neuter	neutron
new	new beginning	new head
new leader	new start	newton(s)
nitrogen	nominative	noon
Norse	North	Norway
note	noun	November
Nu	nuclear	number
point	pole	quarter
O
11	beginning of October	blob
circle	cry	duck
exclamation	first of October	front centre
job centre	love	middle of October
nil	none	nothing
nought	Ocean	octavo
oh	Ohio	old
Omega	Omicron	only
Opposition leader	orchestra leader	order
ordered to start	Oscar	Oxford
oxygen	pint	ring
round	Scottish pass	spangle
sphere	Tan	zero
P
400	apple-core	coin
coppers	head of police	midshipman
momentum	money	page
Papa	park	parking
part	participle	past
Pastor	pawn	pedal
pence	penny	per
peseta	peso	phosphorus
piano	pint	parity
party leader	pawn	pipe
poise	political leader	population
port	Portugal	post
power	president	pressure
Prince	pro	proton
quiet	small change	soft
subdued
Q
electric charge	first quality	head of queue
heat	Quaker leader	quality
quart	quarter	quarterly
quartermaster	quarto	Quebec
Queen	Queen's Head	Queensland
queer beginning	query	question
quetzal	quick start	quintal
quire	quran
R
arithmetic	electric resistance	end of September
end of October	end of November	end of December
end of war	head right	king
mid-afternoon	middle of March	middle of April
monarch	never-ending	oyster month
queen	rabbi	radical
radius	railhead	railway
rand	raw beginner	reading
rêaumur	rebel leader	recipe
recto	Rector	redhead
regiment	Regina	registered
Republican	resistance	restricted
reverend	revolutionary leader	Rex
right	ring leader	river
road	Röntgen	Romania
Romeo	rook	ruble(s)
Roundhead	Royal	run(s)
rupee	Russian leader	starboard
summer's end	take	winter's end
writing	yearend	year's end
S
7 or 70	bearing	beginning of September
bender	bridge player	direction
dollar	endless	entropy
first of September	head of state	heart of Essex
ogee	Old Bob	point
pole	quarter	Sabbath
safety first	saint	Santa
Saturday	Saxon	schilling
school	school head	second(s)
self-starter	September	shilling
siemens	Sierra	Sigma
Signor	Sikh leader	singular
skinhead	small	Society
solidus	shilling	siemens
singular	son	South
southern	spades	Square
starboard	stokes	stop-start
strangeness	succeeded	sulphur
sun	Sunday	Sweden
sulphur
T
bone	car	casual shirt
cat's tail	distribution	end of August
end product	Ford	informal shirt
junction	kind of shirt	kind of square
Middle Eastern	rat's tail	shirt
square	summer shirt	surface tension
Tango	tare	Tau
teaspoonful	tee	temperature
tempo	tenant	tenor
tense	tera	tesla
Thailand	Thursday	team leader
tesla	time	ton(s)
tonne(s)	Tory leader	transitive
tritium	troop leader	troy
Tuesday	Turkish leader
U
acceptable	bend	bolt
centre court	classy	done
done thing	gent	genteel
mid-January	posh	socially acceptable
sub	superior	top
top-drawer	turn	Unicorn
Unionist	union leader	United
universal	University	upper class
Upsilon	upstart	Uruguay
uranium	youth centre
V
5	against	anti
bomb	few	mid-Devon
midwives	neck	number
opposed to	opposing	see
several	sign	vanadium
Vatican City	velocity	ventral
verb	verse(d)	versus
very	Victor	victory
victory sign	Viscount	vol.
volt	volume	vs
W
bearing	bridge player	centre forward
cow's tail	direction	occidental
point	quarter	raw edge
tungsten	Wales	watt
wed	Wednesday	week
weight	Welsh	Welsh leader
West	Whisky	white
wicket	wide	width
wife	with	winter
wolfram	women	won
work	workers' leader	West
western	with
X
10	abscissa	antepenultimate
buss	by	Chi
Christ	co-ordinate	cross
decussate	drawn	female chromosome
kiss	marked choice	mark with a kiss
multiplication	multiply by	mystery man
number	over 18	oxtail
ray	several	sign of the times
spot marker	times	unknown character
unknown quantity	vote	wrong
Y
day's end	journey's end	end of January
end of February	end of May	end of July
fourth of July	male chromosome	ordinate
penultimate	ponytail	unknown quantity
Yankee	yard	year(s)
yen	Yeomanry	youth leader
yttrium	Yugoslavia
Z
atomic number	final	final letter
from Zanzibar	gauge	impedance
last	last letter	middle-sized
Zaire	Zambia	Zebra
zenith	Zeta	Zionist leader
zone