Copyright: Copyright ® 1995 by Sam Bellotto Jr.


Crossdown Help
Help on Runtime Crossdown™

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

Solving Puzzles

Want More?


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:

Mouse Control Button

Cheating

Clue Scan List

Clue Window

Get Hint

Keyboard

Mouse

Opening a Puzzle

Puzzle Grid

Saving Puzzles

Score Solution

Tool Box

Undo Work


Want More?

If you enjoy solving puzzles on your computer, you can order the enhanced Crossdown Solve-Only package for more fun. This comes with 50 brand-new entertainment crossword puzzles constructed by John M. Samson, whom many have called the best author of TV and movie puzzles in country. Samson is the editor of the popular Simon and Schuster crossword puzzle books and does the monthly puzzle for the Cable TV Guide. The Solve-Only package costs $12.75 in US funds or $17.75 in Canadian funds ($19.95 overseas in US funds).

Or you can order the complete Crossdown for Windows package with which  you can construct your very own crossword puzzles and print them out in a variety of formats! You get access to all the features in the Solve-Only package, plus many, many more. And you can even get help with marketing any puzzles you create. The complete Crossdown package comes with a 65-page Users' Manual, more than 45 professionally constructed puzzles of different sizes and difficulties, and costs only $55.75 in US funds or $63.75 in Canadian funds ($68.75 overseas in US funds).

Register by sending a check or money order in the correct amount, specifying which version of Crossdown you wish to order to:

CROSSDOWN

Dept. P

133 Akron Street

Rochester, NY 14609-7618

Or for additional information call us at (716) 482-8092. You can also access Crossdown on the Internet at 70724.2075@compuserve.com.

Please specify Dept. P to order the John M. Samson puzzles.


Mouse Control Button

The Mouse Control Button in the Tool Box at the right of the screen assign directions to the mouse buttons. Clicking on the Mouse Control Button toggles the grid direction assigned to the left and right mouse buttons. The grid direction of the "primary" (left) mouse button is indicated by the arrow pictured on the button. Normally, the left mouse button selects only across words and the right mouse button selects only down words. This is the default Crossdown setup.

Clicking once on the Mouse Control Button from the default setting makes the left mouse button select only down words and the right mouse button select only across words. Clicking a second time returns to the default state.

Mouse button settings are not permanent. Everytime Crossdown is started, it uses the default mouse settings.


Cheating

Press the Cheat Button 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 Cheat Button. Correct answers are shown in gray. Only unfilled boxes are revealed. Entries you have made to the puzzle grid remain. Release the Cheat 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 Cheat Button 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 also indicates whether the clue is an Across or a Down clue.


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 toggled the Mouse Control Button, the directions are reversed according to the Mouse Control Button's label!)

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 Puzzle 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 treated to a short surprise, followed by a Congratulations dialog box with 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 Mouse Control Button, the Cheat Button and the Clue Scan List. These are the elements most frequently needed for solving Crossdown puzzles so they have been placed within easy reach.

Click on any area within the Solve Tool Box illustrated here for additional information.


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 Puzzle 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.


Mouse Control Button

Toggle Across or Down to left and right

mouse buttons.


Cheat Button

Display correctly completed puzzle.


Clue Scan List

Scroll up and down to see clues.

Select clue with mouse to highlight

and work on corresponding entry

in puzzle grid.