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~ Arctan Computer Ventures' WordPuzzle Pro ~
Example Types of Puzzles
This page aims to give you some ideas about the types of puzzles that it is possible to create using the WordPuzzle Pro program. This is by no means exhaustive, and future versions will aims to extend the range and scope of puzzles that can be designed and conceived. Many of the names given to the types of puzzles are known by various other names. Please feel free to e-mail us with any other types of puzzles that you have managed to create using the program, with the names you know, or with suggestions for improvements - see the problems/suggestions contacts page for e-mail addresses.
| Sections |
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| Straight Crossword | A straight crossword
is a standard crossword in which the clues that are given to aid the
person in completing the spaces on the grid are directly meaningful to the
answer on the grid - sometimes the clue could be ambiguous, in that there
are several possible answers (e.g. execute could have an answer of run
(computing term), perform or kill.
If a white square (part of a word) on the grid is part of only one word, then it is said to be unkeyed. American style crosswords (see puzz0003.xwd for an example) generally avoid this (see example puzzles , but British-style crosswords (see puzz0002.xwd for an example) do not enforce this rule. Crosswords are sometimes constructed without outs, but instead clues are separated from each other using lines or barres. See file puzz0005.xwd for an example. For further information about how to construct Straight or Cryptic crossword, see the section on crossword construction. |
| Cryptic Crossword | A cryptic crossword
is one whose clues are not a straight definition. The clues use various
well-known techniques involving plays on words, so that the person doing
the puzzle needs to do some lateral thinking in order to reach the answer
from the clues. An example of a cryptic crossword can be found in the
sample file puzz0001.xwd, which also includes straight clues.
For further information about how to construct Straight or Cryptic crossword, see the section on crossword construction. |
| Double Crossword | A double crossword would be one that has two sets of clues - usually one set that is cryptic, the other that is straight. Both sets of clues refer to the same answers on the grid, so the person solving the puzzle can choose the type of clues preferred, or if working with the cryptic clues, could resort to the straight clues for some help. The sets of clues are variously labelled - e.g. 'straight and cryptic', 'easy and difficult', 'demonic and angelic' - whatever gets the message across! The sample file puzz0001.xwd gives an example of a combined crossword. |
| Crossword with Picture Clues | Crosswords sometimes
include picture clues. These are pictures inserted into the crossword grid
to indicate the answer to a clue. Sometimes, the picture is placed behind
the puzzle, only partially showing through (e.g. in the centre of the
puzzle, or through making outs invisible) to make the task a bit tougher.
A common use of this technique is to include the face of an actor or
actress, and refer to the picture in a clue - e.g. 'Actor with brave heart
(see picture)' might show a partially obscured picture of actor Mel
Gibson.
In children's crosswords, you might like to extend this further, and make the whole of the outside portion of the grid into outs, and place various pictures around the edge of the grid in these spaces as different clues. It would be possible to produce a crossword without any word clues at all! An example crossword using a background picture can be found in file puzz0006.xwd. |
| Shaped Crossword | If you set the
crossword options up to only show squares that have a clue of some
description, then the remainder of the grid will be invisible. You could
import an outline of a common object and place it behind the grid. You
could either separate words with barres or with outs (but would have to
set each individual out to be visible). Thus, you could place your words
to be inside the outline graphic, so that it fills the shape to the best
of your ability. An example of this method can be found in the file
puzz0006.xwd.
Another method is to draw a shape using outs (e.g. a heart - see sample template patt0012 for a heart shape) and fill words into the shapes in the remainding shape. If the space if difficult to fill, you could always introduce barres to split words to avoid detracting from the shape. |
| CodeWord | A CodeWord typically
has no clues. The words on the grid are often separated by barres, but it
is fine to use outs. As there are no clues, words are not numbered to
cross-reference to clues. Instead, each letter in the alphabetic is
assigned a number, and where a grid square contains that letter, a number
is placed. Thus, if A was given number 3, then all occurrences of the
letter A on the grid would have their squares labelled 3.
A cross-reference grid is also shown with a number of blank squares labelled (for example) from 1 to 26 if all letters are used on the grid. The idea of the puzzle is for the puzzler to guess which letters refer to which numbers, and fill the grid in gradually this way. Sometimes, one or two letters are filled in on the cross-reference grid to give the puzzler a head start. An example of this type of puzzle can be found as part of the combined puzzle in puzz0004.xwd. |
| ArrowWord | If you clues are
short and pithy (typically one word), you may wish to consider putting the
clues on the crossword grid within outs, with an arrow pointing from the
clue text in the out, to the space on the grid that the clue refers to.
Again, this means that there is no need to have a list of clues separate
from the grid.
An example of this type of puzzle can be found as part of the combined puzzle in puzz0004.xwd. |
| FitWord | With this type of
puzzle, there's no need to create any clues. Instead, the words are listed
together, grouped by the length of the words, and these must be fitted
into the blank grid by the puzzler. Sometimes, one word is populated onto
the grid to get the puzzler started.
An example of this type of puzzle can be found as part of the combined puzzle in puzz0004.xwd. |
| Ideas for Creative variations | There's no reason why you can't combine different types of crossword together - see the puzzle puzz0004.xwd for a rather simplistic example. Why not have an ArrowWord that has pictures in the outs as clues? Why not have outs and barres combined to form interesting patterns. Use spot-coloured squares on the grid to spell out an answer. The creative potential is huge. |
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This Page was last updated: 06 July 2001 23:31