| Sections |
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| Searching for a list of words |
You can search for a list of
particular words in the word pool using a combination of a word mask and/or a number of
categories:-
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Ensure that you are clicked on
the Pool tab in the Clues window. |
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If you wish to search for a
particular word or wish to find a list of words given some available letters and empty
spaces, then you will need to understand how masks work. Click
here for further information.
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Click in the edit box just to
the right of the Mask heading |
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Type-in the mask you wish to
use. Note that if you leave this empty, ALL clues in the clue pool will be retrieved. |
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If you wish to restrict the
list to only those clues in the pool that have ALL of a number of categories, then:-
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Click in the box to the left
of all categories that the found words must have. For example, if you only want clues that
are both Straight and of a medical nature, then click on the 'Straight' category to put a
check to the left of the category, and then click on the 'Medical' category. |
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Click on the Find List button
to commence the search. |
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In the top right hand corner
of the window, you can see some yellow writing on a blue background, which will tell you
how many clues have been retrieved. |
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Under the Found Clues
list is returned a number of clues that meet the criteria that you have specified. These
are listed in order of ANSWER, with the clue text in parentheses, in case you retrieve
more than one clue with the same answer. |
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Irrespective of what you
choose, the first in the retrieved list will be <New Clue>. You would click on this
clue to enter some details for a new clue in the clue pool. This gives you the facility to
add clues to the pool without having to add a clue to a puzzle first. |
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Click on any of these rows to
select the given clue. You can then use the bottom portion of the screen to alter the
details of the clue, delete the clue, copy the selected clue into the pending list of the
current puzzle, or drag the clue into an appropriate space on the grid. See below for
more details. |
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| Editing Clues in the Pool File |
Once you have searched for a list
of clues from the clue file, as described above, you can edit any one of these clues by
simply clicking on the row in the list of results corresponding to the clue you wish to
change, and using the bottom half of the window to alter the details of the clue, as
described in the Working with Clues section. |
| Copying a Clue to the Pending
List |
Once you have searched for a list
of clues from the clue file, as described above, you can edit any one of these clues by
simply clicking on the row in the list of results corresponding to the clue you wish to
copy, and clicking on the  button. The clue will be added to the
pending list, unless it has been added already, in which case a dialog box will pop up to
warn you that the clue already exists in the pending list. |
| Dragging a Clue to the grid |
You can drag a clue to any
position on the grid by following this procedure:-
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Click on the row in the list
of results corresponding to the clue you wish to add to the puzzle |
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Hold down the left-hand mouse
button |
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Drag the mouse pointer over to
the grid, and when it reaches the first square of the space where you wish to drop the
clue, release the mouse button |
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If the clue would fit in
either Across or Down, the currently selected direction will be chosen
by default. |
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If the clue would not fit in
the space you have selected, then it will not be dropped and the clue will not be added. |
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If the clue was dropped
successfully on the grid, then the clue text, explanation, categories etc. will be
automatically added from the Clue Pool to the puzzle |
Alternatively, you can fill in a word
from the grid without dragging-and-dropping by following this procedure:-
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Click on
the start of the word on the grid to be filled. |
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Choose the
Pool menu and View option |
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Click on the row in the list
of results corresponding to the clue you wish to add to the puzzle |
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Press the 
button. |
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If the clue would fit in
either Across or Down, the currently selected direction will be chosen
by default. |
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If the clue would not fit in
the space you have selected, then it will not be dropped and the clue will not be added. |
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If the clue was
filled successfully on the grid, then the clue text, explanation, categories etc. will be
automatically added from the Clue Pool to the puzzle |
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| Link Pool File to
puzzle |
You can set the
puzzle up to
automatically open a particular pool file when it is next loaded. This saves you time when
you are preparing your puzzle, and wish to come back to it at a later time.
When used in conjunction with puzzle templates, it can standardise the pool file to use
for different types of puzzle, or globally across all newly created puzzles.To link a pool file to a
puzzle:-
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Ensure both the pool file and
puzzle have been opened. |
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From the main (grid) window,
click on the Pool menu, and choose the Link to Puzzle option. |
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Save the
puzzle |
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Note that you can unlink the
clue pool from the puzzle by choosing this option again - it toggles the link
between pool and puzzle. |
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| Save the Pool File |
To save the pool file, you can
either click on the global save button  on the main (grid) window, or choose the Pool
menu, and click on the Save option, or Save As if you wish to save the
pool under a different name. Note that if you do this, the puzzle stays linked to the
previous pool name. |
| Open the Pool File |
To open a pool file in order to
use it:-
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Click on the Pool
menu and click on the Open option. |
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If you have made any changes
to the current Pool, you will be asked if you want to save them. |
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An open file dialog box will
be displayed. You can select a file to open from here. |
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When you see the file you wish
to open, click on it, then click on the Ok button. |
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| Set Properties for Pool File |
To change the properties (e.g.
name, author, notes) for a clue pool, and see the filename of the current pool file:-
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Click on the Pool
menu and click on the Properties option. |
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Change the details in any of
the Title, Author, or Notes edit boxes. These are for identification
purposes only. |
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Click on
the check-box entitled Compress (Incompatible with v1.4 or less)
to turn on compression for the clue pool. This means that the file
will be compressed to take up less space on your disk, but in
consequence, will not be able to be opened by older (v1.4 or less)
versions of the application. Typically, checking this option will
make the pool file 2-3 times smaller. |
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Click on the Ok
button to return to viewing the main (grid) window. |
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| Create a new Clue Pool |
If you wish to start a brand new
clue pool:-
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Click on the Pool
menu and click on the New option. |
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If you have made any changes
to the current Pool, you will be asked if you want to save them. |
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If you have any categories in
the current Pool, you will be asked if you want to keep them for use in the new pool file. |
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A blank pool will be created.
You may wish to save it at this point (using Pool | Save As...) to give it a filename. |
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