Copyright: Copyright ® 1996 by Sam Bellotto Jr.


Crossdown Help
Help on Crossdown™ Demo

Welcome to Crossdown on-line Help. The following topics, accessed through the Windows hypertext-based Help system, give a quick understanding of the software. Please refer to the printed Crossdown Users' Guide for more in-depth information.

Solving Puzzles

Constructing Puzzles

Dictionary

How to Register

ASP Ombudsman

Un-installing Crossdown


Solving Puzzles

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

Cheating

Clue Scan List

Clue Window

Desktop Settings

Get Hint

How to Solve Crossword Puzzles

Keyboard

Menu Selections

Mouse

Mouse Control Button

Opening a Puzzle

Preferences

Printing

Puzzle Grid

Saving Puzzles

Score Solution

Tool Box

Undo Work

View


Constructing Puzzles

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

Desktop Settings

Diagramming the Grid

Foreign Characters

How to Construct Crossword Puzzles

Keyboard

Lettering the Grid

Menu Selections

Mouse

Mouse Control Button

Opening a Puzzle

Preferences

Printing

Saving Puzzles

Scratchpad

Status Window

Symmetry Button

Tool Box

Writing Clues

Undo Work

View


Dictionary

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

Linking

Accessing

Data Transfer


How to Register
How to Register Crossdown

All registered users of Crossdown receive the latest version of the software available at the time of registration, and the next major upgrade at a significant discount, over 50 professionally constructed crosswords, a 50-page, spiral bound Users' Manual, featuring a specially written section on "How to Construct Crossword Puzzles," and unlimited, enhanced product support.

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

With the registered Crossdown package, you can contruct crosswords from 11x up to 23x grid sizes. You get access to all the features shown in the Demo, plus many more. And you can even get help with marketing any puzzles you create. The full Crossdown package costs $55.75 in US funds or $63.75 in Canadian funds ($68.75 overseas in US funds).

Like acrostic puzzles? Enigmacross for Windows is a brand new product that brings all the challenge and enjoyment of solving and constructing real acrostic puzzles to your personal computer. Enigmacross for Windows features a scrollable clue list, full sound card support, and a programmable "hot-link" for attaching your favorite digital dictionary, 50 challenging acrostic puzzles by some of the best puzzle-makers in the country, a 50-page, spiral bound Users' Manual and many other features. The deluxe edition of Enigmacross is only $55.75 in US funds or $63.75 in Canadian funds ($68.75 overseas in US funds).

Just wanna have fun? Not interested in constructing your own puzzles? Both Crossdown for Windows and Enigmacross for Windows are available in solve-only versions. These special editions are strictly for crossword solvers. The Crossdown for Windows "Game Edition" includes more than 60 professionally constructed crosswords by some of the top names in the industry. The Enigmacross for Windows "Game Edition" comes with more than 50 challenging acrostics. The "Game Editions" of Crossdown and Enigmacross sell for only $19.95 each ($25.95 in Canadian dollars or $28.95 overseas in U.S. funds).

Send your check or money order for any of Crossdown's entertaining and educational word game products to:

CROSSDOWN

133 Akron Street

Rochester, NY 14609-7618

Please specify which operating system--Windows 95 or Windows 3.1--you prefer.

For additional information call us at (716) 482-8092. You can also contact Crossdown by e-mail at 70724.2075@compuserve.com, or visit the Crossdown Home Page on the Internet at http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/crossdown.

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


Ombudsman
Ombudsman Statement

Crossdown™ is produced by Sam Bellotto Jr., a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI USA 49442-9427, FAX 616-788-2765, or send a CompuServe message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.


Uninstalling Crossdown
Un-installing Crossdown

After you have given Crossdown a fair tryout, we hope you will want to order the registered version. In either case, you are obligated to remove the demo from your system. This is very eay to do.

From the Windows 3.1 File Manager, highlight the XWINDEMO subdirectory (or highlight the subdirectory to which you installed Crossdown.) Select File then select Delete, or simply hit the Delete key. Answer OK to all prompts. Now go ahead and remove the Crossdown group and/or Crossdown icon from the Windows desktop itself. With Windows 95, simply send the entire Crossdown folder to the Recycle Bin. Refer to your Windows Users' Guide if you don't know how to do this.


How to Solve Crosswords
How to Solve Crossword Puzzles

From the Main Menu, select Puzzle. Select Solve. From the Solve puzzle dialog box, select a puzzle. You may change directories if necessary. Click on Open.

The unsolved puzzle grid is displayed on screen. To the right of the grid is the Solve Tool Box which contains the elements needed to solve crossword puzzles. Select a clue from the scrollable Clue Scan List or select any unfilled square from the grid. The clue is displayed in the Clue Window, as well. Enter letters with the keyboard. You can move back and forth between the grid and clue list as freely and as often as you like. The Mouse Button configures the mouse. The Cheat Button reveals the puzzle solution.

Crossdown saves your work automatically but it is a good idea to save the puzzle if you have been working on it for a long time.

When the puzzle has been solved, select Score Puzzle from the Options menu to see if the puzzle is correctly solved. Click here for additional information about the other menu selections.


Mouse Control Button

The Mouse Control Button in the Tool Box at the right of the screen assigns 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. Every time 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 programmed according to the Mouse Control Button's arrow which corresponds to the left mouse button).

All squares from the selected square to the end of the word entry turn yellow. When beginning a crossword puzzle, it is advisable to select only squares that begin word entries.

If you select a black square or a square which does not belong to the requested Across or Down entry, nothing will happen.

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

Fill the squares by typing in your answer from the keyboard. After all word entry squares have been filled in, no additional keyboard input is accepted. The clue is erased from the Clue Window.

If, after selecting a word from the grid and seeing the clue, you cannot think of the answer (or choose not to solve it), you can cancel the selection by clicking either mouse button on any non-grid part of the screen, an invalid white square or a black square.

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


Saving Puzzles

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


Score Solution

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

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

If the puzzle is correctly solved, you are 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
Solve 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 Options from the Main Menu and select Revert to Saved... A verification dialog box appears. Selecting OK returns the puzzle to the way it was when last saved.

In Construction Mode, Revert to Saved also wipes out any clues input through Autoclue

that have not been saved!


View

Crossdown lets you customize the screen design in a number of ways. Click on View from the Main Menu. You can select Grid to Right (or Left) to arrange the grid, toolbox and other screen elements. You can select Change Fonts to pick a typestyle that displays in the puzzle grid.

Basically, Grid to Right (or Left) positions the puzzle grid at the indicated side of the screen. Select the position with which you are most comfortable working. With the Desktop Settings menu selection, you can change the display font and colors of the Crossdown desktop. The selected font will also be used for the "Solution Grid" printout option. Please note that, depending upon your screen's resolution, not every font size will display correctly. It is a simple matter to keep trying different fonts and sizes until you get one that you are completely happy with.

View selections are permanent. Click on Defaults from the View Main Menu selection to return everything to Crossdown's "out-of-the-box" configuration.


How to Construct Crosswords

From the Main Menu, select Puzzle. Select Construct. If you are going to construct a brand new puzzle, select New. Select Open to work on a puzzle that has already been created and previously saved.

To construct a new puzzle, select the puzzle size. From the Construct new puzzle dialog box, type in a name for the new puzzle or accept UNTITLED as the default. You may change directories if you wish. Click on Save.

To open an existing puzzle, from the Open puzzle dialog box, select the puzzle to work on. Change directories if necessary. Click on Open.

The construction tool box to the right of the grid contains all the elements you need to make a crossword puzzle. Click on the Squares Button to design the puzzle grid. Click the Symmetry Button "on" or "off" to control grid symmetry. Click on the Letters Button to place the words in the grid. The Mouse Button configures the mouse. After you have constructed the puzzle, click on the Autoclue Button to write the clues.

At any time you can save the puzzle by selecting Save from the Puzzle option of the Main Menu. To print your puzzle, select Print from the Puzzle menu. Click here for additional information about the other menu selections.


Desktop Settings

You can change the color and style of the type font used in the crossword puzzle grid. You can also change the color of the letter squares in the grid, the filled squares and the color of the background matte to suit your personal tastes.

From the View option of the Main Menu, select Change Settings… The Crossdown Settings window opens. To change the font, click on Set Font. To change the filled square color, select from the color palette with the left mouse button. To change the letter square color, select from the color palette with the right mouse button. To change the background matte, select from the color palette with the Ctrl-key and right mouse button combination. You can preview your selections on the sample puzzle grid. Click OK to exit the Settings window and apply your selections. Click Cancel to disregard your selections.

You can change Desktop Settings as often as you like. To revert to the default Desktop Settings, from the View option of the Main Menu, select Default.


Scratchpad

Puzzle constructors are constantly making notes as they work. You can jot down interesting definitions that might pop into your head, idioms, phrases or even a telephone number. Just click on the Scratchpad at the right of the screen below the Autoclue Button. Now type. The Scratchpad is scrollable and can hold more than 32k of information. Crossdown will keep a record of all your notes indefinitely until you erase the Scratchpad.

To erase (clear) the Scratchpad, from the Special option of the Main Menu, select Erase Scratchpad.


Diagramming the Grid

At the upper left of the Construct Tool Box is the Squares Button. Click on this to add change or remove black and white squares within the puzzle grid. The Letters and Mouse Control Buttons turn "off" when the Squares Button is activated. And diagonal symmetry, via the Symmetry Button, can be enabled or disabled.

Position the mouse cursor on any of the grid squares and click the left mouse button to paint that square black. Position the mouse cursor on any of the grid squares and click the right mouse button to paint that square white.

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

If the Symmetry Button is ON, the "opposite" squares are painted black or white also. If the Symmetry Button is OFF, only the selected squares are painted.

When diagramming, it is often useful to know the exact center column and row of the grid. From the Special option of the Main Menu, select Show Guidelines. This draws dotted "cross hairs" over the grid. The guidelines are not permanent and are erased as the grid is filled in. Or erase by selecting Clear Guidelines.


Foreign Characters

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

199	Ç	230	æ	243	ó	252	ü	198	Æ	250	ú

233	é	244	ô	241	ñ	226	â	246	ö	209	Ñ

228	ä	242	ò	170	ª	224	à	251	û	186	º

229	å	249	ù	191	¿	231	ç	255	ÿ	181	µ

234	ê	214	Ö	172	¬	235	ë	220	Ü	189	½

232	è	162	¢	188	¼	239	ï	163	£	161	¡

238	î	165	¥	171	«	236	ì	167	§	187	»

196	Ä	182	¶	223	ß	197	Å	225	á	177	±

201	É	237	í	176	°

You can also transfer Foreign characters into Autoclue from the Windows Character Map.


Lettering the Grid

At the upper right of the Construct Tool Box is the Letters Button. Click on this to type letters into the puzzle grid from the keyboard. The Mouse Control Button turns "on" when the Letters Button is activated.

Position the mouse cursor on any "white" square within the puzzle grid. Click the left mouse button to enter letters Across. Click the right mouse button to enter letters Down. (If you have switched the Mouse Control Button, to its DOWN ARROW position, the directions are reversed!)

All white squares in a line along the selected direction from the initial square to the first encountered black square or the edge of the grid turn yellow.

Fill the squares by typing from the keyboard. After all word entry squares have been filled in, no additional keyboard input is accepted.

You can stop at any time by clicking either mouse button on any non-grid part of the screen or a black square. Or you can simply go to another area on the grid by clicking with any mouse button.


Keyboard

Letters are filled in directly from the keyboard. Type normally. You do not need to use the shift key or the caps lock key. All letters are entered in upper case. Furthermore, only the letters A through Z , the spacebar, the enter key, the backspace key and the plus (+) key are allowed during grid input.

Backspacing. If you make a mistake, use the backspace key as you would with any word processor. Keep in mind that Crossdown uses a non-destructive backspace; backspacing moves your position on the puzzle grid in the reverse direction, a square at a time, highlighting backspaced squares in yellow. Filled in squares are not cleared, but they can be overwritten.

Spacebar. Use the spacebar to erase a filled in square.

Enter key. Hitting the enter key while entering letters skips that square. If the square is unfilled, it remains unfilled. If the square contains a previously entered letter, that letter remains unchanged.

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


Mouse

Use the mouse pointing device to construct a puzzle and access Crossdown's many features and options. Both the left and right mouse buttons are used in constructing the grid. Only the left mouse button is used everywhere else.

When the Squares Button is active, the left mouse button is used to color the squares (black) while the right mouse button clears the squares (white). When the Letters Button is active, the mouse buttons behave according to the status of the Mouse Control Button.


Opening a Puzzle

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

If you clicked on New to create a brand new puzzle, you must select and click on a puzzle grid size. Grid sizes supported include 11x, 13x, or 15x. (Sizes of 17x, 19x, 21x, and 23x are available in the registered version only.). The Construct new puzzle dialog box opens. Enter a title for the new puzzle or accept UNTITLED.XWD as the default. Select a destination directory, if required. Click on Save.

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

See Associating Puzzles


Preferences

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

Manuscript Heading. You can enter your name and up to two additional lines of address information to be used in puzzle printouts. This information will be printed on the first page of each manuscript.

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

Sounds On. If you have a sound card in your system and want to hear Crossdown's audio messages, check this option. Otherwise, clear this option and Crossdown will operate silently (except for a few warning beeps if you do something wrong).


Saving Puzzles

You can save a puzzle you are constructing at any time. It is a good idea to do this frequently as Crossdown does not automatically save puzzles in Construction Mode. From the Puzzle option of the Main Window menu, select Save. You can also press the Ctrl-S key combination from the keyboard.


Status Window

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

For example:

This means that the puzzle contains 98 words and 54 black squares. A word count of 98 is considered average. A black square count of 48 is considered average. The puzzle size is 17 x 17.

Every time you click on the Squares or Letters buttons the Status Window is updated.


Tool Box
Construct Tool Box

To the right of the puzzle grid is the Construct Tool Box. The Construct Tool Box contains the Squares and Letters Grid Diagramming Buttons the Mouse Control Button, the Autoclue Button, the Symmetry Button and the Scratchpad. These are the elements most frequently needed for constructing crossword puzzles, so they have been placed within easy reach. Click on any area within the Construct Tool Box illustrated here for additional information.


Symmetry Button

At the bottom left corner of the Construct Tool Box is the Symmetry Button identified by three parallel lines. You can turn diagonal symmetry on or off at any time during puzzle construction by clicking the button. The button "lights up" (yellow) when symmetry is ON and "dims" (white) when symmetry is OFF. The Symmetry Button is completely disabled when the Letters Button is active because symmetry is not needed at that time.


Writing Clues

After you have completed the diagram and filled in all the across and down words, you are ready to write the clues, or definitions. Click on the Autoclue Button (identified by a magnifying glass icon) just below the Mouse Control and Symmetry Buttons in the Construct Tool Box.

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

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

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

Beneath the Text Input Box are six buttons and a bar labeled List Definitions. Click on any of the buttons in the diagram above to see what they do.

If you have linked a dictionary to work with Crossdown and the dictionary supports copying to the Windows Clipboard, you can use the [image] push-button to transfer data into Autoclue.


Associating Puzzles

You can open any puzzle by associating the XWD file type with Crossdown and then double-clicking on the filename or icon symbol of that puzzle. Refer to the Windows documentation for help with associating file types. With this method, the puzzle always opens in construct mode.


Rewinds to the previous definition.


Advances to the next definition.


Skips ahead to the first undefined word.


Copies any text from the Clipboard to the current definition.


Closes the Autoclue window.


Printing

Select Puzzle from the Main Window menu. Select Print ... The Print dialog box opens. You have five kinds of Print Styles from which to choose. You can select one or any combination of these styles:

Manuscript. This option is primarily intended for constructors to output their puzzles in manuscript format. The clue pages are printed double-spaced with definitions listed on the left-hand side of the page and corresponding answers tabbed over to the right. A final page is output of the puzzle grid with numbers and the solution. Selecting Manuscript from Solve Mode omits the answers on the definition pages and prints the grid with numbers only.

Manuscript Grid Only. Prints only the final puzzle page of the Manuscript, with both numbers and letters in the grid

Numbered Grid. This option prints out a numbered, blank crossword grid. Each box in the grid is approximately 5/16-inches square.

Solution Grid. This option prints out the crossword grid with all the answers filled in. The boxes are not numbered. Selecting Solution Grid from Solve Mode prints out the crossword grid as it appears on the screen.

Puzzle Page. This option prints out a blank, numbered crossword grid and the Across and Down clues on a single page, formatted the same way as you might find in the daily newspaper, ready for solving. You can print out puzzles this way to give to others. With large crossword puzzles, it isn't always possible to contain the grid and clues on a single page. In such cases, Crossdown fits as many clues as it can on the first page and prints the rest on a second page.

The Puzzle Title edit box allows you to enter an optional title line for the puzzle. If you do not wish to enter your own title, the puzzle filename is printed as the default title.


Linking a Dictionary

First, install the dictionary if it is not already installed. The dictionary can reside on your computer's hard drive or a CD-ROM. However, it must be a stand-alone Windows application (not a component of another application like a word processor).

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

This is the same Command Line that Windows uses. You can find it by right clicking the dictionary's Shortcut icon on the Windows desktop. Then click on Properties. Then click on Shortcut. The Command Line appears in the Target edit box. Or find the Command Line through Explorer.

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

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


Accessing the Dictionary

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

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

The dictionary can also be accessed at anytime by pressing the Ctrl+D "hot key" combination from the keyboard.


Data Transfer

Follow the instructions of your dictionary for copying definition data into the Windows Clipboard. Return to Crossdown. From the Autoclue dialog box, click on the insert [image] push-button. The information copied to the Windows Clipboard is in turn inserted into the Autoclue text at the cursor. You can edit this information as you desire.


Menu Selections

Click on any of the Menu Selections below for additional information. Certain Menu Selections are only accessible in either Solve or Construct mode.


Open a crossword puzzle to solve.


Construct a new crossword puzzle or open an existing one to work on.


Save your work.


Available with registered version of Crossdown only.


Available with registered version of Crossdown only.


Print out the current puzzle.


Configure or change printers.


Quit out of Crossdown.


Launch an on-line dictionary, if one has been linked.


Check to see if the current crossword puzzle has been correctly solved.


Discard any recent work on puzzle and return to the last saved status.


Available with registered version of Crossdown only..


Available with registered version of Crossdown only.


Customize many Crossdown features and settings.


Available with registered version of Crossdown only.


Available with registered version of Crossdown only.


Available with registered version of Crossdown only.


Draw or remove rules through centerlines of puzzle grid.


Available with registered version of Crossdown only..


Erase all contents from the on-screen Scratchpad.


Available with registered version of Crossdown only.


Place puzzle grid on left or right side of screen.


Customize fonts and colors used by Crossdown.


Return all customizable Crossdown settings to their out-of-the-box defaults.


On-line help with using Crossdown Demo.


How to order the registered  version of Crossdown.


Association of Shareware Professionals.


Version information about Crossdown.