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- XWORD-VGA
- Ver. 0.9
- by
- Mike Stephens
- copyright (c) 1991
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-
- GETTING STARTED
- ---------------
-
- To begin with place all the XWORDVGA files on a single disk or
- a subdirectory of your hard drive. You should have the
- XWORDVGA.EXE file, twenty crossword files (*.PZO) and seven word
- base files (*.WDS). The program must find at least one puzzle file
- and all seven word base files to run.
-
- Once the files are in place, set the default directory to the
- disk and/or directory where they are stored and type XWORDVGA.
-
- OPENING SCREEN
- --------------
-
- The opening screen will offer you a selection of puzzles by
- number. The puzzle number is shown and also, in brackets, is the
- size of the puzzle.
- Select the number you wish to play, enter it and press return.
-
- PLAY SCREEN
- -----------
-
- Once the puzzle has been selected the play screen will show.
- This screen is basically divided into three areas.
-
- 1. The top right is a function key command list. (This is
- not a complete listing of all the command keys, but will
- show most of them).
- 2. The top left of the screen will contain the puzzle.
- 3. The lower few lines of the screen will contain the clues
- and messages used during the solving of the puzzle.
-
- The opening screen will show the puzzle and the 1st clue in
- the across direction.
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- SOLVING THE PUZZLE
- ------------------
-
- Play is straight forward. The clue line will identify the
- clue number, the clue itself followed by a series of dots. The
- number of dots correspond to the length of the word needed.
-
- Just type in your answer and you are on you way to solving the
- puzzle!
-
- Any ALPHABETIC character key, SPACE or BACKSPACE is
- acceptable. The space will erase anything that was there
- previously but will allow you to enter a partial word if you want
- to. The backspace will allow you to back up if you made a mistake.
- (I often use that key).
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- GETTING AROUND
- --------------
-
- If you solve a puzzle like I do you have to do a lot of
- jumping around and so I have tried to provide some ease to do that
- in the program. (I really hate people that solve a puzzle
- completely by just going through the across clues!!).
-
- The RETURN key, at any time, will cause the clue to advance to
- the next clue. You only need to do this if you have a partial
- entry or just want to skip it. The program will automatically
- advance the clue when the correct number of letters have been typed
- in. (Note that a partial entry is kept as part of the solution).
-
- The ARROW keys also serve to move the current clue. The DOWN
- ARROW and the RIGHT ARROW will move the clue across or down one
- while the UP ARROW and LEFT ARROW keys will move the clue back one.
-
- Pressing the PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN keys will move the clue
- about 1/4 of the way through the puzzle.
-
- Pressing the HOME or "ALT+B" key will move the clue to the
- first clue number and pressing the END key will take the clue to
- the last clue number.
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- Finally, pressing "ALT+M" will take the clue to the middle
- clue number of the puzzle.
-
- There remains the question of direction. This can be switched
- by pressing either the F3 key or the "ALT+D" combination.
-
- SAVE AND RESTORE
- ----------------
-
- I don't often have time to solve a large puzzle at one sitting
- so there is a way to take a break without loosing your work.
-
- The F1 key or the "ALT+S" combination will save the puzzle
- that is currently being displayed.
-
- The F2 key or the "ALT+R" combination will reload the saved
- puzzle. Note: To restore a puzzle you must first load it from the
- opening screen. Once the puzzle has been loaded you may load your
- saved work.
-
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- SWITCHING
- ---------
-
- Tired of one puzzle. No problem. Hit the F6 key or the
- "ALT+N" combination and you will be able to change puzzles.
-
- QUITTING
- -------
-
- To end the session hit the F9 or the "ALT+Q" combination. You
- will have the opportunity to save your work before exiting.
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- HELP !!!
- --------
-
- If you need help (with the puzzle) there are a few features
- that allow you to peek.... (My wife calls it cheating...What does
- she know!)
-
- The biggest way of course is to look at the whole puzzle and
- this can be done by hitting the F7 key or the "ALT+P" combination.
-
- You can see a little less by hitting the F4 or "ALT+W". This
- will show only the word that is pointed to by the current clue.
-
- If you want to see your mistakes, hit the F8 or "ALT+E" keys.
- This will highlight all the letters that show on the puzzle that
- are not correct.
-
- Finally if you just want to get a little help the are the F5
- or "ALT+H" keys. When this key is hit, a line will appear at the
- bottom of the screen with the word "HINT". At this point enter
- letters and spaces in a pattern you want help on. For example:
-
- Type [space] [e] [space] [space] [e] [d] [RETURN].
-
- The following will show next to the word hint .E..ED
-
- What will follow will be a list of all 6 letter words whose
- 2nd letter is E, whose 5th letter is E and whose 6th letter is D.
-
- Be a little careful with this one. If you were to enter 4
- spaces you would then get a look at all of the 4 letter words in
- the word bank, nearly a thousand. If you do want to get out of
- that kind of situation hit the ESCAPE key and you will exit.
-
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- FINALLY
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-
- I hope you have as much fun using this as I have had writing
- it. I also hope you have no problems with it. Since I no other
- systems available except my own, I don't have a good opportunity to
- check things out thoroughly.
-
- If you have any comments, suggestions or problems I can be
- reached via GENIE at MSAKRONOHIO or you can drop me a note at my
- home in Virginia.
-
- Mike Stephens
- 707 Jefferson Ave.
- Waynesboro, VA 22980
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