The Search for Crossword Puzzle Software.
Some time ago I was building a web site about, among other things, hobbies. I had been interested in crosswords since spending some time in the RAF in Germany, where there is a lot of time to sit around, and do nothing productive. One of the things we did was the cryptic crossword in the "Daily Telegraph". This was moderately difficult to start with, but became easier as you got used to the way the compiler of the crossword thought. We could tell which compiler had made up the crossword from the style of clues. We competed among ourselves to see who was the first to finish.
Anyway the point of all this was I wanted to include crosswords on my website. I looked into the syndication possibilities, many newspapers, such as the "New York Times" had a system of providing their free crossword puzzles to webmasters, but I wanted a little more than this, a crossword maker. So after a little research I found this Crossword Puzzle Software and tried it out with their free trial. Having had a go at making my own crosswords before - I really did have a lot of spare time - I had some idea what was involved. I was surprised at the amount of detailed work that was possible to put in to make a unique crossword. It was possible to use one of the grids provided, and the basic word and clue list, and complete a crossword in very quick time. At the other extreme, you could design your own grid layout, at whatever size you required, and import any size word list, which could still be automatically inserted into your grid, which I found to be the most tedious part of doing it yourself. You could make up your own clues, and end up with a unique crossword. All in all a very satisfying experience. I placed a series of these puzzles on my website, along with sudoku puzzles. You could even insert the words into the cossword. Unfortunately I can't show you these, as the web site is no longer in existence, but all you need to do is download the trial version of the crossword puzzle software and see the possibilities for yourself.
Your program is easily the best thing that has ever happened for crossword constructors. - Nancy Salomon
WordWeb also available from the same source
Wordweb is a feature rich software that does much more than a paper dictionary or thesaurus. WordWeb is truly a Word Web - each set of synonyms is linked to other related sets. Look up "tree", click on the "Types" tab and you'll have a list of different types of tree. Click on "Part of" and WordWeb will tell you that a tree can be part of a "forest" or "wood".
Toss out that dog-eared dictionary and worn-out thesaurus, and use this amazingly helpful tool instead.
- PC World
