Puzzles

There are 3-5 built-in puzzles under Local Directory: Samples. Beyond those, you will need to either save/copy/synchronize some puzzles to your system, or use a network connection (recommended).

Local Files

If you do not have a network connection on the system for playing CrozzWord, or want to unscramble puzzles, you can download .puz files (sample puzzle sites) to your desktop system, (optionally unscramble with provided key using Across Lite), and then sync these to your system. You can also save puzzles locally from CrozzWord. In addition to Other (for any directory), CrozzWord [≥ 1.4] provides access to the user's "Documents" directory and to subdirectories in the CrozzWord settings directory; registered users can additional paths (+Sites). For details on how to select files, see help files.

Network

If you have a network connection, you can access many puzzle files conveniently and directly from web sites. Registered users can directly access sites not in CrozzWord's current remote host sites, and also the New York Times, which requires a subscription login; other users could use a web browser to save a .puz file to a local directory.

[Reg] Selecting a category updates/expands the built-in lists, from a remote CrozzWord page of links. Selecting Favorites also adds any user-added Favorites.

Puzzle Sites

Listed below are the top-level categories of sites, some approximate puzzle counts (=nnnn, as of Feb 2003), links for the sites included initially, and names of some of the major sites updated for registered users.

Favorites: daily, monthly, weekly shortcuts; [Reg] user-added favorites
Authors [=2900]: Johnston, Will: Puzzles; Piscop, Fred: Macnamara's Band, More Archives, Still More; Marty Ashwood's "Triple Stacks"; Bukharin; Linda Carson; Terry Cleveland; Chuck Deodene; Paddy Grove; Frank Heys; Tyler Hinman; Humphrey MISCmedia; EJ (Eddie James); Jack; Gary Kearney; Kegler's Cryptics; Bob Klahn; Ed Labonte; Frank Longo; Christina Lovatt; Dean Mayer, Medusa (Chris Vallely); Manny Nosowsky; Fred Piscop; Jerry Rosman; Anna Roux; Dan Seidman; Squizz; Barry Tunick
Major Sites [=7000]: Cru Crytics; 50plus, AOL (Canada), About.com, BoxerJam, CoolQuiz, CrossCanada, CrossKit, Crossword Express, CrosswordSite, CRPuzzles, Cru Cryptics, FreeArcade, ModemMom, Office Diversions, Online Games, Puzzle Buffs, Puzzle Choice, Puzzle Connection, Puzzle Makers, Puzzle Master, Puzzle Nut, Puzzle Society, Quizland, rec.puzzles.crosswords, Stuff, Surfeteria, Thinks.com, WizList, Women.com, YourDictionary
Newspapers/Magazines [=12000; not including NYT=2700]: = Creators Syndicate: AOL, Heritage News, UnionTrib, Newsday, Yahoo,...; Los Angeles Times; Better Homes and Gardens, BillBoard, Boston Globe, Charleston Gazette, Daily Camera, Daily Mirror, Dispatch Online, Guardian, Heritage News, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Independent Online, LA Weekly, Naples News, New York Sun, New York Times ($ current, annual archives, New York Today), Philadelphia Inquirer, Salon, So. Africa Sunday Times, Sydney Morning Herald, The Herald, The Independent, Time Magazine, Univ. Waterloo, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Wildcat Arizona, Yale Herald
Theme-Arts [=630]: Architecture, Art, Dance, Design, Film/TV, Literature, Media, Music, Theater
Theme-Business [=580]: Accounting, Career, Communication, Economics, Finance, Industry, Law, Management, Marketing, Property, Statistics, Taxes, Trade, Training
Theme-Languages [=8000]: Afrikaans, Danish, Dutch, ESL (English as a Second Language), Finnish, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Latin, Maltese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish
Theme-Living [=1480]: Adult, Ethnic, Games/Hobbies, Kids, Organizations, Pets, Sports, Vehicles
Theme-Misc [=730]: misc. older/smaller sites; mixed or no specific theme; Aristotle, Canopia, Castle Networking, Castlebar, Muse, Northern Star, Outpost Bravo, P
Theme-Place [=820]: Geography, Regional, Travel
Theme-Religion [=790]: Bible, Buddhism, Catholic, Christian, Hebrew, Islam, Mormon, Pagan
Theme-Science,Life [=1020]: Anatomy/Physiology, Animals, Biology, Environment, Health, Insects, Medical, Nursing, Nutrition, Plants, Sleep, Zoology
Theme-Science,Physical [=440]: Astronomy, Chemistry, Geology, Geoscience, Math, Physics, Technology(Computers), Thermodynamics, Weather
Theme-Science,Social [=1140]: Archaeology, Development, Economics, Education, English, Government, History, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Social Studies, Sociology
Other Useful Links: Ray Hamel's page; Will Johnston's Puzzle Pointers; about.com; New York Times Crossword Reference/

Notes:

a "site" is defined here as a separate web page/directory or .zip archive
active sites usually add more puzzles (and may keep old puzzles); inactive sites tend to lose pages or links
some puzzles unavailable publicly or in formats not recognized by CrozzWord
puzzles may not be unique: some appear on an Author's page, and also for a newspaper where published; newspaper puzzles often appear in more than one publication, though generally only one site is included by CrozzWord (to represent that syndicate)
puzzles may not be available due to server outages or update delays
due to inconsistencies in how puzzles are labeled on some sites, and limitations in CrozzWord's current HTML processing, and desire not to maintain special site lists, some file name labels may be generic or contain HTML tags or display an internal filename.

Last Updated: 3-Nov-2004