CrozzWord Help

Open CrossWord
Open Local CrossWord
Open Remote CrossWord
Next CrossWord
Save CrossWord
Select Letter/Word/Direction
Edit Guess
Check Guess
Reveal Answer
Set Preferences
View: Clues
Favorites: Add Host, Reset
Help: About, Docs, Register
Quit

 


Open CrossWord

CrozzWord automatically displays an open dialog when it starts; or you can later select File: Open to set a new category, host, site or file location. CrozzWord can read local files in Across Lite (.puz) format, or remote files in Across Lite, Crossword Compiler, Crossword Creator, Crossword Express, Crossword Wizard and Universal puzzle formats. After selecting a site, you can then read the Next file in a list or Next (earlier) date.

Register and Prefs buttons appear at bottom for convenience.

 


Open Local CrossWord

You can access several sample puzzles, or .puz files synced/saved earlier to internal memory, or CF or SD/MMC card.

  1. select Local Directory from top menu
  2. select Samples for several built-in sample puzzles or, select Other to select another directory with .puz files (or .zip files [Reg users]) or, registered users can select other directory paths (added via Pref: +Site)
  3. select specific Document directory from third menu if necessary
  4. after a list of puzzles appears, select a specific file (1st is default).
  5. select Open button to use that puzzle.

 


Open Remote CrossWord

With a network connection, you can access puzzles from remote hosts in several different puzzle formats.

1. select a category from the top menu.
Local Directory: local files
Favorites: shortcuts to frequently changing sites (daily, weekly, monthly); [Reg users] selecting Favorites initially adds more CrozzWord shortcuts, user-added bookmarks (if any), and custom sites (Pref: +Site)
Authors, Major Sites and Newspapers/Magazines each contain a few sites initially, others are empty; [Reg users] selecting any category updates it with a much larger set of hosts; in addition, for Newspapers/Magazines, if you earlier entered name and password (Pref: NYT User, Password) for a New York Times "Premium" subscription account, and installed "JSSE" library, additional NYT sites are added.
2. select a host from the 2nd menu
e.g., Litsoft from Major Sites category
3. select a site from the 3rd menu
CrozzWord will either display a list of descriptions or filenames, or constrain year/month/day menus to available dates
for some hosts, there is only one site; by convention, a regularly updated site has a "*" prefix, and may be cross-referenced under Favorites (*daily, *monthly, *weekly); a cross-reference/favorite has a "~" suffix -- selecting it will jump to that category and host
4. select a puzzle
either from the file list, or via date menus (year, month, day)
5. Open button
use currently selected file/date
interrupt a slow or down server/connection with Cancel in progress box
note: file access may fail due to incorrect links or server unavailability; for date, most recent puzzle might not yet be available
(later) File: Next
list: next file
date: earlier date
Count:
number of remaining puzzles for Save As; blank for all
Save As
[Reg users] save a collection of puzzles locally for a remote host, starting with current file/date selection, using Count field; saving as individual .puz files (using original filenames) or to a .zip archive (less file clutter and compressed)
Register
for convenience; or access via Help: Register
Prefs
for convenience; or access via Edit: Prefs

 


Next CrossWord

Once you have opened an initial file, use File: Next to access the next file in a local or remote list, or next (earlier) date.

When there are no remaining puzzles, the Next command is disabled -- select File: Open to start with a new file and sequence, or use File: Favorites as a quick way to return to the Favorites category.

 


Save CrossWord

Once you have downloaded a puzzle or have started to solve a puzzle, you can save it to reopen later in CrozzWord*.

  1. select File: Save As (or tap Save in Quit dialog)
  2. select a directory. default: directory of current puzzle if local
  3. enter a file name. default: current file name, including "_save" if there have been guesses

*Note: due to undocumented features of the file format, a .puz file saved by CrozzWord and transferred to another system may not open in other crossword applications, e.g., Across Lite.

 


Select Letter/Word/Direction

There are several ways to select a letter or word in puzzle:

The current letter highlights in green. [Pref: Select]

The current word and scrollbar and clue (across or down) highlight in cyan. [Pref: Word]

There are several ways to set the direction to across or down:

If the across or down clues are clipped in the menus, you can either make the clue font smaller for all clues (Prefs), or select View: Clues to display the current clues (and any cross-references) in a scrollable window.

 


Edit Guess

Add or modify a guess via keyboard or other input method:

If you are unsure about a guess, you could use Pencil mode, so that it displays in a different color.

 


Check Guess

You can check an individual Letter, Word, or entire puzzle(All), or as each letter is entered(Input). Checking marks a guess with a colored triangle at upper right:

With both Check: Input and Enter: Skip, the Enter key selects next word with incomplete or incorrect guess.

If a solution is not available, the Edit: Check submenu will be disabled. However, if you have the 4-digit key for a .puz file, use a desktop version of Across Lite (www.litsoft.com) to Unscramble and Save the puzzle; then transfer that file to a Local directory.

 


Reveal Answer

If a solution is available (see Check), the Edit: Reveal submenu will be enabled.

You can reveal an individual letter, word, or entire puzzle. Answer replaces each earlier blank or incorrect guess, with a red triangle at upper right.

 


Set Preferences

Browser
program path to web browser application -- currently used only for Registration
default: opera; for PocketPC, set to IELaunch
Help
program path to help application -- currently used by Help: About and Help: Docs
default: helpbrowser; for PocketPC, set to IELaunch
+Sites
[Reg users] url or local file containing links to remote puzzle pages, local directories or .zip archives
NYT User, Password
[Reg users] user name and password for New York Times subscription; requires installation of separate "JSSE" library
General
general font name, size for menus (across, down, Prefs, Open), buttons and text messages
Clue#
number font name, size, color
Guess
letter font name, size, color
Pencil
color for less certain guesses
Square
size and background color
Select, Word
Incorr., Correct, Reveal
colors: check currently incorrect and now correct, and reveal.

A sample square at lower left displays the initial settings and subsequent changes. The background color shows the most recent choice of Square, Select letter or Word color; the check triangle (initially off) shows the Check or Reveal colors.
15W

Sample text displays maximum number of guess squares that will fit on screen, based on current Square size, assuming no scrollbars are needed; this uses the General font.

Reset All (after confirmation) returns to original CrozzWord settings

Set applies any changed preferences

Cancel (or X box) discards changes without confirmation

 


View Clues

Long clues are sometimes clipped on the right side of the screen.

Select View:Clues to display a scrollable window containing the current across and down clues; as a bonus, it adds any other clues that are cross-referenced, e.g., "with 18-Across".

 


Favorites

File: Favorites
same as Open, then select Favorites category
Favorites: Add Host
[Reg users] save the current host in your set of Favorites.
Favorites: Reset All
[Reg users] remove all user-defined favorites

 


Help

About
a help browser (Pref: Help) appears with information about:
  • application: version, URL
  • puzzle: title, author, copyright, size
  • archive: directory or host, file or date
Note: tapping a URL might not link to web or email client, e.g., Zaurus "helpbrowser"; in other browsers, images might not appear
Docs
displays this documentation using help browser (Pref: Help)
also available on PocketPC via Start/Help/CrozzWord
Register
a registration window appears; it also appears automatically when CrozzWord starts after the "register-by" date.
tap the Pay button to register securely via your web browser (Pref: Browser) using Paypal, Kagi or Handango, and to view other registration information.
After registering and providing your User Name, enter and Set the registration code (received by email) to enable updating categories, adding favorites, and Prefs for adding your own sites (+Sites), and New York Times subscription name and password (NYT User/Pass).

 


Quit

Tap X to exit CrozzWord.

If a puzzle has not been saved after guesses or a download, you will be asked about saving the current puzzle before quitting. CrozzWord removes any temporary About or .zip files it created.