Make your own crossword ­puzzles

Launch a web browser, click in the Location or address bar at the top is and replace what’s there by typing www.eclipsecrossword.com. Press Enter. When the site loads, click the Download tab. At the next page, click the ‘I’m downloading EclipseCrossword for the first time’ link and, at the next screen, click Download EclipseCrossword again. If Windows displays a security warning, click Run and then Run again and follow the setup wizard that appears. Accepting all the defaults and click Close to exit.

Once the installation has finished, click the Start button, choose All Programs and then find Eclipsecrossword on the menu – click the program name to start it. Decline the offer of a tutorial, as we will handle that, and proceed to the first screen. Keep the ‘I would like to start a new crossword’ radio button selected and click Next. At the ‘Create or select a word list’ dialogue box, click to select ‘Let me create a word list from scratch now’. Click Next.

The next dialogue box displays an empty word list. Click in the box labelled ‘Word’ and type in an answer. Now, in the box underneath, type in the clue. With the first answer and clue entered, click the ‘Add word to list’ button. This will add the word to the word list and display a new empty box for the next word and clue.

We have added about 15 words and clues to our crossword. The next step is to save what we have done so far. Click the Tools button and then choose Save word list from the dropdown list. When the dialogue box opens, give the word list a fitting name and click Save. By default the program will store the word list files in the Documents/My Documents folder. The Tools button also has an Open option to load previously saved word lists.

Once you have finished adding words, click the Next button to move on. At the next screen, type in a name for the crossword and add your name – or a pseudonym (as many professional crossword-compilers do). Click Next to continue. Use the next screen to control the overall size of the crossword. The default size offered by Eclipsecrossword is usually fine, so feel free to experiment. Click the Next button again.

And here is the crossword. Eclipsecrossword takes the word list created in Steps 3 and 4 and arranges the contents within the grid size specified in Step 5. You don’t have to do anything else. To see those sections of the crossword that are outside the frame, click and drag the crossword with the mouse pointer to move it around. If desired, click the Back icons to go back and add more words or click the Return button next to it to abandon this crossword and start over – or click Next to continue.

At the next screen it’s a good idea to save the crossword by clicking the Save crossword link. Give it a name and click the Save button. Now try clicking the Print crossword tab at the top. From here choose from several print variations. Once you have don this, click the ‘Print everything checked above’ link and it will print using the default printer.

Now try something different. Click the ‘Save as a web page’ tab at the top, followed by the Interactive with JavaScript link. When the Save web page dialogue box appears, choose a suitable save location, give the web page a name and click Save. Find the file that’s been created and double-click it. After a moment the empty crossword will launch in the default web browser, ready to be filled in.

The crossword can be saved in other formats, too. Click the Publish crossword tab. Now click the Rich text format link to save the word is as an RTF file. Then click the Windows metafile (WMF) link. Once the file has saved you will find three different file types have been saved – RTF, WMF and EPS. Double-click each in turn: the clues will open in Word (or Word Pad), while the puzzle grids should launch in the default graphics program (such as Microsoft Paint).

Finally, it’s worth having a look at what’s behind the Options button. From here you can increase the time Eclipsecrossword takes to create a puzzle (this results in better layouts) and set the language and various printing options (such as shading for the squares and the font). We would also draw attention to the Web tab – clicking that reveals an option to remove the Solve button from the interactive, browser-based puzzles, like the one we demonstrated in Step 8. Now click OK to close the Options dialogue box.