===================================================================== Cross Words Deluxe Edition Written by Edward E. Dellow Copyright (c) 1993, Strategic Solutions Version 1.0 _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| MEMBER ===================================================================== Contents -------- 1.0 The shareware concept ................ 2 1.1 Definition of shareware ........... 2 1.2 Disclaimer - agreement ............ 3 1.3 Registration ...................... 4 2.0 Using Cross Words Deluxe ............ 5 2.1 What is Cross Words Deluxe? ....... 5 2.2 Computer advantages ............... 5 2.3 Hardware\Software Requirements .... 5 2.1 Cell and word cursers ............ 6 2.2 Using the menus .................. 6 2.3 Using the mouse .................. 8 2.4 Using the keyboard ............... 8 2.5 Showing clues .................... 9 2.6 Opening a new book ............... 9 2.7 The puzzle Index ................. 9 2.8 Printing ......................... 10 3.0 Support policy and Ombudsman ........ 11 1.0 The shareware concept Page 2 ===================================================================== 1.1 Definition of shareware --------------------------- Shareware distribution gives users a chance to try software before buying it. If you try a Shareware program and continue using it, you are expected to register. Individual programs differ on details -- some request registration while others require it, some specify a maximum trial period. With registration, you get anything from the simple right to continue using the software to an updated program with printed manual. Copyright laws apply to both Shareware and commercial software, and the copyright holder retains all rights, with a few specific exceptions as stated below. Shareware authors are accomplished programmers, just like commercial authors, and the programs are of comparable quality. (In both cases, there are good programs and bad ones!) The main difference is in the method of distribution. The author specifically grants the right to copy and distribute the software, either to all and sundry or to a specific group. For example, some authors require written permission before a commercial disk vendor may copy their Shareware. Shareware is a distribution method, not a type of software. You should find software that suits your needs and pocketbook, whether it's commercial or Shareware. The Shareware system makes fitting your needs easier, because you can try before you buy. And because the overhead is low, prices are low also. Shareware has the ultimate money-back guarantee -- if you don't use the product, you don't pay for it. Page 3 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.2 Disclaimer - agreement -------------------------- Users of Cross Words Deluxe must accept this disclaimer of warranty: Cross Words Deluxe is supplied as is. The author disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, including, without limitation, the warranties of merchantability and of fitness for any purpose. The author assumes no liability for damages, direct or conse- quential, which may result from the use of Cross Words Deluxe. Cross Words Deluxe is a "shareware program" and is provided at no charge to the user for evaluation. Feel free to share it with your friends, but please do not give it away altered or as part of another system. The essence of "user-supported" software is to provide personal computer users with quality software without high prices, and yet to provide incentive for programmers to continue to develop new products. If you find this program useful and find that you are using Cross Words Deluxe and continue to use Cross Words Deluxe after a reasonable trial period, you must make a registration payment of $20.00 to Strategic Solutions. The $20.00 registration fee will license one copy for use on any one computer at any one time. You must treat this software just like a book. An example is that this software may be used by any number of people and may be freely moved from one computer location to another, so long as there is no possibility of it being used at one location while it's being used at another. Just as a book cannot be read by two different persons at the same time. Commercial users of Cross Words Deluxe must register and pay for their copies of Cross Words Deluxe within 30 days of first use or their license is withdrawn. Site-License arrangements may be made by contacting Strategic Solutions. Anyone distributing Cross Words Deluxe for any kind of remuneration must first contact Strategic Solutions at the address below for authorization. This authorization will be automatically granted to distributors recognized by the (ASP) as adhering to its guidelines for shareware distributors, and such distributors may begin offering Cross Words Deluxe immediately (However Strategic Solutions must still be advised so that the distributor can be kept up-to-date with the latest version of Cross Words Deluxe). You are encouraged to pass a copy of Cross Words Deluxe along to your friends for evaluation. Please encourage them to register their copy if they find that they can use it. All registered users will receive a copy of the latest version of the Cross Words Deluxe system. Page 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 1.3 Registration ---------------- To register, print and fill out the file ORDERFRM.TXT. Mail it to the address listed on the registration form. You may also print the registration form from within Cross Words Deluxe by selecting Help\Registration. When you register, SELECT ONE FREE PUZZLEBOOK! In addition to the registration you may order puzzle books and subscriptions. Puzzle books ------------ Each puzzle book contains 100 new puzzles. You may order Easy, Medium (standard) or Hard (challenging) or mixed puzzle books. Subscriptions ------------- Get 12 issues of crosswords delivered to your home. Each month you will get a new puzzle book jammed with 100 new crosswords just waiting to be solved. In addition you will receive a bonus puzzle book each month of 25 puzzles only available to monthly subscribers. A cross words subscription makes a great gift! You may change the type of puzzles you receive at any time during your subscription. 2.0 Using Cross Words Deluxe Page 5 ===================================================================== 2.1 What is Cross Words Deluxe? ------------------------------- Cross Words Deluxe is a software application that allows you to solve cross word puzzles on your computer. The application uses special puzzle books prepared by Strategic Solutions. The evaluation copy comes with a book of 25 puzzles. The registered version comes with 100 puzzles in your choice of Easy, Standard, Challenging or Mixed. As you solve puzzles, your work is automatically saved to disk so that whenever you come back you can pick up right where you left off. And if you want to take the puzzles with you when you leave the computer, you can may printouts (up to four per page) of the puzzles with or without your work in progress. 2.2 Computer advantages ----------------------- Cross Words Deluxe has many advantages over standard puzzle books. For one thing, you can easily peek at a single word with out 'accidentally' seeing the other words. You can also have the computer show you which answers are incorrect without actually seeing the correct answers. Unlike paper puzzle books, you can erase your answers when you are through so that you or a friend can solve the puzzle all over again. One BIG advantage in a computerized puzzle book is clue assistance. Cross Words Deluxe has two forms of clue assistance. You fill out the puzzle by moving a cursor around and typing. As you move the cursor into a cell on the crossword, the clue for both the Across and Down words are highlighted. In the Show All Clues mode you can also click the mouse on a clue to find where the word is in the puzzle. This clue assistance totally eliminates the need to scan back and forth between the puzzle and the clues. The final and perhaps best reason for computer crossword puzzles is that they are just plain fun! Play them on your home computer for a relaxing evening or load in on your laptop to fill time on that next business trip. 2.3 Hardware\Software Requirements ----------------------------------- Cross Words Deluxe is a windows application. It should run on any configuration supported by windows. It is recommended however that you have a 386 or better and a VGA monitor. The application automatically takes maximum advantage of your displays resolution. This means that it will work on an EGA but may be difficult to read in All Clues Mode. It works well on a standard VGA and great on Super VGA. Page 6 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.1 Cell and word Cursors ------------------------- Cross Words Deluxe maintains a cursor on one cell of the crossword. This is independent of the mouse cursor maintained by windows. In addition to the cell cursor, a word cursor will be highlighted. The word cursor is either the horizontal (across) or vertical (down) word which contains the cell cursor. As you type, the character will be placed at the cell cursor and then the cell cursor will move to the next character in the word cursor. When you fill out the last character in a word, the word and cell cursers will move to the next word in the same direction. You may move the cell cursor by pressing any of the four cursor keys. If the cell cursor moves another word, the word cursor will move with it. You may move to the next word in the same direction by pressing tab or the previous word in the same direction by pressing shift-tab. You may also move the word/cell cursers to any word at random by clicking on a cell with the left mouse button or by clicking on the clue if all clues are shown. You can toggle the word cursor between an across word and a down word by pressing enter or clicking the right mouse button anywhere on the window. 2.2 Using the menus ------------------- FILE Open Puzzle book Opens a new puzzle book. Save Work Saves your work in progress. Your work is also saved anytime you change puzzles, books or quit Cross words Next page Displays the next page (puzzle) in the current puzzle book You may also go to the next page by pressing . Prev page Displays the previous page (puzzle) in the current puzzle book You may also go to the previous page by pressing . Index Displays an index of puzzles in the current book. You may select a puzzle to jump to. You may also get an index list by pressing . (see The Puzzle index) Page 7 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Erase page Erases all work from the current puzzle. This allows someone else to work the puzzle without the benefit of your progress. You will be prompted to confirm this action before the puzzle is erased. Print Allows you to print one or more puzzles (see Printing) Print setup Allows you to specify the destination for printing puzzles as well as the size and orientation of the paper supply. Exit Exits from Crosswords. Your current work in progress will be saved along with the name of the current book and the current puzzle number. The next time you start Crosswords you will resume right where you left off. SOLVE Peek at solution Fills in the correct answer for the word at the word cursor. Show correct words Shows you which characters and words you have correct so far. All the correct words will remain black and all incorrect words will become red. OPTIONS Sound Toggles sound on and off. A little tune is played when you complete a crossword puzzle or show the about box. A check mark beside the menu option indicates that sound is on. Show all clues Toggles between all clue and single clue mode (see Showing clues ) Uppercase Clues Toggles between all uppercase clues and mixed case clues. The advantage to uppercase clues is that they are more easily read on lower resolution moinitors. HELP About Crosswords Shows the product name and author. Will also play a little tune if sound is on Help on using help Opens a windows help dialog that explains how to use help Help Index Opens a windows help dialog that shows you the index of help available for Crosswords. Page 8 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.3 Using the mouse ------------------- Clicking on a cell Single clicking the left mouse button on a crossword cell moves the cursor to that location. The appropriate clue will be displayed for the new cursor locations. Clicking on a clue When all clues are shown, single clicking the left mouse button on a clue move the cursor to that location. If will also change the cursor orientation (across or down) to that of the selected clue. Orientation You may also change the orientation (across or down) by clicking the right mouse button anywhere in the cross word window. 2.4 Using the keyboard ---------------------- Enter key Toggles the clue direction between Across and Down. A single across word or down word is highlighted to indicate the current direction. When a character is typed in the highlighted word, the cursor will move to the next character in that word or, if the cursor is on the last character in the highlighted word, the cursor will move to the first character of the next word in the same direction. Tab key Moves to the first character of the next word in the same direction (e.g. if an across word is highlighted, the cursor will move to the next across word, if the cursor is on a down word, the cursor will move to the next downword. If all clues are displayed, the clue for both the across and down word will be highlighted in the clue section. If only a single across and down clue is displayed, the clues will be refreshed for the new word. Pressing Shift-Tab will move the cursor to the previous word in the same direction. Arrow keys The four arrow keys will move the cell cursor in the specified direction. If the cell cursor moves to another word, the word cursor will also move. Page 9 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.5 Showing clues ----------------- When working a crossword, you have the option of showing all clues or only the clues at the cursor. You toggle between the two modes with the menu item Options:Show all clues Showing all clues Showing all the clues has the advantage of seeing all clues at any point in time and allows you to select a clue with the mouse for navigation in the puzzle. Showing a single clue Showing a single clue (one across and one down) reserves more space for the puzzle thus allowing you to work the crossword puzzle in a smaller window or on a lower resolution display. 2.6 Opening a new puzzle book ----------------------------- Allows you to open a different installed puzzle book. The dialog box contains two lists. Puzzle books Allows you to choose a book in the current directory. You may double-click on a book to open it or you may single-click on it and then press the OK button. Dirs and Drives Allows you to change the default drive or directory of puzzle books. Each time you click in this list, the left list will display the puzzles at that location. The path shown at the top of the screen will change to reflect the new location. 2.7 The Puzzle Index -------------------- The puzzle index is a list of all puzzles in the current book. You may move to any puzzle by double-clicking on the puzzle or by single clicking and then pressing the OK button. Page 10 --------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.8 Printing ------------ The print dialog box allows you to select multiple options before printing. Print range Allows you to specify a range of puzzles to print. A valid range is one of the following: Entire puzzle book Selects the entire puzzle book for printing Current puzzle Selects only the current page for printing Range of puzzles Selects a range of puzzles to be printed. If you choose this option, you must specify a range in the From and to boxes. Answers Allows you to specify what answer information will appear in the printed puzzles. Valid answer settings include: None Leave all the cells empty Work in progress Displays the progress you have made so far (right or wrong!). This option allows you to continue solving your puzzle on paper should you leave your computer. Correct answers Show the correct answers to the puzzle in the cells. Page layout Allows you to change the layout of the puzzles on the page. There may also be several printer specific layout options on the setup dialog box. These include paper size and orientation. Margins Contains four data-entry fields for Left, Right, Top, and Bottom. This fields allow you to specify page margins in inches. This may be useful if you wish to put your puzzles in a book. Puzzles per page Allows you to specify 1, 2 or 4 puzzles per page. 3.0 Support Policy Page 11 ===================================================================== Strategic Solutions provides user support to registered versions via mail, telephone, and CompuServe Information Service (R). for 3 months after registration. Strategic Solutions will answer questions and fix serious bugs during the three month period. For problems involving a specific hardware or software environment or feature, we may choose not to modify the program. In that case, if a problem is reported within three months after purchase, then we shall offer to refund the user's purchase price. If a program bug prevents you from evaluating Cross Words Deluxe during the first 30 days (prior to registration), Strategic Solutions will attempt to assist but is not under obligation to resolve issues beyond our control. Phone : (817) 232-8781 CIS : 71321,2745 Address : Strategic Solutions 7908 Firefly Fort Worth, Texas 76137 You may share Cross Words Deluxe with others for the purpose of evaluation as long as it's unaltered and distributed in its entirety. Strategic Solutions is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442 or send a Compuserve message via easyplex to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536.