Forum > Software / Technical
Crossword builder software recommendations?
crimsonsky:
I've always hoped to find a forum for crossword makers, and it looks like I'm late to the party.
All my crosswords are done by hand, and I've had difficulty making the actual grids suitable for publication. I make my own designs as I've never been clear on whether there are copyright issues in using someone else's puzzle grid. Currently I have a convoluted system using Photoshop, and it looks good but is very time-consuming. All crossword software I've seen seems more geared toward online or children or is behind a paywall and thus I can't evaluate. A lot of options also seem to have disappeared. Any suggestions are welcome, but the simpler the better because all I need is an image file for my publisher to print.
Even if there's little activity on this site, I'm still looking forward to seeing what I can do with it.
Glenn9999:
The standard that most people talk about for crossword creation software is Crossword Compiler, but people talk about Crossfire, too. You can get (rather limited) demos for both. Of course, there's nothing wrong with printing out a 15x15 grid and working by hand, as long as you are following all the proper rules.
For simply making the grid once you've written it, you can always use Across Lite (a solving software, free to download and use). Make a script (examples here), and load it in there and you can save it as PUZ or print it or whatever you need to do. Across Lite will be much much easier than your Photoshop activities to get a crossword layout.
crimsonsky:
--- Quote from: Glenn9999 on August 02, 2018, 01:39:20 AM ---The standard that most people talk about for crossword creation software is Crossword Compiler, but people talk about Crossfire, too. You can get (rather limited) demos for both. Of course, there's nothing wrong with printing out a 15x15 grid and working by hand, as long as you are following all the proper rules.
For simply making the grid once you've written it, you can always use Across Lite (a solving software, free to download and use). Make a script (examples here), and load it in there and you can save it as PUZ or print it or whatever you need to do. Across Lite will be much much easier than your Photoshop activities to get a crossword layout.
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the advice. I work on puzzle design and putting in words by hand, and I prefer 90-degree rotational symmetry to 180 so I follow all the rules. When it comes to making the actual puzzle for publication and adding all the numbers in, things stop being fun. My publisher complained when some of my puzzles had inconsistencies related to font and line thickness. Now that I get paid for this, at least in theory, it's time to automate and make things look cleaner. Compiler looks perfect for someone who only wants to make clean-looking grids and doesn't need vocabulary lists and so on.
crimsonsky:
By the way, do professionals rely on grid-filler features like this?
4wd:
--- Quote from: crimsonsky on August 02, 2018, 05:56:32 AM ---By the way, do professionals rely on grid-filler features like this?
--- End quote ---
Yup, these features significantly cuts fill times, constructors use more of a guided approach to filling, they're picking the final entry out of a list of suggested options highlighted by these features. If it were left to the software's autofill you'd have a dull puzzle.
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