I found this excellent article on making crossword puzzles on the Microsoft Website. It gives good ideas on how to use Microsoft Excel to make your own crossword puzzle.
Design a Crossword Puzzle in Microsoft Excel
Enjoy and be creative.
Frans Van Wyk
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Design a Crossword Puzzle in Microsoft Excel
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Making Crossword Puzzles - Build Your Own
Continued: Making Crossword Puzzles....
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgenPHoXpLZLMcXeibj1-3H5-j2-3XsAnEnIG5gNAy8t4E795VSiQrqR7vmEZVO2jyoAlDVdfSHzGebLoCf7fLi4YjHWs8T8iy4EWgp-gTw_6IiEhGL4YnXiEU8Avpbr1wmINAb95aoGght/s200/American+Grid.jpg)
American
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGsjAEKF9FDEK9_oNBvoIXL38GS_BGMG0ADeyq3IWSLaQWfeaAk7Q0MVq_PLrp8IvJe5HOCLuhB9ZIwcqRgD1N4J6fuSIKKWbEK_vV4c8qm3kL87pcduFvXdI6-67wrqynoxd4gfx3sum1/s200/English+Grid.jpg)
English
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghVhVlIolVKYbinRTmWh3XfpF1G2jwQH6HRvjeEdIM6FgeWLFj3e2SZUBaLp-bhX5A6UH_lrqp0W5wKl9YL3q0PR18RC-0rv7xaJtASxixuPfMdr3MjNBGumW31nuTfP5nQaeGuQBhT1mM/s200/Japanese+Grid.jpg)
Japanese
As you see the main differences between the grids are that the English grid uses vertical and horizontal blanks, the Japanese grid uses only diagonal blanks while the American grid uses a combination of all three.
Frans
PS. If you're tugging at the bit look at this.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
2008 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Finals Part 3 of 4
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Labels: crossword puzzles, crosswords, making crossword puzzles
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Friday, September 19, 2008
2008 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament Finals Part 1 of 4
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Labels: crossword puzzles, crosswords, making crossword puzzles
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Making Crossword Puzzles – A peek behind the scenes
To embroider a bit on the idea of using a theme, I came across this article about Bonny L. Gentry at azcentral. She's a lady that's making crossword puzzles that have run in the Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times.
It is fascinating to me what people use to generate creative thoughts. Here are a few excerpts from the article that shows how creative making crossword puzzles can be:
There are computer programs that help crossword-puzzle creators like Bonnie L. Gentry of Scottsdale with some of the mundane tasks, like deciding where the black squares go and suggesting short words.
But most of the work that goes into a crossword happens away from the computer. It comes with Gentry scribbling ideas and odd words on slips of paper, trying to come up with the creative and clever themes that make crossword fans smile.
Gentry finds a theme or quote to build the puzzle around. She did one, for example, built around this quote from golfer John Daly: "I hit the ball as hard as I can. If I can find it, I hit it again."
For another, she played off the phrase "win, lose or draw." Her three answers were "winning smile," "losing one's nerve," and "drawing board."
I never would have thought of going about it quite like that, but thinking about it in such a creative way, making crossword puzzles can be very interesting.
Here is a link to the full article…
If you are asked to give particulars do so it’s harmless.
Love to hear what you think.
Frans
PS. For those tugging at the bit... Making Crossword Puzzles.