Solving crossword puzzles is a great way to spend time with value. They help broaden your horizons and expand your vocabulary. Composing an interesting crossword puzzle is not an easy task; to solve it, you need to act in stages.
Crossword puzzle grid
The first thing you need to do is determine the size of the grid for the crossword puzzle. Select a rectangular or square area divided into cells. Determine the number of cells horizontally and vertically. If you create a crossword puzzle by hand and on paper, you can select an area of any size. If you use special software, certain restrictions may be imposed on the mesh size.
Word list
Make a list of words that will be contained in the crossword puzzle. For simplicity, you can take any topic for your crossword puzzle (for example, sports, movies, celebrities, etc.) and form words based on it.
Place your invented words in the prepared grid. To do this, prepare a crossword template from the existing grid, determining where and what size the words will be located. Paint over the remaining cells as unnecessary. Then place words from your list into this template. Please note that with this method of writing a crossword puzzle, not all of your words can be used, so try to come up with as many words as possible. An easier way to overlay words is to place them on the grid ahead of time, positioning them as you see fit. After all the words are located, fill in the empty cells.
You can also use special software that allows you to automate the process of creating a template and entering words into it.
First letters
When you're done filling in the grid, identify the first letters of each word and number them starting from the top left corner. When using programs, this process is performed automatically. If you do everything yourself, do not forget that you will have two numbering lists, one for vertical and one for horizontal words.
Questions
Make a list of questions for the words you have prepared. This is the creative part of writing a crossword puzzle, you can come up with questions in any form. Be sure to number the questions and divide them into two lists, one for vertical and one for horizontal words.
Copy of the grid
Create another crossword puzzle grid with an exact copy of the first grid template. Number it in the same way, but leave the lines themselves blank, without entering words in them. Put the first of the grids aside, it will serve as answers to your questions, and the second can be used as a ready-made crossword puzzle.
