Crossword Wizard meets a need long unsatisfied. Computers should be ideal crossword-puzzle creators and players, but that’s not been the case, with earlier software attempts being either too simplistic or too difficult to set up and use.
The puzzle-solving mechanics and options of Crossword Wizard are brilliant. Navigating and filling in puzzles using the keyboard and mouse is fast and easy, with color and sound used to excellent effect.
As you fill in a puzzle, the program is smart enough to move to the next logical open box or word without your intenention. If you want to solve the puzzle in a different order, you can do that, too. Optional visual hints tell you if the last letter you typed is correct. Even better are the optional audio hints, which perform the same function aloud. I wish paper crosswords had these.
Other puzzle-solving aids are Word Builder, which provides a list of all possible words, from the program’s 70,000-word dictionary, that fit a selected square; and Idea Wizard, which shows definitions, related words, and grammatical data about any word in the dictionary. Idea Wizard can run as a stand-alone application and is useful for improving your vocabulary. It’s unique among word games I’ve used.
Crossword Wizard comes with a mere five premade puzzles, and they’re only soso. But it excels at creating traditional-style puzzles up to 21 by 21 boxes square. It can’t create acrostics, odd shapes, or any other crossword subgenre, however.
Puzzle-creating options range from letting the program do all the work to creating a puzzle from scratch using your own words and hints. You can choose any level of computer assistance in between. For example, you can specify ten related words and let Crossword Wizard do the rest, resulting in a theme puzzle using your ten words. The words and tips the program generates can easily be edited.
Watching Crossword Wizard build a puzzle from scratch is a pleasure. However, the dictionary has many odd and rarely used words, and it frequently comes up with weak clues. Would you know that Doha is the expected answer for “national capital”?
You can’t add your own words to the dictionary. Along with the weak clues, that’s Crossword Wizard’s only real drawback. Tech support is a toll call to northern California and is excellent. You can print puzzles, and you can easily export them to word processing and page-layout programs.
The Last Word If you’re a crossword fan. Crossword Wizard is a must. You can even create and sell, royalty-free, your own puzzles or those that Crossword Wizard builds.
Bobker, Steven. (December 1994). Crossword Wizard 1.0. Macworld. (pg. 83).
Cogix Corporation
Games
out of 10 (0 vote)
19 / 
2014-04-14 / 
2023-05-19 / 
e832a8d04bf8b0af1e3a53553bd21e943f6d4a41 / 
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CrosswordWizard.img_.sit
Emulating this? It could probably run under: 
Basilisk II
