How to Make Cross Word Puzzles

Make your own crossword puzzle

A crossword puzzle is a word game with hints and a grid into which users must enter the answers to the hints. This game varies in size and complexity. A player could take anything from a few minutes to several days to complete a puzzle, depending on these factors. Crossword puzzles are attractive to those who enjoy word games for the challenge they present, as well as the opportunity to expand their vocabularies.

Instructions

1. Draw a simple 10 x 10 grid on a sheet of paper. This should be a square with 10 rows and 10 columns. The size of your grid will depend on the number of answers you have and the number of characters in the answers. You may add more rows and columns to the grid as you need them.

2. Determine a theme for your crossword puzzle. Typically, the hints for a crossword puzzle share a common theme. Choose a title for the puzzle, based on the theme, to help your readers. For instance, "Mother's Day" or "A day at the beach."

3. Create a list of answers for the puzzle based on the theme. If your theme is "Mother's Day," for instance, then the list of associated words could include "Flowers," "Gifts" and "Jewelry."

4. Arrange the words in the grid. Look for two words that share a common letter and place them in the grid vertically or horizontally. Since "Flowers" and "Gifts" share the letter "s," for instance, you could place "Gifts" in one of the columns in the grid then place "Flowers" five rows down so that they both end with the same letter "s." Continue adding words to the grid, using common letters to connect them, until all the answers are in the grid.

5. Keep at least one empty block between words that share a row or column. Black out these blocks, and other empty blocks, with a felt pen.

6. Create a new grid, identical to the first, but without the answers. Place a list of the hints beneath the grid.

7. Number the hints. Number the squares for the corresponding answers accordingly, to show your readers where each answer belongs. Place the number in the first square for the sequence of squares belonging to the word. For instance, if the hint for "Flowers" is numbered "1," place "1" in the box where the letter "F" would go.

8. Include the number of letters for each answer beside their hints. This is very helpful when there are multiple possible answers for each hint. Place the number beside the hint, in brackets. For instance, if the answer for the first hint is flowers, place "(7)" beside the hint to show readers that the answer is a seven-letter word.

Tips & Warnings

• Amy Reynaldo provides tips for those interested in making a New York Times crossword puzzle in "How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Tips, Tricks and Techniques to Master America's Favorite Puzzle." She advises against including large clumps of black squares, using words that have just two letters and repeating entries in the grid.

References

• "How to Conquer the New York Times Crossword Puzzle: Tips, Tricks and Techniques to Master America's Favorite Puzzle"; Amy Reynaldo, The New York Times; St. Martin's Griffin, 2007