How to Design a Crossword Puzzle With Excel 2003
A spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel 2003 is an ideal place to design a crossword puzzle. You can add borders around each block in your crossword puzzle and shade in the blocks you don't want to use. You can also change the size of your cells to make them square. It helps to design your crossword puzzle on paper initially and then transfer it to Excel. Before being the design in Excel, decide on the overall design and where your numbers will be placed to save time.
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Instructions
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Designing the Crossword Puzzle
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Open a new document in Microsoft Excel 2003.
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Select the area of your spreadsheet where the crossword puzzle will go. (Make sure to keep this same area highlighted throughout all of the steps in this first section.) Then right-click over the selected area and choose "Format Cells" from the pop-up list.
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Select the "Alignment" tab. Then choose "Right Indent" for the horizontal text alignment and "Top" for the vertical text alignment.
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Select the "Font" tab. Then pick "Arial" for the font, "10" for the font size and "Superscript" for the effects and click "OK."
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Select "Format," "Row" and "Height" from the toolbar. Type "20" into the "Row Height" dialog box and click "OK."
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Select "Format," "Column" and "Width" from the toolbar. Type "4" into the "Column Width" dialog box and click "OK." The selected cells should now be square.
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Select the "Border" button from the "Formatting" toolbar. Choose "All Borders" to create a border around each selected cell.
Adding Content
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Place your cursor in the cell where you want to add a number. Type in the number you want. Then press "Enter" or use your arrow keys to move to the another cell in the crossword.
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Insert additional numbers into the desired cells until they are all in.
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Select any cells within the crossword puzzle that you want to shade (areas where letters/words will not be entered when printed). To select multiple cells at the same time, hold down the "ctrl" key on your keyboard as you select each cell.
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Click on the arrow beside the "Fill (Color)" button in the "Formatting" toolbar and choose black. The selected areas will be shaded.
Inserting the Clues
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Place your cursor outside the crossword puzzle (below it) to insert the clues for the crossword puzzle. Type in "ACROSS" and bold the text by using the "Bold" button in the "Formatting" toolbar. Then press "Enter."
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Type in the number "1" and your first clue for the "ACROSS" category and press "Enter." Continue typing in all of the other clues until you are finished.
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Next to the Across clues, enter the Down clues in a different column. Type in the word "DOWN" and bold it. Then press "Enter."
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Type in each number and clue for the "DOWN" category, pressing "Enter" after each one. Continue typing in other numbers and clues until they are complete.
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Save your work by selecting "File" and "Save" from the toolbar. Name your crossword puzzle file and click "Save."
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Tips & Warnings
Creating the basic template---including the theme and clues---before designing the crossword puzzle in Microsoft Excel 2003.
References
- Photo Credit crossword and cap image by Victor M. from Fotolia.com
