How to Make a Crossword Grid

Make your own crossword.

Crossword puzzles offer a popular option for wordsmiths worldwide. While solving crossword puzzles offers enjoyment, creating them offers an entirely different satisfaction. Providing a crossword puzzle for friends can be a rewarding pursuit. You can easily create your own crossword grid by following a few simple steps.

Instructions

1. Create a crossword grid that offers up clues that will challenge your audience. Don't create a puzzle that can stump the player to the point of frustration. Choose a theme for your puzzle, such as soccer.

2. Start with a simple 16 by 16 grid. Make the grid more or less advanced simply by adding or subtracting some boxes.

3. Create the solutions and place them into the grid. Verify solutions work interchangeably by using common letters. For example, the "s" in the horizontal solution of "soccer" could connect to the "s" in the vertical solution of "score." Fill the boxes that don't have letters with black.

4. Transfer the puzzle to a blank grid, leaving blank white spaces for those boxes that contain letters, black squares where there are no letters. Position a number at the beginning of all horizontal and vertical solutions.

5. Create clues for solutions. Place those clues outside of the grid. Number the clues accordingly.

Resources

• Crossword Unclued: Make your Own Crossword Grid