How to make a crossword in electronic form. How to make a crossword puzzle in a Microsoft Word document
In addition to simply typing and editing text, you can do many useful things in a Microsoft Word document.
For example, in this document you can make a crossword puzzle, or more specifically, a crossword puzzle template.
For this procedure we need a table. Therefore, first of all we go to the menu "Insert" and select the item "Insert table". For example, let's choose a table of 10x10 cells. 
A table with 10 columns and 10 rows appeared. 
A crossword puzzle requires square-shaped cells, but the cells of our table have a rectangular shape. To make them square you need to do several steps.
1. Select the entire table. Next, right-click and select "Table Properties".
2. A new window will open and in it we will need items "columns" And "strings". Open one of these items and set the height. In our case, we first set the row height. Let's make it equal to 1 centimeter.
3. We carry out similar actions with the columns of the table. We give them a width equal to the height of the lines. In our case, this value is equal to a centimeter.
The result is a table with square cells. 
In principle, this table is already a crossword puzzle. Now you can type numbers and words into it. If you wish, you can make the empty cells of your crossword puzzle colored. To do this, you will need to go to "Table Properties" and select item "Fill". But this is optional.
In the end, your crossword will look something like this. 
Crossword is a fascinating puzzle. To draw it yourself, you only need desire and time.
If you need to create a crossword puzzle, you can do this in Word. Of course, there are various other services, but a text editor is also quite convenient, especially since you can make a template for subsequent work. You have to take several steps in succession, and if you didn’t know how to make a crossword puzzle in Word, then our instructions will help you cope with the task. Special programs are often paid, but demo versions do not allow you to save your work in its normal form, so Word, although it requires effort and time, will help you solve the problem.
The question of how to create a crossword puzzle in Word arises not only among fans of this type of task, but also among schoolchildren who are given a special task. Step-by-step instructions will help you overcome difficult issues in drawing a field.
If you decide to work in a text editor, carefully follow the step-by-step instructions on how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. First of all, we create a table - the field of the future puzzle. This is done as follows.
On the “Insert” tab there is a section dedicated to tables. Click on the icon there and you will see the grid.
If you are making a small field, then select the required number of cells with the mouse and click on them - a table grid will appear on your sheet.
In Word, as a standard, you can create a field of up to 10x8 cells. If you need more, click on the “Insert table” link. An additional window will open where you can manually enter the number of columns and rows.
Cell Alignment
After creating the table, you need to format the cells so that they are square in shape and the same size.
Open "Table properties". There are two ways to get to them:
- Select the table. By right-clicking on it, open the menu - below is the desired link.
- With the cursor in the cell, go to the “Layout” tab that opens. On the left there is a "Properties" button.
When you open Table Properties, you will see the Row and Column tabs. First go to one of them, set the value, for example, 1 cm. Set the “Exact” mode. Then do the same on the second tab.
After this, you will get a grid with even square cells.
Text alignment
Typically, numbers are placed in cells in the upper left corner. To perform this alignment, select the entire table.
- Right-click on the cells.
- In the menu, click on “Cell Alignment” - “Top Left”.
- Next, set the font (let's say Arial) and size (9).
All you have to do is decide how to create a crossword puzzle in Word, what content to fill it with, and also enter the answer words and numbers in the cells to determine which ones should be left and which ones should be painted over.
Field formation
You have created the basis, now let's figure out how to draw a crossword puzzle in Word. You need to paint over the empty cells inside.
Place the cursor in the cell that will be empty, go to the “Design” tab. In the “Table Styles” section you will see the “Fill” button; by clicking on it, you will get a color palette. Choose the one you need (usually black). You can select several adjacent cells at once and fill them with color.
Removing extra cells
There may be extra cells along the edges. To remove them, use the following method: using the “Eraser” tool (in the “Design” tab - “Drawing Borders”), delete unnecessary lines.
You can draw field lines in another way. After creating the table, in the “Home” tab, remove all borders and activate “Show Grid” to see the layout. Once you have identified the cells you need, select them and outline them using the All Borders button. Then fill in the inner empty cells. Outer empty cells will not be highlighted with lines.
Shutdown
Once you have completed everything, delete the answer words. You can save two options for yourself: with and without answers. If you used a grid, uncheck the box so that the guide lines are not reflected. Write down questions and tasks. Place them on the same sheet or on another page. Additionally, you can work with the colors of the lines and their thickness. Check the results by going to the “View” - “Scale” tab and specifying “Full Page” there, edit the location of the object and text, margins if necessary. Now your crossword is ready, so you can print it.
As you can see, although the work takes quite a lot of time, it is not so complicated, so every user who has already worked in Word will be able to cope with the task and make a beautiful crossword puzzle.
If you like to solve crosswords on various topics, we offer useful tips on how to make a crossword in Word yourself. Currently, on the Internet you can find many specialized applications that allow you to create a crossword puzzle in Word, absolutely for “any size and taste.” The main difficulty of creating a crossword puzzle in the Microsoft Word text editor is performing a large number of operations related to formatting the cells of the table in which your crossword puzzle will be located.
The question of how to make a crossword puzzle in Word is relevant for schoolchildren (for learning) and for adults (for leisure). There are many free programs offered on the Internet for creating crossword puzzles, but they are paid, and when working in the DEMO version, it is often very difficult to save the completed crossword puzzle in its normal form. We offer step-by-step instructions for creating your own crossword puzzle in Word:
First step. Create a table. Select the “Insert table” button in the program menu, set the dimensions of the table (crossword) in the window that appears, for example, 15 by 15 cells.
Second step. The table you created is far from what is required; it is difficult to see a new crossword puzzle in it. You need to make a normal display of the cells; to do this, in the upper left corner of your table you need to right-click and select “table properties” from the menu. The width of the columns is set to 1 centimeter. Due to the fact that the height of the crossword cells is large, use the ninth font size for the entire table. 
Third step. To select words, find free programs or use online services designed for creating crossword puzzles. Next, you can transfer the selected image to the prepared table. To paint some of the cells, use the Ctrl button by pressing the right mouse button. Select the “borders and fills” option in the menu that appears and start painting.
Fourth step. In the Border and Fill window, select “paper source” and select the fill color that you like. The cells that you previously selected will be painted in this color. You can also experiment by using a few different colors for your crossword grid. For example, you can paint all cells diagonally with one color, and vertically with another.
Fifth step. By following all the steps above, you have successfully created a beautiful grid for your crossword puzzle. If necessary, fill it in with certain words (sometimes they do this in crossword puzzles so that, in a sense, the beginning of guessing has been made).
Sixth step. Compose your crossword puzzle questions correctly. You shouldn’t make them too detailed and simple so that solving them requires ingenuity and ingenuity. 
That's all, now you can print out a list of questions and a grid to fill in with answers. It is advisable to use a sheet of A3 paper for this so that all the information fits. Then you are guaranteed an interesting time with your family.
Making crosswords is a fun activity. Some compile them for fun, others for study. Compiling manually on paper is a labor-intensive task, especially when you need to frequently adjust the cells. For this purpose it is better to use computer resources. Let's look at what programs are suitable for creating crosswords on a computer.
How to make a crossword in MS Word?
Let's open a new document in MS Word and immediately save it with a name, for example, “Crossword Template”. A crossword puzzle is a combination of black and white cells, formed in the form of a table. Therefore, to create a template, we will need to go to the “Insert” → “Table” menu. Determine the number of rows and columns. In our example, let the table be 20×20 in size.
Format the cell size. Formatting can be done in two ways: select “Table Properties” by clicking on the “Layout” tab or by clicking on the icon in the upper left corner. In the window, set the width of the cells and height, for example, 1 cm. If you need a different size, select it so that the cells look symmetrical. Now you need to paint over the cells that are intermediate between the words with a dark color.
To see which cells to color, you need to create a crossword puzzle project on a sheet of paper in a box, entering the answers in the right order, or use any online service. We'll need the Borders and Fills tab. First select the desired cell. On the “Fill” tab, select the desired color. When the required cells of the template are filled in, you need to put the numbers of the crossword questions in certain cells.
The template can be made in another way: in the created table, write down the answers in the required order, mark the boundaries of these cells with bold lines, and discolor the boundaries of unused cells. You will get a traditional crossword puzzle.
How to make a crossword in MS Excel?
In MS Excel, a crossword puzzle can be done in various ways. Let's consider a version of the same format as was created in Word. We create and save the document in the same way. Let our template be 15x15 in size. Let's select the cells horizontally from A to O, and the first 15 cells vertically. Let's format the size of our range. In the “Format” section, select “Cell Size” and set the required dimensions. Set the height of the cells to 25, and the width to 5. The cells will become square.
Using the “Borders” menu in our range, select all the borders using the appropriate option. Next, you need to format the placement of letters in the cells by selecting the “Center” option in the “Format Cells” menu, vertically in the cell and horizontally. We will make our template automated. To do this, write all the answers in the cells of the template, filling in the spaces between them. To fill, use the Fill Color option in the Font panel.
Writing crossword questions is best done using the “Note” option. When you need to enter an answer in the selected cell, a note with a question will pop up. It is recommended to enter a note in the first cell of the word. To do this, select “Insert a note”, in the window of which we write our question. Here you can format any aspect of the note, including size, font, and letter color. If there are two questions in a box: horizontally and vertically, write both options in one note.
The cell with the note will be indicated with a red triangle. The note can be changed or deleted using the appropriate options. To delete answers in a crossword puzzle, create a copy of it below, for example, placing it on line 50. In the original, delete all letters using DELETE. You can place a copy on another sheet of our document.
Let's set up a check for the correctness of writing answers; to do this, you need to set a rule for each cell using conditional formatting. We select the first cell of the original, set a rule by assigning it the value of the first cell of our copy “=50” using the option “Format only cells that contain”, and also set the color of the correct answer, for example, blue.
Using the copy function, we paste our cell with the rule into other cells of the original. You can also manually set a rule for each cell, similar to the first one. A copy of the crossword puzzle must be made invisible so that when solving it it is not possible to view the answer. This removes all notes and cell borders. Fonts and cells are set to white. To hide all formulas in cells, in the “Cell Format” item, select “Number” → “Number Formats” → “All Formats”, and enter a semicolon three times. The formulas will become hidden.
How to transfer a crossword puzzle from an online service to MS Office?
Not all online services can transfer a crossword template or a completed version to MS Office. The transfer function is available on the online service >Cross. Initially, a template is created on the service. To do this, you need to select the number of cells in the crossword puzzle and enter the desired words from the list on the left. The crossword is generated automatically. On the online service panel there are two commands that allow you to download a blank template in Word format or a completed one. Then the resulting copy can be printed using Word.
In the same way, you can transport templates from the crossword editor “Krestoslovitsa” to Excel97. The program builds a crossword both manually and automatically with a maximum cell size of 60×60, which is suitable for 700 words. The dictionary contains about 28 thousand words with definitions.
The paid version allows you to print received copies of the crossword puzzle, as well as make a free transfer to other programs. An Excel converter is needed to finalize the template. It contains arrows, questions and digital clues. For this purpose, the environment contains appropriate macros.
Online services for creating crossword puzzles
There is a large selection of services that are designed for composing crossword puzzles. All of them have a standard set of functions: constructing a template in manual and automatic mode, generating a crossword puzzle from a list of words. Words are entered automatically when selected from the dictionary or by letter. Many offer the option of printing a finished copy. These online services are the most popular.
Do you want to create a crossword puzzle yourself (on the computer, of course, and not just on a piece of paper), but don’t know how to do it? Don't despair, the multifunctional office program Microsoft Word will help you do this. Yes, there are no standard tools for such work, but tables will come to our aid in this difficult task.
We have already written about how to create tables in this advanced text editor, how to work with them and how to modify them. You can read all this in the article provided at the link above. By the way, this is precisely changing and editing tables, which is especially necessary if you want to create a crossword puzzle in Word. How to do this will be discussed below.
Most likely, you already have an idea in your head of what your crossword puzzle should be. Perhaps you already have a sketch of it, or even a finished version, but only on paper. Consequently, you definitely know the dimensions (at least approximate), because it is in accordance with them that you need to create a table.
1. Launch Word and go from the tab "Home", open by default, to the tab "Insert".
2. Click the button “Tables”, located in the group of the same name.
3. In the expanded menu, you can add a table by first specifying its size. But the default value is unlikely to suit you (of course, if your crossword does not have 5-10 questions), so you need to manually set the required number of rows and columns.
4. To do this, select the item in the drop-down menu “Insert table”.
5. In the dialog box that appears, specify the desired number of rows and columns.
6. Once you have entered the required values, click "OK". The table will appear on the sheet.
7. To resize the table, click on it with the mouse and drag the corner towards the edge of the sheet.
8. Visually, the table cells seem the same, but as soon as you want to enter text, the size will change. To make it fixed, you need to do the following:
Select the entire table by clicking “Ctrl+A”.
- Right-click on it and select the item in the context menu that appears “Table Properties”.
- In the window that appears, first go to the tab "Line", where you need to check the box next to the item "height", specify the value in 1 cm and select mode “exactly”.
- Go to the tab "Column", check the box "Width", also indicate 1 cm, unit value select “centimeters”.
- Repeat the same steps in the tab "Cell".
- Click "OK" to close the dialog box and apply your changes.
- Now the table definitely looks symmetrical.
Filling out the table for the crossword puzzle
So, if you want to make a crossword puzzle in Word without having an outline of it on paper or in any other program, we suggest that you first create its layout. The fact is that without having numbered questions in front of your eyes, and at the same time the answers to them (and therefore, knowing the number of letters in each specific word), it makes no sense to perform further actions. That is why we initially assume that you already have a crossword puzzle, even if not in Word yet.
Having a ready, but still empty frame, we need to number the cells in which the answers to the questions will begin, and also color in those cells that will not be used in the crossword puzzle.
How to number table cells like in real crossword puzzles?
In most crossword puzzles, the numbers indicating the starting place for entering the answer to a specific question are located in the upper left corner of the cell, the size of these numbers is relatively small. We have to do the same.
1. To begin, simply number the cells as they were done on your layout or sketch. The screenshot shows just a minimalistic example of what this might look like.
2. To place numbers in the upper left corner of the cells, highlight the contents of the table by clicking “Ctrl+A”.
3. In the tab "Home" in Group "Font" find the symbol “Superscript” and click on it (you can also use a hotkey combination, as shown in the screenshot. The numbers will become smaller and will be located slightly higher relative to the center of the cell
4. If the text is still not shifted left enough, align it to the left by clicking on the corresponding button in the group "Paragraph" in the tab "Home".
5. As a result, the numbered cells will look something like this:
After completing the numbering, you need to paint over unnecessary cells, that is, those into which the letters will not fit. To do this you need to do the following:
1. Select an empty cell and right-click in it.
2. In the menu that appears, located above the context menu, find the tool “Fill” and click on it.
3. Select a suitable fill color for the empty cell and click on it.
4. The cell will be filled in. To color all the remaining cells that will not be used in the crossword puzzle to enter the answer, repeat steps 1 to 3 for each of them.
In our simple example it looks like this; yours, of course, will look different.
Final stage
All that remains for you and me to do to create a crossword puzzle in Word exactly in the form in which we are used to seeing it on paper is to write a list of questions vertically and horizontally underneath it.
Once you've done all this, your crossword puzzle will look something like this:
Now you can print it out, show it to your friends, acquaintances, and relatives and ask them not only to evaluate how well you did in drawing a crossword puzzle in Word, but also to solve it.
We can finish here, because now you know how to create a crossword puzzle in Word. We wish you success in your work and training. Experiment, create and develop without stopping there.
Crosswords are a fun and extremely useful puzzle game. Scientists believe that their first prototypes appeared in the 1st-4th centuries. This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that during excavations in the legendary Pompeii a puzzle very similar to them was found. The find was dated 79 AD.
The first crossword puzzle that corresponds to modern ideas was invented by a man named Arthur Wynne and published in the Sunday edition of the New York World newspaper at the end of 1913.
Now everyone can come up with and draw their own rebus. What is needed for this? A little free time, an interesting idea and, of course, your desire. In this article, we will try to figure out together how to make a crossword puzzle in Word, a popular text editor from the Microsoft Office package.
Step 1. Create a table
Open MS Word and go to the Insert -> Table tab. In the menu that appears, you will see the “Insert Table” option. Click on this button.
A new window will appear on the screen in which you can enter parameters for the future table: the number and width of columns, the number of rows.
The size of your future crossword puzzle will depend on the number of columns and lines. In general, in order not to make a mistake, it is better to first come up with questions and draw a layout of the future puzzle on a piece of paper: this way you can always see what should happen in the end.
Let's say you decide that you need a table of 10x10 cells. Let's look at it in Word using just such an example. In the “Number of rows” and “Number of columns” fields you need to enter the number 10. As for the width, it is best to set the switch to “Constant”, and next to “Auto” enter a value from 0.5 to 0.6 cm - so the cells will immediately be square.
Step 2. Change table parameters
We continue to figure out how to create a crossword puzzle in Word. So, the table appeared on the screen. But, as you can see, it is very small. Move your mouse to the lower right corner of the sign so that a diagonal arrow appears, hold down the Shift key and stretch it to the size you need.
By clicking on the upper left corner, you can move the table on the sheet, for example, place it in the center.
After that we need to change the thickness of the borders. Select the entire object. A yellow tab “Working with tables” will appear in the top menu, inside which there is a “Layout” item. Open it and in the leftmost “Table” item, select the “Properties” button. In the window that appears, we need to click on “Borders and Fill...”, and then change the border width to 1.5 pt and save the changes.
Step 3. Create the markup
We continue to figure out how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. We return to the “Home” tab and find the “Borders” item. Here we need to select two options: “No border” and “Show grid”. After this, only service markings will be displayed on the screen, which will not be visible when printing.
Step 4. Enter the answers
Now, to understand what the printed and completed crossword puzzle will look like, you need to enter the correct answers in the appropriate fields and number them.
Once you have done this, you should highlight the question numbers and change the character type to “Superscript”. This can be done in the main tab of the program, in the same place where we change the style to bold, underlined, etc.
Step 5. Prepare the crossword for printing
Creating a crossword puzzle in Word is nearing completion. We have already done the bulk of the work. Now all that remains is to select the boundaries that should be preserved during the printing process. To do this, we select each word in turn, and then in the already familiar “Borders” tab in the editor’s main menu, select the “All borders” item.
Step 6: Finishing Touches
Basically, you already know how to make a crossword in Word. There are only a couple of details left. To see what the puzzle will look like ready to be solved before printing, select the entire table and deselect Show Grid in the Borders tab. The guide lines will disappear and you will only see the crossword itself. In order not to get confused, it is better to print out both versions just in case - with and without written answers. For convenience, the questions can be placed on the same sheet as the rebus itself.
You can enlarge it a little so that the numbering is better visible.
To see what we got in the end, and whether we really understood how to draw a crossword in Word, before printing, you can go to the “View” -> “Scale” tab and select “Full page” in the window that appears. Now you see the fruits of your labor exactly as they will look when printed.
A little advice: if the rebus is composed in such a way that a new key word is formed from individual letters of other words, you can highlight the necessary cells with a different color by selecting “Fill” on the main toolbar and specifying a suitable shade.
Good day to everyone, my dear friends and guests of my blog. Today I would like to show you how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. And it doesn’t matter at all what version of office you have - 2007, 2010, 2013 or 2016. Everything is done according to the same scheme. But I will show how to draw this whole thing using the example of Microsoft Word 2013. Let's go!
The first thing you need to do is take a piece of paper and a pencil, and then write down what your crossword should look like so you don’t have to worry about it later.
After your sketch is ready, you will need to go to Word itself and go to the menu in the “Insert” tab. Now select "Table". You should see a drop-down list containing several different items. If your crossword puzzle is small, then it will be enough to select the usual visual table insertion, selecting the required number of cells. You can bet the maximum, since you can always remove it.
Well, if your crossword puzzle involves something more substantial in size, then I recommend that you immediately select the item "Insert table". And when the window with parameters opens, set the required number of columns and rows, for example 20 And 20 . Don’t be afraid of the scope, we will still remove everything unnecessary. No, you can, of course, use the “Draw” function, but it will be even more dreary.
When the table has been created, select it completely and right-click inside any cell, then select "Table Properties". And in the newly opened window, go to the “Row” and “Column” tabs. In both cases, set the width value to a comfortable value that will look good. I chose 0,7 centimeters. This will be optimal in my case.
Now take your sketch and see how all the cells and words that you wrote there will be located. And then select some lighter fill color and start filling those cells as shown in your sketch. To do this, you just need to select the required number of cells horizontally or vertically, then click on the fill, having previously selected a color.
Done? Well done! Now let's see if we still have entire rows or columns that your selected cells did not fall into. If there are any left, then simply select them entirely and delete them without harm to your future crossword puzzle. But what to do with the rest of the positions that are inside? There's no way to simply remove the cells, otherwise a shift will occur and everything will go down the drain.
You'll have to sit for a long time to get everything aligned properly. Therefore, I suggest you do it in a simpler way. Start selecting all the cells that are not highlighted in color one by one and painting them with black.
Well, the final touch will be filling your crossword with white. That is, we take what we previously painted over with color and remove this selection so that it returns to the original white color. To do this, simply indicate “No color” in the fill. And by the way, if you see that our newly created crossword puzzle takes up little space, then you can increase the width of the rows and columns, for example, to 1 centimeter.
Next, we begin to place numbers at the beginning of each word horizontally and vertically. To do this, we simply stand in each first line or column, and then write all the numbers in order. If you wish, you can make the font smaller or larger.
And of course, where without questions? Below, do not forget to write a list of questions horizontally and vertically so that everything looks as it should. Now look how handsome we have turned out. The result is a good-quality classic crossword with a black backing. Then you can do whatever you want with it. If you want, publish it somewhere, print it out and distribute it to someone. In any case, it is very interesting, and everything is done easily and quickly.
For those who have any difficulties with this, I have specially prepared a video. You can clearly see how things are done.
Well, now you know how to make a crossword puzzle in Word on a regular computer, with a little effort. Therefore, I will probably finish my article today. I hope you enjoyed my article today, so don't forget to subscribe to my blog updates! I'm waiting for you again. Good luck to you. Bye bye!
Best regards, Dmitry Kostin!
P.S.
By the way, for those who are participating or planning to participate in mine, I have prepared a small mini-competition for which you can get extra points. The essence of today's mini-competition will be that you will have to create one that I created in Word according to this scheme. You will have to send all the answers you got...
You can send the words themselves in the comments to this article, or through the feedback form.
The first person to send the correct answer will receive 20 points in the competition. Another 4 people will receive 15 points. Latecomers will not receive anything, so hurry up to participate. The mini-contest will last until February 12, 2017, 11:59 p.m. No further responses will be accepted.
The first page was the title page. There could be a beautiful drawing (especially if it is a thematic crossword), the signature of the author of this work, and, in fact, the inscription “Crossword” in bold in the center. On the second sheet was the aforementioned rebus itself. There could also be questions there. This was not forbidden. And on the third page were the answers.
It is precisely according to this scheme that you should start creating a crossword puzzle. First comes brainstorming. Words are selected, questions are invented for them. Then we choose the longest word of all that we managed to find. It is from this that the further construction of the crossword puzzle will proceed. We select the remaining words so that they coincide by the same letter with each other. We arrange them both vertically and horizontally. Be sure to number it. If it turns out that both a horizontal word and a vertical word begin with the same letter, then do not forget to indicate this in the questions.
The main thing is to work carefully and make sure that the questions correspond to the answers. Otherwise, it may become such a mess that you yourself will not be happy with what you have created.
Many puzzle lovers find that solving Japanese crosswords is much more interesting than regular ones. After all, they are based on the laws of logic and do not depend on the level of general erudition, so even children successfully compete with adults in solving them.
When solving Japanese, you must consider each column and each row separately. Only after completing the next segment can you move on to sketching the next group of cells.
Solving a Japanese crossword puzzle can be divided into several stages:
The first stage is to determine the cells that should be painted over without taking into account the location of the groups;
- at the second stage, those cells that cannot be painted over are determined (as a rule, they are crossed out with a cross); crossword, as a rule, with a black field or shaded cells.
Experienced crossword puzzlers always use the basic morphological rules of the Russian language. For example, every word has a vowel. The exception is abbreviations that are considered “indecent” in crossword puzzles. If the task says that the word is a plural noun, then it will most likely end in “and” or “s”.
From a logical point of view, if a word has more than 10 letters, then it will most likely end in “tion”, “nie” or “stvo”. If you need to guess some science, the most common ending is “logy.” It is known that words do not begin with a soft and hard sign, as well as the letter “y”, with one exception - Ygyatta (a tributary of the Vilyui River). This word may appear in crossword puzzles.
note
Crossword puzzles gained widespread popularity in the mid-1920s, but excavations have shown that people were already using such puzzles starting in the 2nd century. The most unusual find was one that dates back to 79 AD because it closely resembles a modern crossword puzzle.
Helpful advice
It often happens that a word is “on the tip of your tongue”, but cannot be remembered. In this case, the usual search will do, substituting the words already written in the cells. You need to do this syllable by syllable until it comes to mind.
Crosswords are a fun and extremely useful puzzle game. Scientists believe that their first prototypes appeared in the 1st-4th centuries. This is evidenced, in particular, by the fact that during excavations in the legendary Pompeii a puzzle very similar to them was found. The find was dated 79 AD.
The first crossword puzzle that corresponds to modern ideas was invented by a man named Arthur Wynne and published in the Sunday edition of the New York World newspaper at the end of 1913.
Now everyone can come up with and draw their own rebus. What is needed for this? A little free time, an interesting idea and, of course, your desire. In this article, we will try to figure out together how to make a crossword puzzle in Word, a popular text editor from the Microsoft Office package.
Step 1. Create a table
Open MS Word and go to the Insert -> Table tab. In the menu that appears, you will see the “Insert Table” option. Click on this button.
A new window will appear on the screen in which you can enter parameters for the future table: the number and width of columns, the number of rows.
The size of your future crossword puzzle will depend on the number of columns and lines. In general, in order not to make a mistake, it is better to first come up with questions and draw a layout of the future puzzle on a piece of paper: this way you can always see what should happen in the end.
Let's say you decide that you need a table of 10x10 cells. Let's look at it in Word using just such an example. In the “Number of rows” and “Number of columns” fields you need to enter the number 10. As for the width, it is best to set the switch to “Constant”, and next to “Auto” enter a value from 0.5 to 0.6 cm - so the cells will immediately be square.
Step 2. Change table parameters
We continue to figure out how to create a crossword puzzle in Word. So, the table appeared on the screen. But, as you can see, it is very small. Move your mouse to the lower right corner of the sign so that a diagonal arrow appears, hold down the Shift key and stretch it to the size you need.
By clicking on the upper left corner, you can move the table on the sheet, for example, place it in the center.
After that we need to change the thickness of the borders. Select the entire object. A yellow tab “Working with tables” will appear in the top menu, inside which there is a “Layout” item. Open it and in the leftmost “Table” item, select the “Properties” button. In the window that appears, we need to click on “Borders and Fill...”, and then change the border width to 1.5 pt and save the changes.
Step 3. Create the markup
We continue to figure out how to make a crossword puzzle in Word. We return to the “Home” tab and find the “Borders” item. Here we need to select two options: “No border” and “Show grid”. After this, only service markings will be displayed on the screen, which will not be visible when printing.
Step 4. Enter the answers
Now, to understand what the printed and completed crossword puzzle will look like, you need to enter the correct answers in the appropriate fields and number them.
Once you have done this, you should highlight the question numbers and change the character type to “Superscript”. This can be done in the main tab of the program, in the same place where we change the style to bold, underlined, etc.
Step 5. Prepare the crossword for printing
Creating a crossword puzzle in Word is nearing completion. We have already done the bulk of the work. Now all that remains is to select the boundaries that should be preserved during the printing process. To do this, we select each word in turn, and then in the already familiar “Borders” tab in the editor’s main menu, select the “All borders” item.
Step 6: Finishing Touches
Basically, you already know how to make a crossword in Word. There are only a couple of details left. To see what the puzzle will look like ready to be solved before printing, select the entire table and deselect Show Grid in the Borders tab. The guide lines will disappear and you will only see the crossword itself. In order not to get confused, it is better to print out both versions just in case - with and without written answers. For convenience, the questions can be placed on the same sheet as the rebus itself.
You can enlarge it a little so that the numbering is better visible.
To see what we got in the end, and whether we really understood how to draw a crossword in Word, before printing, you can go to the “View” -> “Scale” tab and select “Full page” in the window that appears. Now you see the fruits of your labor exactly as they will look when printed.
A little advice: if the rebus is composed in such a way that a new key word is formed from individual letters of other words, you can highlight the necessary cells with a different color by selecting “Fill” on the main toolbar and specifying a suitable shade.