BUILDING AND PRINTING SIX-PACK PUZZLES

A Six-pack Puzzle is not really a puzzle in its own right. It is a collection of six puzzles selected from the extensive list of puzzles which can be made using Magnum Opus. This list of puzzles will grow over time with a potential target of some twenty puzzles. The controls used in Building and Printing a Six-pack puzzle are as follows:
  • Select the Puzzles: This panel contains a set of six combo boxes each containing a list of all of the puzzles available for use in six-pack puzzles. Select a different puzzle type from each of the combo boxes.

  • ID of the first puzzle: Enter the number of the first puzzle in the series which you want to either build or print.

  • How many Puzzles: Enter the number of puzzles which you want to either build or print. Printing may be broken into a number of operations to limit the size of the resulting PDF files.

  • Vary Difficulty on 7 day cycle: Publishers of daily newspapers may wish to have puzzles which vary in difficulty over the course of each week. Selecting this check-box will vary the difficulty with the easiest being on Monday (number 1, and every 7th puzzle thereafter) and the hardest on Sunday (number 7, and every 7th puzzle thereafter).

  • Build all Puzzles: Clicking this button will result in the generation of the requested number of puzzles for each of the six selected puzzle types.

  • Export Puzzle and Export Solution give you the option of exporting either the puzzles or the solutions for a given six-pack puzzle. The puzzle exported will be selected by reference to the ID of 1st puzzle value. In either case, a dialog will appear in which you can choose to export to a graphics file in one of the formats BMP, GIF, JPG, or PNG, or to the system Clipboard.

  • Print: Clicking this button will result in the printing of the requested number of puzzles. Each odd numbered page will contain one set of six puzzles, while each even numbered page will contain the solutions for the puzzles on the immediately preceding page. Normally you should print to a PDF file (use Primo PDF in the case of Windows).

  • Normally, Six-pack puzzles and solutions will be printed in black and white, but if you are producing puzzles for a color publication, you can elect to have them printed in full color. Check boxes are provided to allow independent control of this function for puzzles and solutions.