ACROSTIC OPTIONS

The following options are available for adjustment before you start to build your Acrostic puzzle:-
  • Key Paragraph: Enter your paragraph into this Text Area. If you wish, you can enter numbers and punctuation, but remember that just like the spaces between the words, they play no part in the construction or solution of the puzzle.

  • Key Words: An important point to remember here is that every letter contained in the Key Words must also appear in the Key Paragraph. This is dictated by the definition of the structure of the puzzle, and no latitude is permitted. An error message will be displayed if you break this rule.

  • Shortest Word: This combo box allows you to specify the shortest word which will be used in the construction of the puzzle. The lengths of all other words will be determined by the program. If you specify a length which is longer than the average word length for this puzzle, then you will receive an appropriate warning.
SOME WORDS OF ADVICE.
The process of building an Acrostic is a VERY complex business, and there are a number of things which can easily stop the process from proceeding to a successful conclusion:-
  • Construction will fail if the dictionary you are using does not have quite a large number of words. As a general rule you should aim to have 2000 or more words for each word length you intend to use.

  • In any given language certain letters are used far less frequently than others. For example, in the English language, the letters J K Q X and Z are used less often than A E R S and T. To give yourself the best chance of achieving a successful outcome you should try to minimize the number of unpopular letters in your Key Paragraph and maximize the number of popular letters.

  • Naturally, the unpopular letters will differ from one language to another. This being the case, it would be unwise to try to build a mixed language puzzle where the dictionary was for example English, and the Key Paragraph was Spanish.