A number of options are available to you when you are about to construct a crossword puzzle, and you can access these options by clicking the Options button.
The options available are:-
If you want to make a number of puzzles all having the same dimensions, simply type a number into the How many
puzzles input field. When you issue the Make command, Magnum Opus will make that number of puzzles. The puzzle names will be a number which starts
with the number which you provide for the first puzzle, and increases by one for each new puzzle. The companion Crossword Java Applet is able to perform a
calculation based on the current date, and the start date for the puzzle sequence, to produce the name of the puzzle file to be loaded. This makes the setup
of Daily Puzzles a very simple task. Virtually any number of puzzles can be made in a single operation using this feature.
When you use the MultiMake function described above, you have the option of locking out the words used in a puzzle so that they won't be used
in subsequent puzzles. If you set the Use Automatic Lockout & Unlock check box, then each time a puzzle is built, the
words used in it will be locked out of the dictionary. If you have made more than 100 puzzles, then the words used in the puzzle numbered 100 less than the current
one will be unlocked, and placed back into operation. Note that this mechanism applies only if you are using the MultiMake feature.
There are two steps which must be taken if a Theme puzzle is to be built:-
Select the Build a Theme Puzzle check box
Select the theme dictionaries to be used for this puzzle. A maximum of four such dictionaries can be selected. If you want to use less than this maximum number
simply select the <None> option for one or more of the theme dictionaries. When the puzzle is built, the theme dictionaries will be
searched in order for a suitable word. If a suitable word cannot be found in any of the theme dictionaries, one will be taken from the standard dictionary
selected within the Crossword Construction screen.
When you build a puzzle, the normal mode of operation is for the program to use only those words which have not been withdrawn from service
by the word Lockout function. (See the topic dealing with the locking out of words on the Help screen for Crossword Construction ).
You can change this behaviour by checking the Use all words (including locked words) checkbox. This will result in all of the
words within the dictionary being used to build the puzzle, and if a word has more than one clue then one of these clues will be randomly selected for use in the
puzzle.
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