The various puzzles were fairly easy to create with comprehensive help files for each puzzle type. After a couple of hours, I'd managed to explore all the capabilities of this multi-featured program and create some example puzzles.

Puzzle Power allows you to drag and drop the letters into the appropriate spaces. You can also include multimedia hints to the author and/or quotation but I could never get that to work. The example Quote Fall shown here features one of my favorite quotations. Hint: The author's initials are RLS.

Just type in a list of words and the program generates a puzzle. You may then edit the puzzle so that left over squares can be used to spell out words or phrases of your choosing.

Building standard (North American style) crosswords with Puzzle Power exposes some of the software's failings. After selecting the grid size, you are presented with a text box in which to enter words that you want included in the puzzle. The program builds a grid and fits in as many of your selected words as possible. Unfortunately, the grid is asymmetrical and two-letter entries and unchecked squares are allowed. These are frowned on by American solvers and disqualify the puzzle from any serious publication.

There is the option of converting the puzzle for interactive solving on the Web. That's a nice feature but I can't recommend this program for building the crossword puzzle. Standard crossword creation is not this software's forté. Perhaps, the crossword creator could've been omitted from Puzzle Power. It's quite a multi-featured package as it is, and it includes the freeform crossword creator, Kriss Kross.

System Requirements:

Windows:


• 386 or higher PC running Windows 3.1 or Windows 95
• 256-color (or higher) graphics card
• CD-ROM drive
• 4MB available memory

Macintosh:

• System 7 or later
• 12" (or larger) color monitor
• Quick Time (to access videos)
• CD-ROM drive
• 4MB available memory