Customizations: Grid decoration

Objective

Learn how you can customize the crossword's grid design in the grid editor.

Apart from the functional features relating to the structure, the grid editor also enables you to tweak the cell-level design of your crossword grid.

In this article, we'll explore the Grid Decoration settings. These can be used to decorate the grid and improve its design. They are also useful for enhancing gameplay by providing hints and weaving together a theme for your game.

Crossword: grid decoration menu

Pre-revealed cells

Pre-revealed cells are squares whose content are shown in the grid from the start of the game. This can be useful while constructing themed puzzles. Check out this example in Spyscape.

You can click on any cell to mark it as a pre-revealed cell. The cell must already have a letter in it.

1. Click the "Grid Decoration" button.
2. In the Grid Decoration menu dropdown, select "Mark pre-revealed cells".
3. On your grid, select the cells which you'd like to be shown as "pre-revealed" at the start of the game. As you click them, there will be a red marking at the bottom right of the cells.
4. Once you've selected the relevant cells, click on "Save Puzzle" in the navigation bar to save your changes.

Void cells

Void cells are black squares that have been made 'void' - transparent. By making cells void, you can make the puzzle appear to have a non-linear shape.

You can choose to make only certain black squares void, or you can make all black squares void with one click.

Crossword: Void cells
Top: no void cells; Middle: all black squares are void cells; Bottom: some void, some black squares

Crossword: playing with void cells

By default, all black squares are black. Tweak void cells in your grid using the following steps:

1. Click the "Grid Decoration" button.
2. In the Grid Decoration menu dropdown, select "Mark void cells".
3. On your grid, select the cells that you'd like to mark as void (transparent).
4. Once you've selected the relevant cells, click on "Save Puzzle" in the navigation bar to save your changes.

You can de-select void cells using the same method.

To mark all black cells as void, you can use the "Mark all black cells void" option.
Similarly, to mark all void cells as black, you can use the "Mark all void cells black" option in the same menu.

Circled cells

Circled cells are those letter entries that are circled on your crossword grid. These can be used in a variety of ways. The most common usage is to highlight letter entries that represent the theme of the crossword. This is a form of an indirect clue that you can create to enhance the experience for your game's audience.

Once a letter entry has been circled, that circle marking is visible right from the start of the game.

Crossword: circled cells.
Left: circled cells at the start; Right: circled cells at the end.
The circled cells spell out the theme when read top to bottom & left to right: ASIAN.

Crossword: adding circled cells

1. Click the "Grid Decoration" button.
2. In the Grid Decoration menu dropdown, select "Mark circled cells".
3. On your grid, select the cells that you'd like to mark as circled. As you click them, a circular border will be added to these cells.
4. Once you've selected the relevant cells, click on "Save Puzzle" in the navigation bar to save your changes.

You can de-circle cells using the same method.

Shaded cells

Shaded cells are those cells whose background color is different from white. These can be used to indicate the crossword's theme, wordplay or simply for visual appeal.

Crossword: shaded cells.

Crossword: adding shaded cells

1. Click the "Grid Decoration" button.
2. In the Grid Decoration menu dropdown, select "Mark shaded cells".
3. In the action bar below the navigation bar, a color picker will be visible. Use that to pick a color.
4. On your grid, select the cells whose background color you'd like to change with your chosen color. As you click them, their background color will be changed.
5. Once you've selected the relevant cells, click on "Save Puzzle" in the navigation bar to save your changes.

You can remove cell shading using the same method.

Font colors

You can change the font color of specific letter entries. These can be used to indicate the crossword's theme, wordplay or simply for visual appeal.

Note that the font color becomes visible only when your players type a letter in the relevant cells.

Crossword: custom font color.

Crossword: adding font color to cells

Image in grid

You can insert images inside the crossword grid. You can even set the cell span of such images to make them cover multiple cells. These can be used to indicate the crossword's theme, for implicit clues or simply for visual appeal.

Crossword: image inside grid.

Crossword: inserting an image in the crossword grid

1. Click the "Grid Decoration" button.
2. In the Grid Decoration menu dropdown, select "Insert image in grid".
3. Select the cell where you would like to insert your image. If you'd like for the image to span across multiple cells, then select the first one from the top-left direction.
4. Once you click your selected cell, a popup box will open. Start by uploading your image.
5. Once you've uploaded an image, set your image span in terms of the number of boxes on the grid. You can do this by adjusting the width and height input fields inside the modal.
6. Click the "Save" button at the bottom right of the popup box. Your image should now be visible on the grid.

The process for deleting the images placed on the grid is similar. Step (1) to (3) are identical. Step (4) will prompt you to confirm if you'd like to delete the image from the grid.

In case you'd like to tweak the placement of your image, you will have to delete it from the grid and start again.