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Crossword Forge Changelog

What's new in Crossword Forge 7.4.1

Nov 26, 2014
  • Fixes crash for spell checking on Mac OS X Yosemite.
  • The mac version now takes up less room on disk.

New in Crossword Forge 7.4 (Oct 20, 2014)

  • Various Optimizations.
  • Various bug fixes, including fixes for Mac OS X Yosemite.

New in Crossword Forge 7.3 (Feb 9, 2013)

  • Writing mask letters in the puzzle mask editor is now easier and more obvious. We now include a "Write" control specifically for this purpose.
  • Added an "Update Word List…" in the mask editor which will synchronize your changes from the puzzle mask editor to the main word list. This allows you to build puzzle manually much easier than before.
  • The basic synchronization rules:
  • If the word is only in the mask it will add it to the word list and the puzzle grid
  • If the word is in both the word list and the mask, but not yet in the puzzle grid, it will add it to the puzzle grid
  • If the word is only in the word list, and the word doesn't have a clue specified it will be removed. (this rule doesn't apply for word search puzzles)
  • If the word is only in the word list, and the word does have a clue specified you can optionally remove it.
  • You can manually override the synchronization actions of any of the above. You can also specify clues for any words. This is great for when adding new words via the mask editor. Words that don't fit any of the rules above are not altered.
  • Pressing the new "Update Puzzle" button will also cause Crossword Forge to run a check to see if islands are necessary for the given puzzle. If so, Crossword Forge will warn you. It also provides a way for you to easily turn on "puzzle islands" from within the warning dialog.
  • Added Irish Gaelic as a built-in language.
  • Other minor improvements added.

New in Crossword Forge 7.2.1 (Aug 30, 2012)

  • Fixed a problem where Crossword Forge would sometimes unexpectedly clear the puzzle if you left the mask editor open after issuing a clear command. Broken in version 7.2.
  • Now updates the puzzle mask editor when you make a puzzle or undo making a puzzle.
  • Paste now works again for the Puzzle Mask Editor. Broken in version 7.2
  • It's now possible to add an explicit space in the puzzle mask editor by holding the shift key and space. Keep in mind you'll need to have "Extract Spaces" turned off in your language preferences, otherwise the spaces in your answers will be removed and will fail to match your explicit spaces in the mask.
  • This version includes improved puzzle sharing between the Mac and Windows editions of Crossword Forge. We fixed a bug in which puzzle masks weren't always written and loaded in a cross platform way.
  • Typing a return when making a mask, no longer causes a corrupt puzzle mask to be written, but rather advances typing to the next line in the puzzle mask editor. Crossword Forge 7.2.1 will automatically correct puzzle files corrupted by this bug. You can also hold the option or shift key when importing a mask file to correct it.
  • Fixed error caused by performing multiple undos and redos when making the puzzle.
  • Calling redo repeatedly for a Make Puzzle command was not making the same puzzle as previously. This has been fixed. Broken in version 7.0.
  • Other minor improvements added.

New in Crossword Forge 7.2 (Apr 9, 2012)

  • The "Puzzle Mask Editor" is no longer a modal window. This has the following benefits:
  • The "Puzzle Mask Editor" can now be used more easily in conjunction with "Word Ideas". Both windows can be up and active simultaneously.
  • Individual changes to the "Puzzle Mask Editor" are now undo-able (and redo-able). This is great if you make a big change to the mask and decide you liked it better before.

New in Crossword Forge 7.1.1 (Mar 7, 2012)

  • Typing in the puzzle mask is now possible even if another control on the window has the focus.

New in Crossword Forge 7.1 (Feb 22, 2012)

  • The executable package is now "OS X Mountain Lion" (10.8) compatible.
  • You can now add letter specific masks to your puzzle. Letters from a placed word must exactly match the letters in the mask they are placed over. This technique allows you to specify your puzzle completely manually. Note: It is still necessary to add clue/answer pairs, the mask letter only specify where words can be placed, and doesn't define any terms for the puzzle.
  • Usage:
  • To add letters to your puzzle mask, open the puzzle mask editor, move the mouse over the spot you want to add a letter, and type the desired letter. Crossword Forge will automatically advance the active grid space to the right, allowing you to easily type words into the mask. By default typing advances the current grid position to the right, wrapping to the next row when it reaches the right edge of the current row. To change current grid position advancement to a downward direction tap the tab key once. Tapping it again returns advancement back to horizontal. When the current grid position advances to the lower right of the grid it returns to the upper left. When the currently active language is written right to left, position advancement occurs in a right to left manner (as opposed to left to right).
  • Special Keys:
  • Spacebar: toggles the mask at the current location (equivalent to pressing the primary mouse button).
  • Backspace (Mac Delete): Clear the mask from the previous position (and retreat the current position).
  • Delete (Mac Forward Delete): Clear the mask from the current position (and advance the current position).
  • Home / End: Move the current grid position to the left/right of the grid.
  • Page Up / Page Down: Move the current grid position to the top/bottom of the grid.
  • Tab: Toggles the current grid position advancement direction between across and down.
  • Shift Tab (Mac Option Tab): Normal tab behavior, transfers the focus to the next control.
  • Menus
  • Edit->Paste: Allows you to paste the current contents of the clipboard into the mask. Letters that would be combined in the same cell by the puzzle engine are combined here as well (especially useful for Arabic, Hebrew, Punjabi, Thai and others). Spaces are interpreted as toggles. When the currently active language is written right to left, text is pasted right to left.
  • Other Behaviors:
  • Letters that are already part of the puzzle appear black. Those which are part of the mask are red, and those which have the mask specified but are already part of the puzzle are black with a red border. You can lock a letter that was added by the puzzle engine by typing the same letter on top of it. Typing a a different letter is not permitted.
  • Draw Tool (Pencil): If you click on a masked letter it will clear the letter mask. If you click on a letter that is already part of the puzzle you will "lock" it in place by adding it to the mask. This will be indicated by a red border. You can drag the mouse while in this mode to lock multiple letters. Non-letter grid spaces will not be affected by this dragging. You can also click (or drag) on a letter again to unlock it.
  • Fill Tool (Paintbucket): You can lock all connected letters quickly by using the fill tool, or undo that action by clicking again.
  • Mirroring: Mirroring is fully honored for letters in the puzzle mask. So you can for example put an "A" in 4 places in the mask at once by turning on the horizontal, vertical and diagonal mirroring and typing "A" over a spot on the grid.
  • This release also includes various other minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 7.0.7 (Feb 14, 2012)

  • Added 9 additional parameters to the XML export for web based puzzles. These parameters are not configurable from the UI.
  • Various minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 7.0.6 (Dec 19, 2011)

  • Minor improvements added for compliance with the Mac App Store.

New in Crossword Forge 7.0.5 (Dec 19, 2011)

  • Fixed a crash which occurred when quitting Crossword Forge after using the built-in spell checker on Mac OS X.

New in Crossword Forge 7.0.4 (Dec 9, 2011)

  • Improved built-in PDF export.

New in Crossword Forge 7.0.3 (Nov 10, 2011)

  • Added a Finnish as a newly supported built-in language set.

New in Crossword Forge 7.0.2 (Oct 25, 2011)

  • Windows Enhancements:
  • HP Printers, the ADOBE PDF printer, and the CutePDF Writer now print such that the grid blocks don't overlap. This was not a problem on Epson printers.

New in Crossword Forge 7.0.1 (Sep 16, 2011)

  • Various minor enhancements.

New in Crossword Forge 7.0.0 (Aug 18, 2011)

  • The Crossword Forge puzzle engine has been completely re-written in C++, and now takes advantage of modern computers with multiple processor cores. You will see dramatic speed improvements on any computer - from the smallest netbook to the latest 12 core Mac Pros. In our testing, we typically saw speed improvements on the order of 5x to 30x faster.
  • The "Word Ideas" window (formerly "Word Suggester") now has 4 new languages (French, German, Italian, and Spanish) in addition to U.S. English and 3 new variants of English (British, Canadian, and Australian).
  • Now includes QuickLook integration for Mac Users. You can now see a preview of your puzzle from the Mac's Finder (or anywhere QuickLook is supported) without opening the file. This is fantastic for quickly hunting down an old puzzle.
  • Added a new advanced preference for Crossword Forge. You can now decide whether you want the puzzle engine to prefer longer words, as opposed to preferring words whose letter frequency count is higher (the default). In some cases (e.g. cryptic crosswords with a puzzle mask) preferring longer words can improve the chances of finding the desired solution.
  • Included a number of additional minor improvements and refinements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.3.5 (Aug 6, 2011)

  • Various minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.3.4 (Jul 12, 2011)

  • In cases where the backdrop picture is not found, Crossword Forge will now prompt the user with the previous backdrop picture's name. This should make finding the file easier.
  • Right clicking on the backdrop preview pane allows you to show the backdrop picture file in the file system. This is great if you want to package the file for sending it with the puzzle.

New in Crossword Forge 6.3.3 (Jun 18, 2011)

  • The size selector list works again. 
- We made various improvements to the English and German language application text. These changes were made with an attempt to improve the application's ease of use. We extend a special thanks to Andreas Häne for his contributions to improve the German translation.

New in Crossword Forge 6.3.1 (May 13, 2011)

  • You can select fractional font sizes. Fractional font sizes have an effect on PDF export.
  • Improved the puzzle making status window to display more user friendly and accurate time estimates.
  • Fixed web export, file save, and mask saving issues introduced in version 6.3.

New in Crossword Forge 6.3 (Apr 28, 2011)

  • Improved the stability for the puzzle engine when running on Microsoft Windows.
  • Fixed a problem where the alphabet palette would fail to update after a change to the alphabet of the current language. It used to be necessary to switch to another language and back, before an update would occur. This language toggle is no longer necessary.
  • Fixed a problem where the capitalization policy when changed was not being applied to the current word search's random letters.
  • Fixed a problem where the "Preserve Case" capitalization policy would require a new call to "Make Puzzle" to take effect. See limitations of this change in the known issue below.

New in Crossword Forge 6.2.1 (Mar 8, 2011)

  • Added 389 combining code marks from the most recent Unicode standard.
  • This adds symbols from Cyrillic, Hebrew, Arabic, Nko, Samaritan, Mandaic, Devanagari, Gurmukhi, Oriya, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Myanmar, Ethiopic, Thai, Balinese, Sudanese, Batak, Lepcha, Vedic, Coptic, Various International Symbols etc.
  • Added an "Insert Character Joiner" button in the Alphabet palette.
  • This allows you to combine two characters into the same puzzle block.
  • If for example you wanted to make a puzzle that showcased constants blends you could put the joiner between consonant blends so that they would stick together in the puzzle.
  • This is also useful for languages like Kannada.

New in Crossword Forge 6.2 (Feb 8, 2011)

  • Making a puzzle on Windows is more responsive and stable.
  • Editing the title is much quicker than in previous versions of Crossword Forge.
  • Changing puzzle settings no longer causes extra refreshes on Windows and is generally faster on all platforms.
  • Vertically scrolling a multi-page puzzle no longer causes the puzzle numbering and page numbering to miscalculate.
  • Any extremely long clue (longer than 1 page in height) no longer overdraws the page bounds, but will instead be truncated.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.13 (Jan 25, 2011)

  • Split "Attempt to fit" into a minimum and a maximum. You can specify a lower and upper bound for an acceptable puzzle. If specified, Crossword Forge will attempt to fit at least the minimum number of answers in the puzzle, but no more than the maximum. "Bonus" and "Word Bank Only" answers are not included in this calculation, but instead are added in addition to any min and max specified.
  • Tab order should now be more intuitive.
  • Minor improvements added.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.12 (Jan 25, 2011)

  • Some randomness still occurred in puzzle making with randomize each puzzle making attempt turned off. This has been rectified.
  • Minor improvements added.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.11 (Dec 21, 2010)

  • Using page margins on a fresh launch of Crossword Forge no longer causes errors.
  • Minor improvements added.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.10 (Sep 2, 2010)

  • The "Words Fit" metric of the "Puzzle Info" window is now more comprehensible.
  • The "Puzzle Info" window now updates automatically when a puzzle is opened and when the "Attempt to fit" value is changed.
  • The "Puzzle Info" window was widened.
  • "Desired Block Size" was moved lower visually so that it is more closely grouped with the "Actual Block Size" and "Maximum Block Size" labels.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.9 (Aug 7, 2010)

  • Turning on diagonal symmetry in the puzzle mask editor no longer has the effect of switching off horizontal symmetry.
  • The pencil tool in the puzzle mask editor is now highlighted when the editor first appears.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.8 (Jul 13, 2010)

  • Improved behavior on Microsoft Windows with small screens e.g. Netbook screens.
  • Includes various minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.7 (May 26, 2010)

  • Having more than 1 puzzle open, no longer affects the random letters for word search puzzles.
  • In rare cases the random letters of a word search puzzle would change every time the puzzle was redrawn. This no longer occurs.
  • Includes various minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.6 (Apr 29, 2010)

  • Changes to the bonus clue's answer no longer force the puzzle to be remade. This allows you to tweak the bonus clue until it fits.
  • Changes to a clue or answer no longer cause Crossword Forge to forget the clue type.
  • Includes various minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.5 (Feb 26, 2010)

  • Fixed issues where the restricted word list wasn't getting checked as thoroughly as needed.
  • Added information about the position and direction of words found by the restricted word checker.
  • Includes various minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.4 (Dec 2, 2009)

  • Fixed the Open Recent menu so that it saves items between launches on a consistent basis (broken in version 6.1).
  • Various minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.3 (Oct 27, 2009)

  • Various minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1.1 (Oct 16, 2009)

  • Now works with right to left languages again like Arabic and Hebrew. Broken in 6.0.
  • Other minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.1 (Oct 14, 2009)

  • Added a diagonal mirror in the puzzle mask editor. This reflects any changes to the mask diagonally. To get mirroring in all 4 quadrants turn on the horizontal, vertical and diagonal mirrors.
  • Blocks with puzzle letters in the mask editor now have a grey background. This makes their edges easier to see for all background types and colors, and allows higher fidelity when masking out background pictures.
  • Other minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.0.4 (Oct 9, 2009)

  • Now honors the "Attempt to fit ___ answers in puzzle" for crossword puzzles again. NOTE: If "Allow Dense Word Clusters" is on, the final answer count can be a little higher than what is specified.
  • The puzzle info window is now more accurate at displaying the number of words fit into the puzzle.
  • No longer causes stack overflow exceptions when flood filling a large puzzle mask.
  • The installed unlock codes upgrade eligibility is now displayed in the "About Crossword Forge" dialog. NOTE: This display text does not constitute proof of purchase.
  • Other Minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.0.3 (Sep 20, 2009)

  • Users on Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (and possibly others) can now unlock Crossword Forge.
  • Removed spurious error that appeared at the start of Crossword Forge Live puzzles.

New in Crossword Forge 6.0.2 (Sep 19, 2009)

  • Windows Bug Fixes & Changes:
  • No longer shows an error when unlocking from the opening screen.
  • Added a edit menu to the "Word Suggester" so that you can copy and paste words.
  • Making a puzzle no longer causes (not responding) messages to be appended to the title.
  • The "Puzzle Making Status" now contains additional buttons and functionality to allow you to control puzzle making. It is now consistent with the Mac version.
  • The "Puzzle Mask Editor" no longer leaves a green trail when moving the mouse over the puzzle mask surface.
  • Other Changes:
  • The "Word Suggester" "Usage Help" now has some workflow tips and suggestions.
  • Other minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 6.0 (Sep 17, 2009)

  • New Features:
  • Upgraded the crossword engine to allow for MUCH denser puzzles.
  • Added a puzzle mask editor. This is great if you want build a puzzle in a particular shape, if you want make sure the puzzle doesn't cover up a certain part of your backdrop picture, or if you want to give Crossword Forge some hints to build a puzzle in an exact way.
  • Added a "Word Suggester" window. This tool helps you find the perfect word to fit in the last remaining spot on your puzzle. Just type the letters you know and tell Crossword Forge about the letters you don't, and it will search through its 170,000+ word English dictionary to give you great suggestions that you can use to update your puzzle.
  • Added a Get Info window. This allows you to see interesting stats about the currently selected puzzle.
  • Added an advanced tab to preferences which allows you to fine tune the puzzle making process. You choose if you want the best puzzles or if your in a hurry you just want a quick puzzle.
  • Bug Fixes & Changes:
  • Status window now displays a density metric, all other things being equal denser puzzles are preferred.
  • Time left now displays in minutes and seconds (not just seconds).
  • When backdrop is set to "No Backdrop" Crossword Forge no longer truncates the size of the puzzle. Users can trim the puzzle manually if they need to.

New in Crossword Forge 5.6.1 (Sep 16, 2009)

  • Web puzzles now contain the same random letter set as their printed counterparts. This means that if you've evaluated a puzzle for restricted words, no-reevaluation for the live puzzle is necessary.
  • Web puzzles now honor the clue size and color more faithfully.

New in Crossword Forge 5.6 (Aug 11, 2009)

  • Fixed a problem with clue numbers bunching up when the clues are empty. (broken in version 5.3.3)
  • Other minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.12 (Aug 4, 2009)

  • Minor change made to the crossword forge tour script.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.11 (Jul 24, 2009)

  • Fixed issues related to web export. The puzzle.xml and backdrop.jpg file names are appropriately cleansed for online use (no more spaces etc.).
  • Unicode spacing modifiers are now grouped with their base character by default (no manual editing of Crossword Forge preferences is necessary). This means that languages like Salish and Kootenai that rely on these marks work correctly out of the box.
  • Some translation inconsistencies in the German version of Crossword Forge have been cleared up.
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with the Crossword Forge Icon.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.11 (Jul 24, 2009)

  • Fixed issues related to web export. The puzzle.xml and backdrop.jpg file names are appropriately cleansed for online use (no more spaces etc.).
  • Unicode spacing modifiers are now grouped with their base character by default (no manual editing of Crossword Forge preferences is necessary). This means that languages like Salish and Kootenai that rely on these marks work correctly out of the box.
  • Some translation inconsistencies in the German version of Crossword Forge have been cleared up.
  • Fixed a cosmetic issue with the Crossword Forge Icon.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.10 (Jun 5, 2009)

  • The Page Margins Dialog now works properly for systems where the decimal separator is "," and not "." (This makes a big difference for most European countries).
  • Other minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.9 (May 28, 2009)

  • Improved error reporting.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.8 (Apr 8, 2009)

  • Fixed a problem where the preferences window wouldn't show in some cases.
  • Fixed minor cosmetic problems with spell checking on Mac OS X, when changing the language in the advanced tab.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.7 (Feb 28, 2009)

  • Dramatically better performance when using backdrop pictures that have a high pixel count.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.6 (Feb 18, 2009)

  • Version 5.5.5 had some unfortunate un-intended consequences, we've re-engineered those changes.
  • We changed the empty puzzle clue example to result in a word with letters (not numbers) so that it integrates better with what the user will type.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.5 (Feb 11, 2009)

  • Minor improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.4 (Jan 1, 2009)

  • Old puzzles (earlier than 5.5) no longer have messed up margins when loading into the latest version of Crossword Forge.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.3 (Nov 22, 2008)

  • Export: Image now allows you to export the whole puzzle (not just the puzzle grid). PDF export is still the recommended export option for desktop publishing.
  • Some text in the German version was displaying in English, this is no longer the case.
  • Various other improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5.1 (Sep 19, 2008)

  • Using the "Page Setup" button within the "Page Margins" dialog now works properly.

New in Crossword Forge 5.5 (Sep 16, 2008)

  • Added a quicker and easier way to change the page margins. See "Page Margins" in the File menu.

New in Crossword Forge 5.4 (Aug 19, 2008)

  • Added a "Revert To Saved" menu option. Keep in mind that using Revert will empty the undo stack, i.e. it is not possible to Undo a Revert.
  • Various other improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 5.3.6 (Aug 5, 2008)

  • Web crossword and word search puzzles now account for their height better than previously in situations where a word bank or bonus clue is present.
  • Dragging rows to re-order them works much better than previously.

New in Crossword Forge 5.3.5 (Jul 23, 2008)

  • Remembers changes you make to the puzzles web export name.
  • Fixed an issue where the across numbers could get printed out outside the printable area (broken in version 5.3.3)
  • Various other improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 5.3.4 (Jul 19, 2008)

  • Included a link to our new Crossword Forge internet forum.
  • Fixed an issue where the word search clues were positioned too close to the puzzle grid (broken in version 5.3.3)

New in Crossword Forge 5.3.3 (Jul 2, 2008)

  • Printed crossword puzzles now decimal align their number text.
  • Crossword Forge Live puzzles are now better at honoring color, font and size of their print counterparts.
  • Fixed issues where for large font sizes the word bank could overlap the puzzle grid.
  • Various other improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 5.3.2 (May 7, 2008)

  • Works better with Mac OS X Leopard.
  • Minor fixes to the open recent item menu.
  • Improved error reporting.

New in Crossword Forge 5.3.1 (Apr 22, 2008)

  • Various minor cosmetic improvements.

New in Crossword Forge 5.3 (Feb 26, 2008)

  • You can now specify where the clues will be placed for web puzzles: on the left, right or below the grid.
  • You can now specify whether you can see both the across and down list at the same time, or if they maximize to fill their space.
  • You can now publish more than one web puzzle in the same directory. Some web hosts require that all user content must be in the same directory. This web host limitation no longer causes a problem for Crossword Forge. It is your responsibility to make sure each html file uses a unique name.
  • You can now hide branding and links in web puzzles.
  • You can now tweak your web settings before a preview. Previously this would require a trip to the export dialog.
  • Various other improvements.