Word Find

 

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Download program and sample puzzle

Just run Program

Word search, or more optimistically, word find, is a one person game in which the player is presented with a grid full of letters and has to locate certain words which could be "hidden" in any direction. My wife who is addicted to all kinds of word games asked me to write a program which would take a 25 by 25 grid of letters and present them to her in all eight 45 degree rotations to make it easier for her to spot hidden words. This program also gives her the following additional features:

  • type the word and it will find it for you
  • keep a list of all words that have been found
  • sort the list either alphabetically or by word length
While the program is not GUI, it has accomplished what she wanted. Here is a a brief tutorial of how to use it to solve the sample puzzle which has names of fifty books and plays. Download the program and sample puzzle and extract it to a folder. Click on the program wordfind.
  1. Find CANDIDE: press F2 and Enter CANDIDE
  2. Add CANDIDE to the word list: press F4
  3. Find THE: press F2 and Enter THE
  4. highlight GIFTOFTHEMAGI: hold down the Ctrl Key and press the left cursor arrow six times and the right cursor arrow four times. (Hint: if you go too far, you can undo a left arrow by pressing space and a right arrow by pressing backspace)
  5. add GIFTOFTHEMAGI to the word list: press F4
  6. notice LORDJIM on the next line: press down arrow to move the cursor down one line press right arrow four times to line up with LORD, press backspace six times to highlight LORDJIM
  7. add LORDJIM to the word list: press F4
  8. See an alphabetical list of words: press F5
  9. To rotate the puzzle: press TAB, notice the little box on the left showing you the current orientation.
  10. To save the puzzle and exit: press ESC then Y

To load a new puzzle by hand

  1. Switch to Input Mode: Press F9, cursor should turn white. If you press F9 again it will turn black and go back to Solve Mode.
  2. Enter the puzzle: press the letters in the puzzle, use the cursor arrow keys to go back and fix any errors
  3. Save the puzzle: press shift F10 and enter a file name
  4. Load a previously created puzzle: press F10 and enter the file name.