Wow!

Check out the new crossword maker!

The crossword maker used to be pretty blah and hard to work with, but there are quite a few new features that really make it useful now.


Same as before, you can choose from any category and make crosswords using MES English flashcard images. There is also a simple text only version.

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But, now, you can also add a small text string above the image! So you can have a question about the image or just include jumbled spelling to help the students.

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There is a check box, just before you hit 'Get crosswod' that says, 'Include a word search'. If you check this box, you'll get both a crossword and a word search. That's a pretty nice feature that I don't believe any other makers out there have.

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Also,you can enter two words or even a sentence fo the answer. The crossword maker will add a gray square to mark word boundries for you. So, you can use a picture of a cat. Then, in the 'hints' field, type "What's this?" and for the answer, you can type a full sentence, "It's a cat." for example.

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A little warning on that is that if the sentences are too long, the puzzle boxes will get really small. It's best to only do that for short simple sentences.


Give it a test run and let me know what you think.

Hi Mark ..I can't download all these stuff without saying thank you...so.. great job

No problem and I'm glad you find the tools useful.

I'm not sure if you were talking specifically about the crossword maker or just the site itself. Anyway, I made the changes to the crossword maker back in June. I haven't heard much about whether people liked the changes or not. However, I haven't had any complaints, so I guess no news can also be good news.

I appreciate the feedback. It's good to hear that you're making use of the site.

it looks awesome but I tried it and it came up with a "500 error"

hhmm?

Yeah, I need to write something about that.

The 500 server error occurs when the maker 'times out.' It will time out becuase it didn't successfully build your puzzle with all of the words.

All you need to do is hit refresh on your browser and it will try again. Alternatively, you can hit back and click the 'make it' button again.

If you are make a crossword and word search together, you'll get that error more often if you have quite a few entries (over 12 or so.) That's because the maker has to not only build a crossword but also build a word search without leaving anything out.

If you keep getting the error and the worksheet never builds, you'll need to get rid of the word search or decrease the number of puzzle words.

I don't like when certain makers leave out words you wanted in your puzzle, so that's why I want to try to get it all in there.

OK thanks for that

I will try again