Sympathy Features

This page summarizes the most important features of Sympathy. The Gallery shows the range of grids that can be produced. To find out more, download a copy for evaluation.

Sympathy Crossword Construction is the full version of the software including all the features. It runs on Windows XP, Windows 2000 and Windows NT4.

Sympathy Crossword Publisher is the 'lite' version including the publication features only. It runs on Windows XP, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows 98 and Windows NT4

The feature list has two sections:

Common Features

This section lists the features supported by both Sympathy Crossword Publisher and Sympathy Crossword Construction.

General

Sympathy has full support for the most popular puzzle types:

• US-style crosswords with Fully Checked grids
• Diagramless puzzles
• Blocked grid crosswords
• Barred grid crosswords

Starting Points

There are several ways of starting a new crossword:

• Choosing a stock grid from one of the supplied libraries
• Reusing your own stock grids
• From a regular pattern
• From a grid with all white or all black squares

Grid Editing

Editing functions help you enter the grid you want quickly:

• You can use the mouse or the keyboard to change the grid
• There are 10 grid symmetry types to choose from
• You can create grids up to 100 rows by 100 columns
• Editing automatically preserves the symmetry of the grid

Grid Typography

The appearance of grids is highly customizable:

• All grid dimensions, colors and fonts are configurable
• Thematic answers can be highlighted using fonts, text colors or background shading
• Blocks can be completely filled or Italian Style
• Unused cells can be left empty to make "holes" or create Irregular grid outlines
• Numbering can be omitted or manually assigned to any of the four cell corners
• Cells can contain more than one answer letter
• Answer letters can optionally be shown in the blank grid

Clue Typography

Sympathy offers full control over clue formatting and puzzle layout, so you can:

• Override the conventional clue numbering
• Customize the overall character and paragraph formatting of clues
• Change font, type size and emphasis of characters within clues
• Choose the style of answer enumerations
• Control the puzzle and solution layouts using the WYSIWYG editor
• Define your own fields such as the puzzle title, compiler and preamble
• Design layout templates to reuse in new crosswords

Crossword Publication

These are the main ways of publishing completed crosswords:

• Printing the puzzle or solution directly to the computer's printer
• Exporting in word processor format (RTF) for inclusion in another publication
• Exporting as HTML for web publication in a printable form
• Exporting grid images in bitmap formats such as JPEG and PNG

Construction Features

Sympathy Crossword Construction includes these features in addition to the Common Features described above.

Grid Filling

Sympathy has a rich set of filling options useful at different stages:

• Very fast automatic creation of up to 10 unique fills
• Interactive filling for precise word selection
• Filling individual words from a list or by cycling through the possibilities
• Filling a subset of the grid
• Filling from up to 8 dictionaries in a priority order
• Undesirable words can be temporarily or permanently removed
• Duplicate words can be allowed or suppressed

Grid Transformations

You can change the complete grid in a number of ways:

• Reflection of the grid in the main diagonal
• Rotation of the grid through 90 degrees
• Grid resizing

Lexicographical Support

Sympathy includes a range of different lexicographical resources:

• The Core English list includes 67,000 common words (with and without inflections)
• The Edited English list includes 256,624 words (with and without inflections)
• The USWordNet list includes American English vocabulary with around 175,000 words and phrases
• The USEnable list includes American English vocabulary with around 200,000 words with inflections
• The integrated dictionary/thesaurus has definitions for 190,000 entries
• Citations indicate dictionaries where a further 130,000 entries are found
• You can also look up words using an Internet search engine

Clue Databases

Sympathy stores clues in database files:

• new and updated clues are automatically saved to a clue database
• previously written clues for each answer are shown in the Clue Workshop
• grids can be filled using the words in a clue database
• clues can be imported from text files and from crosswords created with Sympathy

Grid Statistics

Detailed statistics allow you to monitor grid construction and filling:

• Comprehensive grid statistics including average answer length and checking level
• Lists of answers that have breached configurable checking rules
• Frequency of use of different letters of the alphabet
• Analysis of dictionary use during filling
• Frequency of use of different answer lengths

Wordplay Wizard

The Wordplay Wizard includes comprehensive lists of cryptic clue indicators and identifies how answers can be formed using treatments such as:

• Anagramming
• Reversal
• Charades
• Container and Contents
• Head, Tail, Middle and Ends Deletion
• Alternating letters
• Substitution

Gimmicks

Sympathy has unrivalled support for gimmicks used in thematic or "variety" cryptics (see the Gallery for further information about the example grids):

• Allowing or enforcing entry in the reverse direction
• Deletion from answers, including Letters Latent
• Answers with Misprints
• Encryption of answers using Playfair coding
• Encryption of answers using Substitution Cipher
• Restricting answers using a TEA Pattern
• Different Dictionaries for different parts of the grid

Tools

You can process and integrate your own word and clue lists:

• Word List Merge sorts and combines text-based word lists
• Dictionary Builder converts text-based word lists into Sympathy dictionaries
• Clue Maintainer edits and converts clue databases

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Last updated: $Date: 2006/12/28 23:03:05 $
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