Theme Editing - Step 2
The second screen for theme editing has one primary purpose, to fill the middle of the grid with blocks.
The two sliders allow you to specify the minimum and maximum number of words you would like in your puzzle, and the minimum and maximum number of blocks. After clicking, "Get Middle Block Options", the screen should look like this:
As you can see, the puzzle now has blocks added. By default, 20 potential options for middle fill will be returned (some layouts may not be valid and should be skipped). You can also click "Get More Options" (same button) to get another 20 options. Use the "Previous" and "Next" buttons to view different options, and the "Clear Middle" button to clear the middle blocks. Below are the statistics for this puzzle:
This particular puzzle has 78 words and 38 blocks. If you want more or less words/blocks, adjust the sliders below and try again. Finally, there is a checkbox that reads, "Prevent words longer than the shortest theme word". This will prevent words longer than your theme words. For example, a grid with a 15 letter vertical entry would be excluded in this example. This option is selected by default.
Troubleshooting
If no layouts are found that meet your criteria, here are a couple things to check.
Take a look at the edge areas of the puzzle and make sure the areas you've defined are consistent with the number of words/blocks you are targeting for the puzzle. In the example above, we have a 5x5 block in the top-right/bottom-left areas, which may eliminate some options with a higher number of words.
It may be useful to start with a wider range and drill down to smaller ranges as you make additional tweaks.
Last updated
