Sphinx

A new crossword game for Windows. The goal of the game is to completely fill the crossword with words that make sense, using the smallest possible number of black squares. The program searches for the words to fit in the scheme, from a text dictionary. The choice must be guided by judgment, based on the future possibilities of crossing, and also on the letters available for insertion. There are three ways to enter a word: 1) Click on a letter already present in the crossword: the computer will choose a direction (horizontal or vertical) and provide you with a list of words that fit in the scheme. 2) Some words will result due to the crossings. The words thus formed take more points than those obtained from the list given by the computer. 3) By inserting a letter selected between those at the top of the window. The words completed in this way give you even more points! The words that are formed by the crossings (point 2) or by manual insertion (step 3) may take no sense (according to the dictionary used by the computer). In such case the words are highlighted in color, and a penalty is given. Since you have a limited number of available letters to be entered when and where needed, try to make the best use out of them: words completed by this way are worth more points and you may also get out from some messy situation, even at the cost of creating nonsense words (thus receiving a penalty), but avoiding the "game over". The program searches for the words to fit in the scheme starting from the maximum length, and going down. If the word found is shorter than the space available, the program automatically adds the black squares at the beginning and/or end. The "template" of the word that is currently being searched for is displayed in the status bar (e.g.: +++A+++L++). During search a counter shows the number of words found.