CrossClue

CrossClue is a problem solving activity for a single player. Each screen has two clues across, and two clues down. The first of the pair, the defining clue, is an explanation of the meaning of the word. It is not a formal definition of the sort appropriate to a dictionary, but the sort of explanation that a teacher would give. The second clue is the contextual clue. This is a sentence which is enclosed in quotation marks (“) and has dashes (-----) where the word occurs. Where a selected word has more than one meaning in common use there is an indicator that this is so in at least one of the clues.

From these two clues, and from the clues provided by the layout of the word squares, the player guesses the word from those shown at the top of the screen, selects the letters from the displayed alphabet, and drags them one at a time into the word squares. When a letter is correctly positioned, it changes colour from blue to black. If the letter is not correctly positioned, it disappears when the mouse button is released. When a word is completed the word is greyed out in the list at the top of the screen.

When the player has completed both words he will be congratulated and invited to move on the next pair of clues using the arrow buttons. Once all the screens have been completed, and the words found, the player is congratulated and invited to choose another set of words.

At any point where a player gets stuck, he can move to the next screen, and return later to the words that were difficult, look the word/s up in a dictionary, and compare the dictionary definition with the explanation offered.

The words selected for this sample set, twenty in number, are set out below arranged in alphabetical order (this is for ease of reference; it is not in the order in which they occur in the text). Instructions for preparing the data sets are provided, so that teachers can prepare different data sets for students of different abilities.

After completing the puzzle, the user will be invited to select another data set or to exit the program.

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