After running CrossStar you will see a window like the one below
The window on the right called 'Grid' displays the puzzle grid, the window on the left called 'Solutions' any solutions. The window above them contains buttons for controlling the program and displaying information.
This section is about using CrossStar for crosswords, you can use the Grid menu to switch between crossword and wordsquare modes. See the section on the Grid menu for more information, and the next section for using the program on wordsquares.
Clicking on the Grid window with the left hand mouse button will position a cursor in the grid - shown as a coloured grid cell. You can use the usual cursor keys to move this cursor around. Typing letters will insert text in the grid. After you've typed some text if CrossStar can't determine which direction text must go in it will beep. Simply use the cursor keys to move the cursor in the direction text should go - you only need do this once. Text can be removed from the grid by using the backspace or delete keys.
Holding down shift and using the cursor keys will move the cursor in the grid but keep its position on screen fixed.
Clicking on the grid with the right hand mouse button will toggle grid cells between being filled and unfilled. If the control key is held down at the same time instead of the cell being filled a horizontal bar will be produced at the top of it. Similarly holding down shift produces a vertical bar on the left of a cell.
To solve a puzzle you would normally fill in the required cells or bars, then enter any of the text you've already solved. Once you've done that you can start using CrossStar to solve the bits you can't do.
Areas of the grid not filled in can be marked. Marking works by clicking with the mouse and then dragging, the selected area will be highlighted. As is usual with Windows a selection can be extended by holding down control and dragging. In addition once there is a marked selection a click with the right mouse button will toggle marking for a single cell.
Once you've selected the area of the grid you want to solve, click on the Solve button at the top of the window. After a while a list of possible solutions will appear in the Solutions window. You can fill in what you think is the right one by clicking on it.
This picture shows a marked word and the solutions for it.
This is what an interlocking marked area and solutions look like
When an area of grid is marked the text icon next to the Solve button shows the size of the marked area. This is useful if you know how long a word is - often puzzles will say this. For example the clue may be "moonless (4,5)", the answer consists of two words ("dark night"), unless you have a phrases dictionary this will be solved by marking off and solving the two words one at a time. The displayed size would let you mark off 4 letters and then 5 easily.
Whilst solving is going on the button area display will show the number of solutions found so far and provide a Stop button.
Clicking on Stop or pressing the Escape key will stop solving. Complex areas may take a long time to solve or areas which are not specific enough may produce too many solutions, in both cases the best thing is halting the solution process and either starting again or looking at the solutions which have been found.
There are two ways of solving anagrams. One way is to enter the letters in the grid, in any order, mark the letters and then click on Anagram. As usual solutions appear in the Solutions window and can be clicked on. The other way is to mark off the grid where the anagram solution will go, then enter in the writeable icon the letters of the anagram, finally click on the Anagram button.