Merriam-Webster
Crossword Challenge by Hexacto,
Price: $14.95
Reviewed September 2003
There is no doubt that Crossword puzzles
have legions of fans. Merriam-Webster Crossword with the
official dictionaries is among the most popular crossword
games and comes in volumes. Ported to Palm PDAs by Hexacto,
the Merriam-Webster Crossword Challenge preserved the look
and feel of this classic game and provides hundreds of full-page
crossword puzzles that you can enjoy.
In Merriam-Webster Crossword Challenge,
you write the letters in the Graffiti area to fill the words
in the puzzle. You can get hints and verify letters anytime
during the game. Once you are done, hit the Done button,
and you will see a pop-up window showing you some stats for
the game you’ve just finished. Merriam-Webster Crossword
Challenge comes in three difficulty levels. If you are learning
English, the Easy and Medium levels can help you improve
your vocabulary. The Hard level does not seem hard to me
compared to those grilling crossword puzzles in the Sunday
editions of the New York Times. You will find a very useful
statistics page that lists the number of games you’ve
played and finished, how many hints and verifies you’ve
used, etc. in all three levels.
Hexacto did a good job at presenting the
game with an easy-to-play yet elegant interface. The 12x12
crossword puzzle board uses most of the PDA screen with a
pleasing light blue as the background color. The hint box
is below the puzzle screen with two small buttons to indicate
hints for horizontal or vertical lines. You will also find
shortcut buttons to Hints, Verifies, Delete, Done and Home
on the left of the puzzle screen. After you’ve filled
in a letter, the game will highlight the next block for you
to fill in the next one. The game will remember where you
left off in a puzzle even after you’ve launched other
applications on your Palm. Very convenient design for those
who don’t have enough time to complete a puzzle in
one sitting!
There is no sound or music in this
game, nor options to change background colors, etc. Merriam-Webster
Crossword Challenge supports Palm OS devices running version
3.5 or higher and has different versions for grey scale,
color and Sony Hi Res devices.
Playing Hint and Tips
Note: if you play at Hard level, you will
not have access to Hints and Verifies features; and at Medium
level, you only have a certain numbers of Hints and Verifies
in each puzzle. |
