Summary: Many of us see crossword puzzles just as entertainment tools, but they can also
be used as educational and even income generating tools, let us find out.
You might not have realized it, but do you know that crossword puzzles are still one of the
most important parts of many popular newspapers. There are people, who buy newspapers
mainly for solving these puzzles. When it comes to areas of interest in a newspaper, next to
politics, sports and television sections, crosswords are the selling points as the page that
contains these puzzles are stated to be the most-read ones in a newspaper.
Nowadays, not just newspapers, there are many gaming websites and even general
websites with a page dedicated for daily crossword and other puzzles to entertain the
visitors. So, if you are interested in these puzzles, in addition to being a puzzle solver, you
can turn yourself to be a puzzle creator, which can turn out to be an income generating
opportunity for you. Yes, you can submit the puzzles to websites and magazines and can
just use your entertainment aspect as an income-generating arena.
Tips for creating crossword puzzles:
Theme:
You can start by thinking a theme for your puzzle initially. For instance, it can be anything
like popular personalities, television, film, sports, travel, geography, history, etc. It is not
essential that you will have to initially share your theme with the readers and they can just
guess the theme on their own to make it more interesting and entertaining for them to
solve.
Long list of words:
Once you have decided the theme, you can just start creating a long list of words that are
related to your theme. You can just pick around 25 -30 words to start with and this will act
as the word bank for puzzle creation. It is not essential that you will have to create clues for
all those words.
Both long and short words:
When you are engaged in the process of creating the list of words, choose both long and
short words, but remember not to choose many 4-letter words. Try to choose words that
has often used letter, as against rarely used letter like X, Q and Z.
Get a graph sheet:
Once you have arrived at a list of words, take a graph sheet and choose five or six words
from the list created. Now, try to link those words together in the center of the page. Here,
you will find things easier, when you begin with horizontal grids. Once long words are filled
in horizontally, try to connect short words to them vertically or diagonally. Then, finish off
by filling in the spaces with a blank.
Numbering:
Once you have completed the grid, number every square that has the initial letter of the
word. Then, divide them into two lists, one with ‘across’ words and one with ‘down’ words.
Even, you can also create diagonal words as well.
Create the clues:
This is the final, yet important stage. Yes, you should create the clues for the words that
you have used in the grids. Most crosswords have simple or cryptic clues. Be sure not to
mix them and use either simple or cryptic clues. When you are creating clues, having a
dictionary by your side will make the job easier.
Make money with your puzzles:
Now, comes the point of making money with the crossword puzzles that you create. As
mentioned earlier, you can earn by selling the puzzles.
Where to sell?
Many newspapers and magazines have a separate section for puzzles and they might show
interest in purchasing your crossword puzzles. You can write to them and can ask about the
same. Make sure that you start with small publications. The reason is that larger magazines
and newspapers generally have their regular in-house puzzle compilers. Even, there are
chances that they might be ready to purchase puzzles from freelancers as well sometimes.
So, you can get in touch with them. There are also chances that you might be chosen as the
regular in-house compiler in the future.
When you create a puzzle with a view to sell it to a particular newspaper, remember to
check their previous versions. The reason is that they tend to have a fixed grid size and
they will not change it. So, you can sell your compilations to them only when you create
puzzles that meet their criteria.
Tips for website owners to increase visitors:
Website owners, who are concerned about lesser return from their website, just because of
the lesser number of visitors, the excellent thing they can do to attract visitors is to add
crossword puzzle each day to their website. There are people, who search for such puzzles
online and they visit every website that has such puzzles to solve them. So, not just the
target audience, businesses can attract other people as well by posting crossword puzzles
each day. When the puzzles are interesting enough, they can gain word-of-the-mouth
popularity. The reason is that when the visitors find it interesting in solving the puzzles,
they will share the same with their friends.
Daily a puzzle can be posted and it can be stated that the answer for the same can be found
the following day. When this is done, not just people, who cannot find the solution, but
those, who had found the solution will also make a visit to make sure that they have done it
right. When they get a sense of satisfaction in solving, they will never fail to visit every day.
So, this is an excellent technique to increase website traffic.
Besides being an entertainment tool and educational tool for kids and adults, crossword
puzzles these days are turning out to be income generating tools for many youngsters as
well. Even, if you find it hard to create puzzles for adults, you can choose to make some for
kids’ magazines and websites and can earn in this way. Are you ready to earn through