Okay, so today I decided to mess around with making a crossword puzzle, just a mock-up, you know? Nothing fancy, just wanted to see if I could actually do it. I didn’t use any fancy software or anything, just started sketching stuff out on paper.
Planning is Key(Kinda)
First, I brainstormed a bunch of words. I went for a general theme — everyday objects, things like that. Easy stuff. I jotted down maybe 20 words, different lengths, hoping some would naturally fit together.
- Started with a blank grid, hand-drawn.
- Tried to place the longest words first, seemed like a good strategy.
- Realized quickly that spacing is EVERYTHING.
The Messy Middle
Man, this part was trickier than I thought! I kept erasing and redrawing lines. Moving words around, trying to make them intersect nicely. Some words just refused to cooperate. I ended up swapping out a few of the original words for shorter ones, just to make things work.
I didn’t even get to the clues at this point! Just focusing on getting a decent-looking grid filled with words. It’s definitely an iterative process, lots of trial and error.
Small victories
After a good hour of fiddling, I managed to get a small, 5×5 grid filled. It’s not pretty, but it’s a crossword! All the words intersect, and it’s technically solvable (if I had clues, haha).
I think if put my mind into it, I can do the whole process from grid, word choices to clues!
Final Thoughts (for now)
This was a fun little experiment. It’s definitely harder than it looks, but also pretty satisfying when you finally get a few words to fit together. I might try a bigger one next time, and maybe even, you know, write some actual clues. For a first try without any tools, I’m calling it a win!
