iWordGuru Crossword Aide User Guide

https://www.mnemosynch.net/word-games-word-puzzles-helper-user-guide/crossword-aide/

This is the user guide for the Crossword Aide in iWordGuru (Word Games Word Puzzles Helper). User guides for other word finders and solvers in iWordGuru can be found at https://www.mnemosynch.net/word-games-word-puzzles-helper-user-guide/.

With iWordGuru Crossword Aide, a user enters a word pattern with known and unknown letters (unknown letters are represented by ?’s), and the solver finds all the words that match the pattern. Such a word finder is quite useful to find words to solve word puzzle games such as NYT Crossword and Wordle. 

Crossword Aide operation instructions: 

At the Crossword Aide page,  follow the procedure below to enter the word pattern and find the words that match the pattern. 

    1. (optional) Select the dictionary. The default dictionary is the 2022 Scrabble US dictionary. You may change it to Scrabble UK or ENABLE (the dictionary for WWF) by tapping the dictionary dropdown button. 
    2. If the input box (the box right below the dictionary dropdown button with hint: ‘<Enter a word pattern …>’) is deactivated (the border of the box is grey), then tap the box to activate it (the border should be blue when activated).
    3. Tap letters or ?’s (for unknown letters) in the keyboard to enter the word pattern. The number and the positions of the letters and ?’s are important, and need to be exact.
    4. After 2 letters (a ‘?’ is an unknown letter) are entered, the grey ‘GET READY’ key will turn into a green ‘SEARCH’ key. You may continue to enter more letters or tap the green ‘SEARCH’ key to find all words that match the pattern. This will lead to the results page that contains all the words found for the pattern.

The following are the special keys on the keyboard:

      • ‘CLEAR’: removes all letters in the active field (input box or an optional filter)
      • ‘HELP’: launches the browser to show this Crossword Aide user guide.
      • ‘GET READY’: The grey ‘GET READY’ key is informational and has no effects. After 2 letters are entered, this key will turn into a green ‘SEARCH’ key.
      • ‘SEARCH’: The green ‘SEARCH’ key appears after two letters are entered. When the green ‘SEARCH’ key appears, you can either continue to enter more letters or tap the green ‘SEARCH’ key to find all words that match the pattern in the input box and see all words found in the matched words page.

    From the Crossword Aide page, you can tap the arrow at the left of the App Bar on the top of the page to return to the main menu.

    Crossword Aide use case examples: To find 5 letter words whose first letter is an A and the last letter is an S, use the word pattern ‘A???S’. The Crossword Aide will find al such words like AREAS, ACIDS, and so on.

    Filters: Filters are optional, they are used to narrow down the words to have certain properties.  The Crossword Aide supports three filters, a ‘Contains’ pattern filter, an ‘Includes Letters’ filter and an ‘Excludes Letters’ filter.

    To enter filters, tap the filter input field to activate it and then tap the letters in the keyboard to enter them.

    Pattern filter ‘Contains’ specifies a pattern that the matched words must contain. Consider the above word pattern ‘A???S’ example. If the ‘Contains’ pattern filter is ‘RE’, the Crossword Aide will find words AREAS, but not ACIDS. The filter can contain wildcards as well. In the example, if the ‘Contains’ filter is ‘A?I’, the Crossword Aide will find ACIDS, but not AREAS.

    Letter filters

      • Letter filter ‘Includes Letters’ specifies the letters that must be included in the words. The letters may be repeated and can be entered in any order. For example, the ‘Include Letters’ filter ‘AAAB’ is equivalent to ‘AABA’, both say that the word must have 3 A’s and one B. Consider the above ‘A???S’ example. If the ‘Include Letters’ filter is ‘ER’, then the Crossword Aide will find AREAS, but not ACIDS.
      • Letter filter ‘Excludes Letters’ specifies the letters that must be excluded in the words. The letters may be repeated (but repeated letters are the same as one letter) and can be entered in any order. For example, the ‘Excludes Letters’ filter ‘AAAB’ is equivalent to ‘BA’, both say that the word cannot have letters A and B. Consider the word pattern ‘A???S’ example. If the ‘Exclude Letters’ filter is ‘R’, then the Crossword Aide will find ACIDS, but not AREAS.

     

     

    The Matched Words page appears after the green ‘SEARCH’ key is tapped. The page shows all matched words. The words are sorted by default based on usage (commonly used words appears earlier). Following actions can be performed in this solution page.

      • Tap a solution word to highlight the word.
      • Tap the sort option button (‘Usage’, ‘A to Z’, or Scrabble score) to change how the matched words are sorted, by usage, alphabetical order, or Scrabble score.
      • Tap the information button to the right of each matched word to google the meaning of the word.
      • Tap the arrow at the App Bar (upper left of the screen) to go back to the previous page where a new set of letters can be entered to be unscrambled.