International Crosswords

International Crosswords is a free and super handy tool that lets you create online crosswords in any language you want! It's mainly designed for teachers who want to make learning more fun for their students, especially those picking up a new language. Think of it as a cool way to turn boring word lists into an exciting game!

Fun for Everyone!

You can totally use this tool just for fun too! If you're curious, check out this example crossword made with the English alphabet. Plus, if you're into other languages, it comes with files that let you use the Greek and Esperanto alphabets. You can even make your own custom alphabet files—it’s pretty easy, and they give you instructions on how to do it!

Getting Started

Here’s how to set things up:

1. Open the file named "config.pl". This is where you'll find some key settings needed to run the program. Most of it's explained right there in the file.


2. The $config{'alphabet'} variable points to the default alphabet file. The package includes three alphabets: Greek, English, and Esperanto. If you want your own alphabet file, just list the HTML codes needed for your language's letters.


3. The lines in your file should follow a key=value format. The key is any label you choose (just make sure each one is different), and the value is the HTML code for that letter. For example, here's how some Greek letters look:




• Alpha=Α


• Beta=Β


• Gamma=Γ




4. If you need to change the $config{'docpath'}, do so only if you're not using “crosswords” as your directory name or if your server setup is different.


5. Upload your files! Make sure to send over viewer.cgi, maker.cgi, config.pl, and whatever alphabet file you're using to your cgi-bin directory. We suggest naming it cgi-bin/cwords.


6. Create a document path structure under your base HTML directory—most people go with “/crosswords”. You can pick any name but ensure it's correctly set in config.pl.