Puzzle Statistics - Crossword Studio Help

Puzzle statistics can be useful for several reasons:

As a limit – many publishers require a puzzle stay, for example, below a certain percentage of black cells. See Warnings, below.
As an early warning – a puzzle may be difficult to finish filling if it uses many difficult letters (such as Q), very few black cells, or very long answer slots.
As a goal – some puzzle authors intentionally aim to use difficult letters, few black cells, etc. This might be a defining characteristic of the puzzle, or may simply be a competitive point of pride for the author.

Getting Statistics

A few statistics are always visible in the status bar at the bottom of the window. To see more detailed statistics in a separate floating window:

Click the Statistics toolbar button
Click the statistics shown in the status bar
Choose "Puzzle > Statistics" in the menu bar
Press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S

You can leave this window open as you continue to work in the main Crossword Studio window, and the statistics will continuously update as you make changes.

Grid Shape Statistics

The "Grid" tab shows information about the puzzle grid's cells and slots, independent of whatever answer text might be filled into the grid.

	Grid size – how many cells wide and tall your grid is.
	Black/white cells – number and percent of cells that are black vs. white. Generally, the fewer black cells, the harder it is both to create and to solve a puzzle.
	Answer slots – total number of answer slots, and a breakdown of across vs. down slots. This is also how many clues you will need to write.
	Slot length histogram – overview of how long the answer slots are: Horizontal axis – length of slot (bars further to the right indicate longer answers). Vertical axis – number of slots with a given length (taller bar indicates more answer slots of that length are found in your grid). Roll your mouse over a bar to see the slots highlighted in the main window's puzzle grid:

	Average slot length – generally, the longer the average answer, the harder it is both to create and to solve a puzzle.
	Minimum slot length – shortest answer slot in the grid. Roll your mouse over this label to see the shortest slots highlighted in the main window's puzzle grid.
	Maximum slot length – longest answer slot in the grid. If your grid has a theme, the longest answer slots should contain your theme answers. Roll your mouse over this label to see the longest slots highlighted in the main window's puzzle grid.

Warnings

Like the status bar, text will turn red to warn you if your puzzle grid doesn't meet common publisher requirements.

Hover your mouse over the red text for a moment to see details:

Answer Text Statistics

The "Answers" tab shows information about the answer text you've filled into the puzzle grid.

Letter usage – lists how many times each letter is used in the puzzle's answers. If a particular letter is not used at all, it is grayed out.

A pangram puzzle uses every letter in the alphabet at least once. Some puzzle authors take pride in going out of their way to create pangram puzzles.

Scrabble* score – indicator of how many rare, hard-to-use letters appear in the puzzle's answers. A higher number indicates rarer letters.

Total – overall score for all letters in the grid. Note: larger puzzles, and puzzles with fewer black squares, will tend to have a higher total score simply because there are more letters in the grid.
Average letter – average score for a single letter. This is a better way to compare puzzles with different grid sizes.

* Note: Scrabble is a registered trademark of Hasbro Inc. (or others outside the US and Canada). It is not affiliated with Crossword Studio in any way.