Now it's time to make the crossword puzzle look like a crossword puzzle:

• Highlight a cell or a group of cells in the puzzle that do not have letters in them (cell C1 or cells E4:H11, for example).
• Right click (or Control Click on a Mac) inside the highlighted area, and then left-click (or click once on a Mac) Format Cells.
• Choose Patterns and choose a color for the background.
• Repeat the steps above to color all the empty cells. Do not color cells with letters in them.

You also can adjust the width and height of the cells:

• Highlight cells A1:J12.
• Click Format (or Format Cells on a Mac) in the menu bar.
• Select Row>Height, and change the number to the desired size. (.45 is a good size.) Click OK.
• Click Format in the menu bar, select Column>Width, and change the width of the puzzle. (.75 is a good size.) Click OK.
• Save your work.

Don't worry about fitting the puzzle onto a single printed page unless you plan to print the puzzle. (The puzzle will not be interactive if you print it.)

Next: Adding the clues.