User:Sorceror Nobody/Fetch Modi

The Crossword Modus is a Fetch Modus used by Sorceror Nobody. Items captchalogued into this modus are not represented by Captchalogue Cards within the modus, although they can still be manifested as cards for use with the Alchemiter, Punch Designix, etc. Instead, their names are rendered as components of a crossword.

Basic principles
The crossword grid has a certain size limit, item limit and core word. Items can be added only if they join onto an existing word, which means that the first item captchalogued has to be able to intersect the core word. As the array of intersecting words expands with added items, the boundaries of the grid will shift to accomodate it until the size limit is reached in the direction of expansion (up/down or left/right). Consequently, a filled grid need not have the core word in the middle of it, as the captchalogued items could be placed to expand the grid predominately in one direction. That said, it is often prudent to keep the core word approximately in the centre, as this lends itself to a more stable structure.

When an item is ejected from the Sylladex, any items that rely entirely on that word to be anchored to the core word are also ejected, in a manner similar to Rose Lalonde ejecting the root item in her Tree Modus. However, if the connected words are also connected to the core via other intersections, they will not be ejected. In essence, this encourages the user to make the crossword as interconnected as possible, to maximise the control that they have over ejection of their items.

The user has relatively little control over what the modus decides to name captchalogued items. In particular, the modus has a tendency to insist on full names for things that might otherwise be abbreviated (e.g. refusing to allow "PLAYSTATIONPORTABLE" to be rendered as "PSP"), which can lead to frustration when the name exceeds the size limits of the grid. On the other hand, the modus is sometimes very flexible about terminology (e.g. allowing either "MOBILEPHONE" or "CELLPHONE").

The initial state of Sorceror Nobody's Crossword Modus is as follows:
 * Size limit: 16 x 16
 * Item limit: 16 items
 * Core word: C O R E

Modus Settings
The modus does not have a great many unique settings. A frequent set of irritations, which naturally are enabled by default, are the automatic sorting options. The "Prioritise First Letter" and "Prioritise Core Word" are particularly annoying, especially when combined with "Detect Collisions" being switched off. For instance, prior to Sorceror Nobody working out what his modus actually was, he captchalogued a BISCUIT, and then attempted to captchalogue a COOKIE. The BISCUIT was ejected.

The reason for this is that, when captchalogued, the biscuit automatically intersected CORE on the C, because that was the only letter that the two words have in common. Next, when the COOKIE was captchalogued, it prioritised intersecting the core word by the first letter that they shared, namely the C, which meant that the BISCUIT had to be ejected to make room. Without the automatic sorting options active, and with "Detect Collisions" active, the COOKIE can be placed elsewhere to avoid this issue.

Sorceror Nobody was thoroughly disappointed that PLAYSTATIONPORTABLE is more than 16 letters long, but did at least take some comfort in the fact that the modus permitted NINTENDODS, quite possibly because nobody outside Nintendo is 100% certain on what the DS actually stands for. Dual Screen? Developer System? It truly is a mystery that not even the capricious and trollishly-inclined Crossword Modus can solve... which is something to be thankful for, quite frankly.