How about this, just to throw some ideas into the pool: (Of course there's lots of stuff that can be tweaked. For example, I left out the extra line in the "easy" case because I personally didn't like it.)
.\" .\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .de Z .sp 2 .nr n 1 .. .\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .\" mode register m: 1 = easy, 2 = medium, 3 = hard .\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .\" You could also use .X in modes 2 & 3 .de Q .if \\nm=1 .X \\$@ .if \\nm=2 .Y \\$@ .if \\nm=3 .Y \\$@ .. .\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .\" Using blanks of variable length .de X .ds n \s'-2'\\nn\s'0' .if \\nm=1 .char _ \v'.2m'\h'.1m'\D'l .8m 0'\h'.1m'\v'-.2m' .if \\nm=2 .char _ \v'.2m'\D'l 1m 0'\v'-.2m' .if \\nm=3 .char _ \v'.2m'\D'l 1m 0'\v'-.2m' .tr a_b_c_d_e_f_g_h_i_j_k_l_m_n_o_p_q_r_s_t_u_v_w_x_y_z_ .nr w (\w'\\$1'-\w'\\*n')/2 \Z'\\$1'\c .tr aabbccddeeffgghhiijjkkllmmnnooppqqrrssttuuvvwwxxyyzz .ds x \\$1 .substring x 0 0 .if \\nm=1 \Z'\o'_\\*x''\c .if \\nm=2 \Z'\o'_\\*x''\c \h'\\nwu'\v'1m'\\*n\v'-1m'\h'\\nwu'\\$2 .nr n +1 .. .\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .\" Using blanks of fixed length .de Y .if \\nm=1 .tm Please use .X instead of .Y in "easy" mode .ds W \v'.2m'\D'l 3.5c 0'\v'-.2m' .ds n \s'-2'\\nn\s'0' .nr w (\w'\\*W'-\w'\\*n')/2 .ds x \\$1 .substring x 0 0 .if \\nm=1 \Z'\|\\*x'\c .if \\nm=2 \Z'\|\\*x'\c \Z'\\*W'\c \h'\\nwu'\v'1m'\\*n\v'-1m'\h'\\nwu'\\$2 .nr n +1 .. .\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .sp 3c .ps 12 .vs 14 .\" ------------------------------------------------------------------------ .nr m 1 .Z I am .Q honored to be with you today at your .Q commencement . .nr m 2 .Z I am .Q honored to be with you today at your .Q commencement . .nr m 3 .Z I am .Q honored to be with you today at your .Q commencement .
