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Newsgroups: rec.answers,news.answers Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!enterpoop.mit.edu!gatech!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!decwrl!pa.dec.com!rdg.dec.com!xstacy!jlundon From: jlundon@xstacy.enet.dec.com (James A. Lundon) Subject: FAQ rec.puzzles.crosswords - version 1.0 Message-ID: <1993Mar22.184401.16164@rdg.dec.com> Followup-To: rec.puzzles.crosswords Summary: This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions about crosswords. Keywords: FAQ Lines: 583 Sender: news@rdg.dec.com (Mr News) Reply-To: jlundon@xstacy.enet.dec.com (James A. Lundon) Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation Date: Mon, 22 Mar 1993 18:44:01 GMT Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.Edu Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu rec.answers:404 news.answers:6901 Archive-name: crossword-faq Last-modified: 17/3/1993 Version: 1.0 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) File for rec.puzzles.crossword Version 1.0 Compiled and edited by James A. Lundon (jlundon@xstacy.enet.dec.com) This file contains the answers to many questions which people from time to time have asked in the conference and it will act as a convenient store of knowledge which the participants in the conference may find useful or even interesting. This file will be posted around the first of each month with any updates marked together with a new version number. Last modified 17 March 1993 Questions --------- 1. What's the charter of rec.puzzles.crossword? 2. What are ACC, CWC, and PCWC? 3. What are good dictionaries for crosswords? 4. Are there good books of word-lists for crosswords? 5. What technical papers are there about crosswords? 6. What books are there about crosswords? 7. What software is available for crosswords? 8. Are there any on-line dictionaries around? 9. Is there any FTP site for crossword related material? 10. Standard tips about solving a cryptic crossword? 11. Misc. questions of interest. Answers ------- 1. What's the charter of rec.puzzles.crossword? NAME: rec.puzzles.crosswords STATUS: unmoderated DESCRIPTION: Forum for discussion of grid-based word puzzles CHARTER: To provide a forum for the submission of articles dealing with word puzzles such as crosswords, acrostics and word-searches. Any puzzle which involves determining words arranged in a gridlike structure and in which there is no opponent (except perhaps the setter of the puzzle :-) is included within the coverage of this group. Posts of the following types are expected: o Complete puzzles to be solved by the readers o Computer programs for generating (solving?!) such puzzles o Details on how to go about creating your own puzzles o Individual favourite clues o Requests for help in solving and/or explaining cryptic clues o Explanations of how to solve cryptic crosswords in general o Sources for puzzles in your area of the world o Discussion of cryptic conventions, etc. though this is not intended to be an exhaustive list. The language used in the postings to the group is left up to the poster, but they should bear in mind the target audience they are trying to reach and what languages they are likely to understand. The puzzles themselves can be in any language(s) the poster desires. 2. What are ACC, CWC, and PCWC ? These are cryptic clue writing competitions run more or less regularly on the newsgroup. In each of them, a word or words are set for you to clue. You E-mail the setter a cryptic clue. The prize is that the person who set the winning clue gets to set the next round of the competition. The competitions don't have a final round; they just keep going. The three competitions are: ACC, for "Araucaria Clueing Contest", was started by Ray Steiner (and named by Dave Corne, the first winner). The winner of each round gets to set and judge the next round. CWC, for "Clue Writing Competition", was started by Ian Gent. There is no great distinction between it and ACC, but two words are usually given, for the sake of variety (the best single clue wins). Also, it often has a shorter time between setting the words and the submission deadline than ACC, but that is up to each person who runs it. PCWC, for "People's Clue Writing Competition", was started by Guy Jacobson. Unlike ACC and CWC, submitted clues are posted before the winner is judged. Readers of the newsgroup then vote for their favourite clues. The winner sets the next word, but the judging is done by the people. 3. What are good dictionaries for crosswords? There's no one dictionary that you must have for enjoying crosswords. On the other hand, in some contexts it helps to know what dictionary has been used in setting a crossword, particularly for hard crosswords containing unusual words. For example, The Listener crossword (now published in The Times) almost always uses "Chambers English Dictionary", with deviations from that being noted. On the other hand in America Merriam-Websters 9th Collegiate Dictionary is the standard of the National Puzzle League (a wordplay club which devotes some of its time to crosswords). In both countries there are many other good dictionaries of usable size. Two mammoth dictionaries that people sometimes have to resort to are The Oxford English Dictionary and Merriam-Webster's Third New International Dictionary. 4. Are there good books of word-lists for crosswords? You can probably find books of word-lists in your nearest bookshop. These are generally of two types: they may be a simple list of words or they may arrange their words by subject (birds, bees, etc). Of the latter type, the classic American publication is Baas. Of the former, the classic British one is "Chamber's Words", which contains all the words in Chamber's English Dictionary, listed by word length and then alphabetically. Or rather, it purports to contain all those words. It has numerous errors, which are not corrected in subsequent additions. See "What errors are known in Chambers Words?". On the other hand, the errors still represent a tiny percentage of the whole, and Chambers also publishes "Back Words" (words listed in reverse alphabetical order) and "Anagrams" (words indexed by their letters collected into alphabetical order, so "anagram" is under "aaagmnr"). 5. What technical papers are there about crosswords? Here is a list I compiled late last year. It is fairly exhaustive. If there are any more recent papers please let me know so that I can update the list? Does anyone know whether any of the authors (except Guy) included in this bibliography have E-mail addresses? It would make correspondence with them much easier. %T A Prototype Crossword Compiler %A P.D. Smith and S.Y. Steen %J The Computer Journal %V 24/2, pp 107-111 %Y 1981 %T XENO: Computer-Assisted Compilation of Crossword Puzzles %A P.D. Smith %J The Computer Journal %V 26/4, pp 296-302 %Y 1983 %T The Generation of Cryptic Crossword Clues %A G.W. Smith, J.B.H. Du Boulay %J The Computer Journal %V 29/3, pp 282-283 %Y 1986 %T Crossword Compilation with Horn Clauses %A H. Berghel %J The Computer Journal %V 30/2, pp 183-188 %Y 1987 %T Crossword Compilation Using Integer Programming %A J.M. Wilson %J The Computer Journal %V 32/3, pp 273-275 %Y 1989 %T Crossword Compiler-Compilation %A H. Berghel, C. Yi %J The Computer Journal %V 32/3, pp 276-280 %Y 1989 %T A Proposed Standard for Measuring Crossword Compilation Efficiency %A H. Brerghel, R. Rankin %J The Computer Journal %V 33/2 pp 181-184 %Y 1990 %T Computer Assisted Analysis of Cryptic Crosswords %A P.W. Williams, D. Woodhead %J The Computer Journal %V 22/? pp 67-?? %Y 1979 %T Crossword Compiling Puzzles the Programmer %A J. Cox %J Computer Weekly %V pp 17 %Y 30 August 1979 %T A Program for the Construction of Crossword Puzzles %A O. Feger %J Angewandte Informatik %V 17/5 pp 189-195 %Y 1975 %T An Investigation of Computer Generated Crossword Puzzles %A L.J. Mazlack %J P.hD. Dissertation Washington University St. Louis %V %Y 1972 %T The Use of Applied Probability in the Computer Construction of Crossword Puzzles %A L.J. Mazlack %J IEEE Conf. on Decision and Control San Diego CA. 5-7 December. %V pp 497-506 %Y 1973 %T Data Structures Required for Crossword Puzzle Construction %A L.J Mazleck %J 36th Annual meeting of the American Society for Information Science L.A 21-25 Oct 1973 %V pp 141-142 %Y 1974 %T Computer Construction of Crossword Puzzles using Precedence Relationships %A L.J. Mazlack %J Artificial Intelligence %V 7/1 pp 1-19 %Y 1976 %T Machine Selection of Elements in Crossword Puzzles %A L.J. Mazlack %J SIAM Journal of Computing %V 5/1, pp 51-72 %Y March 1976 %T Automation of Crossword Puzzle Solutions %A G. Harris, J. Spring %J Division Of CAD, Griffith University, Nathan, Australia? %V Manuscript? %Y 1979 %T Redundancy Exploitation in the Computer Construction of Double-crostic %A E.S. Spiegelthal %J Proceedings of the EJCC. %V pp 39-56 %Y 1960 %T A Program to Solve Crossword Puzzles %A H.A. Bauer %J Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois. %V %Y 1973 %T Crossword Compilation Puzzles the Programmer %A J. Cox %J Computer Weekly %V 30 August, pp 17 %Y 1979 %T Automatic Crossword Compilation and Solution %A E.J. Jushvol %J B.Sc Thesis. Herriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. %V %Y 1984 %T Microprocessor Compilation and Solution of Crosswords %A R.H. Davis, E.J. Jushwol %J Microproc. Microsystems %V 9/10 pp 500-506 %Y 1985 %T PICCUP: a Program for the Interpretation of Cryptic Crossword Clues %A M. Hart %J M.Sc Thesis Herriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. %V %Y 1991 %T Cryptic Crossword Clue Interpreter %A M. Hart, R.H. Davis %J Information and Software Technology %V 34/1 pp 16-27 %Y January 1992 %T The world's fastest Scrabble program %A A.W. Appel, G.J. Jacobson %J Communications of the ACM %V 31/5 pp 572 %Y May 1988 6. What books are there on crosswords? %T Chambers Crossword Manual (Second Edition) %A Don Manley %P Chambers %Y 1992 %N 0-550-19034-1 I have to plug Manley's book as the best introductory book about solving non definition based crosswords I've read. It goes through all the major clue types and there is even a section about setting your own crosswords. %T Observer AZED Crosswords %A Jonathan Crowther %P Chambers %Y 1991 %N 0-550-19032-5 %T The AZED Book of Crosswords %A Jonathan Crowther %P Pan %Y 1977 %N 0-330-25227-5 %T The ABC of Crosswords %A Alec Robins (The Guardian's 'Custos'/Observer's 'Everyman') %P Corgi %Y 1981 %N 0-552-11843-5 %T The Modern Crossword Dictionary %A Norman G. Pulsford %P Pan %Y 1967 %N 0-330-63128-4 %T Chambers Words %P Chambers %Y 1985 %N 0-550-19010-4 %T Chambers Backwords for Crosswords %P Chambers %Y 1986 %N 0-550-19012-0 %T Chambers Anagrams %P Chambers %Y 1985 %N 0-550-19011-2 %T The Strange World of the Crossword %A Roger Millington %P Book Club Associates %Y 1975 %N %T The Crossword Phrase Dictionary %A R.J. Edwards %P Stanley-Paul %Y 1981 %N 0-09-143340-1 %T The Newnes Crossword Dictionary %A J.M. Bailie %P Newnes Books %Y 1984 %N 0-600-31923-7 %T Ximenes on the Art of the Crossword %A D.S. Macnutt %P Methuen %Y 1966 %N I am certain there are a lot more books out there, especially from our American cousins. Please, if you have more information on books, let me know? The incentive is that I will include your name at the bottom of the FAQ. Lasting fame eh :-). 7. What software is available for crosswords? I have searched many possible on-line locations and have come up with quite a lot of material about both commercial and free software available. Most of the crossword setting software is available via shareware with the usual rules and regulations applying. Quite a few of the developers of crossword based software are in the conference so if you have any questions you will probably get the answer either in the conference or by putting the question in the conference and getting an answer personally. Unfortunately I haven't had a chance to review much of the software or even compile a few lines on each of the products for this release other than name some of the products available. Maybe in the next release I will have found some time for it. Shareware products which are crossword setting related: 1. Crossword Creator (CWC) Contact Brad Kaenel. E-mail (72357.3523@CompuServe.COM) 2. Alveary (TEA) Contact Ross Beresford E-mail (ross@bryson.demon.co.uk) 3. Crossword Creator II (TM) Contact John Hutchinson E-mail (hutch@ilmen.lanl.gov) 4. Wordlok 5. Enigmax 6. Logos 7. Cross Word Finder 8. Criscros These products are either available from the authors or from SIMTEL-20 or an equivalent source. There are some other packages which deal specifically with solving prepackaged puzzles. A few games companies have released products in this bracket over the last year. They include: 1. Take-A-Break Crosswords from Sierra games. There has been quite a bit of activity in the past while about grid generators and there are at this moment a few readers of the conferences beavering away developing grid generators. This work is however quite secretive so don't expect much help in this conference about it. Any other application details would be greatly apreciated? 8. Are there any on-line dictionaries around? There are a few different locations where complete dictionaries are to be found. FTP sites include: lexical.nmsu.edu (/pub/lexica) ftp.uu.net (/doc/dictionaries) 129.67.1.165 (/wordlists) There must be more than that? Any ideas anyone? 9. Is there any FTP site for crossword related material? This is one of the reasons why I am doing the FAQ is to centralise the mechanism of obtaining information about any crossword based material on USENET and Internet. There is, to my knowledge, no FTP site where someone has made a concerted effort to collect together crossword based material of any type. Anyone offering to help with this task? 10. Standard tips about solving a cryptic crossword? Anyone willing to take this over and make a good job of it? What I envisage is that there is a description of the 7-10 main types of cryptic clues given and then, possibly, include a sample crossword with those clues type included and solved? There is a list in the rec.puzzles FAQ of words and their equivalents which act as crossword clue indicators. This list should now be taken over by this FAQ. 11. Misc. questions of interest. Q: What is "The Grauniad" ? It's a joke name for British newspaper "The Guardian" which is legendary for its numerous typos. For example, in a 1992 crossword in the weekly version of the paper, the last clue was omitted! Q: Is Bill Clinton a crossword fan? Yes. Q: I'm British: what are "British style" crosswords? "American style"? "British style" is a common American name for cryptic crosswords. "American style" is the type of crossword that appears in all the daily newspapers there. They are not cryptic, so are like British "concise" or "quick" crosswords. The main difference is that every square is checked: i.e. every square is in two clues, and there are many fewer black squares than in a British concise. Often this means that obscure words, names of famous people, initials etc. appear as answers. Q: What is the difference between British and American cryptic clues? Of course, British and American clues will use different spellings. One might use "hue" to clue "colour" and the other to clue "color". There are less obvious differences though, because there is no absolute rule about the fairness of a crossword clue. British people tend to be slightly more lax in their clues than Americans. For example, the following clue once caused a few disagreements in this newsgroup: "Could this replace a super tom?" The answer (spelt backwards) is PARTESUOM. It's an anagram and the whole clue is the definition: this type of clue is known as an "&lit" clue. Some Americans complained that the words "Could this" were superfluous as they didn't enter into the wordplay, while some British people thought they added to the clue in an indefinable way. Another example is that Americans don't like clues with only a single definition and no subsidiary indication. For example, a Times (of London) clue: "Kosher diet?" The answer (backwards) is TESSENK. Although difficult to define, this is acceptable because it's misleading and, once you've got the answer, you can be sure you have it right. It's impossible to define exactly what is acceptable, either to Americans or to British people. You just have to learn from experience. Q: What errors are known in Chambers Words? Chambers Words is a tremendously useful publication, but assorted people have found many errors in it. The following errors are due to Ian Gent, Hubert Gent, and Roger Phillips. Words in Chambers Dictionary but not in Words: aemule, alkene, alkyne, ashet, bandeirante, dojo, lavatera, macro, matinee, missa, Navajo, one-time, preif, redwing, rurp, Syncom, tagmeme, talek, talaq, tarp Words spelt incorrectly in Words: cacodaemom for cacodaemon ouabian for ouabain syzgial for syzygial Q: Who sets the crossword in your daily newspaper? The Times uses a number of crossword setters but they are not named. There is a crossword editor at the Times, but that person is not well known (though you get through if you write to him/her). The Guardian and Independent use pseudonymous setters. The Listener uses a huge variety of setters. Probably the people behind them are less interesting than the source (e.g. Times, Guardian etc). There are one or two exceptions, like the crossword in the Observer which I think is always the same person. The setter for the Irish Times cryptic crossword is probably an exception in that he recently celebrated his golden anniversary of setting crosswords for the paper. Q: What is ROT13 ? This is a very simple encryption: each letter is mapped to the letter 13 away from it in the alphabet. You can decode it easily by hand. In this newsgroup it is usually used only to disguise clue answers or other small items that some people may not want to see. There must be many interesting nuggets out there? Sent them into me for inclusion. Many thanks goes to the following who helped either wittingly or unwittingly in the compilation of this FAQ. Ian Gent (ipg@aisb.edinburgh.ac.uk) Ross Beresford (ross@bryson.demon.co.uk) John Hutchinson (hutch@ilmen.lanl.gov) Guy Jacobson (guy@ulysses.att.com) Toby Howard (toby@computer-science.manchester.ac.uk) Danial A. Asimov (asimov@nas.nasa.gov) Marc Branchaud (marcnarc@binkley.cs.mcgill.ca) Chris Long (clong@remus.rutgers.edu) Bob Cullen (bobg@cullen.demon.co.uk) ++ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James A. Lundon,| jlundon@xstacy.enet.dec.com "Truth is the only thing Digital, | that you cannot add to Ballybrit, | Phone 353 + 91 54715 without subtracting Galway, | FAX 353 + 91 54899 from" Ireland. | Esars Comic | All opinions are my own. OK! Dictionary. See no numbers! | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James A. Lundon,| jlundon@xstacy.enet.dec.com "Truth is the only thing Digital, | that you cannot add to Ballybrit, | Phone 353 + 91 54715 without subtracting Galway, | FAX 353 + 91 54899 from" Ireland. | Esars Comic | All opinions are my own. OK! Dictionary. See no numbers! | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------