A probabilistic approach to solving crossword puzzles

A probabilistic approach to solving crossword puzzles

We attacked the problem of solving crossword puzzles by computer: given a set of clues and a crossword grid, try to maximize the number of words correctly filled in. After an analysis of a large collection of puzzles, we decided to use an open architecture in which independent programs specialize in solving specific types of clues, drawing on ideas from information retrieval, database search, a...

Solving Crossword Puzzles as Probabilistic Constraint Satisfaction

Crossword puzzle solving is a classic constraint satisfaction problem, but, when solving a real puzzle, the mapping from clues to variable domains is not perfectly crisp. At best, clues induce a probability distribution over viable targets, which must somehow be respected along with the constraints of the puzzle. Motivated by this type of problem, we describe a formal model of constraint satisf...

Solving Crossword Puzzles via the Google API

The GoogleTM API enables software agents to query and use search results from the large collections of data available via the ever-popular Google search engine. Web searches using Google are exposed to over 4 billion pages, many of which are cached within Google. While the Google API may be used to produce customized user interfaces to Google, the API also provides direct programmatic access to...

A Statistical Study of Failures in Solving Crossword Puzzles

Automatic Generation of Crossword Puzzles

Crossword puzzles are used everyday by millions of people for entertainment, but have applications also in educational and rehabilitation contexts. Unfortunately, the generation of ad-hoc puzzles, especially on specific subjects, typically requires a great deal of human expert work. This paper presents the architecture of WebCrow-generation, a system that is able to generate crosswords with no ...