The Autofill Project

Default - 323040 Words
New 10L 59S MACADAMIAS

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     FERRETFACE (60)

I’m giving choosing fill scores for names of celebrities lower than I used to, and names of fictional characters lower still. So, what about a nickname for a fictional character? It should reflect the trend of lower fill scores for names, but in this case the nickname could be made inferable in the clue, even for solver unfamiliar with M*A*S*H — {Major Frank Burns nickname, inspired by his weaselly features} perhaps.

     GREATMINDS (55)

I could go either way on this entry. I decided to keep it, along with its limited clue potential beyond the obvious.

     HASAHIGHIQ (1)

A less than stellar Cruciverb acquisition, but wait — {They have a high IQ} as a clue for GREATMINDS…hmm.

     IGNESFATUI (48)

I organized an office trivia competition throughout October and opted to include a lot of content related to Halloween. My research helped me recognize this Latin term for “foolish fires,” related to swamp gas flashes and jack-o’-lantern legends.  

     SCHWEDDYBALLS (80)

When I heard that Ben & Jerry’s was producing a flavor based on the “Delicious Dish” SNL sketch, and jotted the entry down in the Notepad, with a notation that it could make a fun seed. In the Unthemely puzzle, SCHWEDDYBALLS intersected WEEKENDUPDATE. It was an incidental fill choice, and I wasn’t interested in emphasizing the SNL connection in the clue-writing. I’ve been on the lookout for SCHWEDDYBALLS in the supermarket — it sounds quite tasty — but no luck yet.

Default - 323040 Words
New 10L 59S FACTORABLE

DOWNLOADABLE PUZZLE: Unthemely #11

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     CANDYCORNS (53)

This plural form is nonstandard but not nonexistent. If I used the entry in a puzzle, I’d be inclined to tag it, though I’m not sure how — “informally”? “colloquially”? “irregardless of standard plurals”?

     CYBRARIANS (63)

I thought this was a Word Spy addition — one that seemed promising at first glance but then desperate. It was added to the online Merriam-Webster so that gives it credibility. Has anyone ever heard this term for an Internet-age librarian?

     EASTOFJAVA (65)

Dave Tuller used this in a CrossSynergy puzzle with a coffee theme. As a non-theme crossword entry, it’s basically a quasi-partial, but I boosted the fill score a bit because I associate the phrase with the trivia trope related to its geographical inaccuracy.

Added Notepad and Across Lite files
Default - 323040 Words

Transposal: SABLECOATS / TAEBOCLASS

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     AEROBICSINSTRUCTOR (75)

I added some fitness terms to the Notepad — mainly phrases ending in INSTRUCTOR and CLASS. Most of the terms were already in Default, so the result was mainly rescoring rather than additions.

     JETTEDIN (60)

JETIN was an entry I pulled from an Across Lite file. The verbal phrase is okay, but I find the past tense a little weird, as if it should have the same form as SET or LET.

    SIRI (65)

My friend Joe Cabrera, a stalwart early adopter of Apple products, showed me this digital personal assistant that accompanied his iPhone 4S when I saw him in Boston recently. We were on a solving team for Intercoastal Altercations 5 and we tried some voice-activated Internet queries while working on a few of the puzzles. It was a bit clunky with straightforward requests, and produced the most satisfying results with jokey questions such as “Who’s on first?” or “What is the answer to life, the universe, and everything?” It’s reasonable bit of crossword-friendly vowel-consonant pattern and, for the time being, preferable to other S?RI entries.

Default - 322906 Words
New 10L 59S CABINMATES

DOWNLOADABLE PUZZLE: Unthemely #10

As of today Default contains 48,526 ten-letter entries — the largest segment of the database by word length. Roughly half of those entries have a 29 score and will have a good chance of being dumped. I’m starting with the 59 score list. The 2,761 generally familiar entries are a good way to ease into a new stage of the project.

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     AASINAPPLE (50)

Partials for abecedarian phrases show up in puzzles from time to time. I once completed a tough corner with KAS {___ in “kangaroo”} for a Sunday puzzle — the entry met with predictable criticism. As a full phrase, AASINAPPLE isn’t much more appealing. It does remind me of BASINBOY, which was used in an ACPT puzzle some years ago, and elicited some amusement in discussions of the hypothetical duties of a “basin boy.”

     ACHYBREAKY (45)

This entry might violate the standards of crossword partials, but it holds a modest novelty so long as the Cyrus musical dynasty stays in the public consciousness.

     BALLOONBOY (55)

I had to remind myself through Google about the Heene family hoax from two years ago. My memory is more sieve-like than most, but I suspect that this entry is on its way out.

     BUZZHARPER (55)

Peoples’ names, real and fictional, are fairly easy to glean in list form from the Internet — movie casts, sports hall-of-fame rosters, etc. Jeff Harris and I were talking recently about how having a lot of names in one’s word list can cause problems with grid filling. The names are good for a sense of database completeness but are often you-know-it-or-you-don’t entries with few interesting clue options, especially when there are many in a single puzzle. Aside from the pair of Zs, this forgettable character from Mama’s Family has little going for itself as crossword fill. While I plan to be stricter with fill scores, I also need to be more conscious of overuse of names in the construction process.

Added Notepad
Default - 322906 Words

Transposal: GROBANITES / STORAGEBIN

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     FANILOW (60)

Among the Notepad entries were some slang terms for entertainment fans that I read in an online article. PARROTHEAD (70) was the highest-scoring of these additions. The others scored in the 60 range — they’re fun but probably ephemeral.

     GAZUNDERING (65)

I pulled this Unthemely seed word from the Word Spy site. It’s not an intutive term, but has a visceral appeal. My friend Mary Kay Georgia picked up on the seed status when she solved the puzzle, and asked me, “where did you get that word…Palin or Bachmann?”

Default - 322699 Words
New PB 8L complete

DOWNLOADABLE PUZZLE: Unthemely #9

Now that I’m through with the quick look Patrick Berry list, I think I’ll continue with the ten-letter entries in Default. The remnant PB 8L list has just over 9,000 entries, and I can go through it later, or offer it to someone else to go through, for usable entries I missed.

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     TIMEISUP (55)

This conversational entry could do in a pinch, though TIMESUP sounds more natural.

     TVREPAIR (70)

This is a valid entry and gets tons of Google hits, though it has a tinge of obsolescence as an industry. I associate the term with house-call-paying technicians and the kiosks decorated with sad-faced cathode ray tubes at 1970s-era retail stores.

     UGLYMOOD (60)

I felt lenient when I gave this entry a relatively good fill score. It could go either way, and I may lose confidence in the dictionary value of the phrase if it came it in a fill list.

     WAVYLINE (60)

If I needed to clue the entry WAVYLINES, I would probably reference the image featured in a deck of Zener cards used in ESP testing. This instinct for the plural form coaxed me into including the singular, though the clue options may be trickier.

     WHACKOFF (50)

The 50 score is based on the sense of the phrasal verb that doesn’t reference masturbation — as in rough decapitation. That said, I wouldn’t make efforts to include this entry in a fill for a mainstream venue.

     XCSKIING (65)

Until I looked it up, I hadn’t ever come across this short form for cross-country skiing. Is it well known?