The Autofill Project

Added Notepad entries
Default - 337395 Words

Transposal: SOAPSTONE / TEASPOONS

I OneLooked *soap* entries but didn’t add much to Default or the transposal spreadsheet.

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     COOKIEPUSS (75)

I read an article today about Carvel ice cream stores. I’d never heard of the chain (no stores in places where I’ve lived), but the Cookie Puss ice cream cake appears to be a familiar confection in many parts of the country. Has anyone eaten this cake? Is it comparable to Dairy Queen ice cream cakes?

     GLYCERINSOAP (75)

     GLYCERINESOAP (75)

I’d never thought about the spelling variants associated with GLYCERIN/GLYCERINE. My instinct would be to use the version with the final E, but both seem equivalent for crossword purposes.

     WARPZONE (80)

Jeff Harris indirectly reminded me of this video game term that would be a positive addition to a themeless grid. As with KATAMARI, I’d like to become more familiar with current video-game terminology for project purposes. This list of Notepad additions included ANGRYBIRDS, e.g., though I saw that this entry already appeared in a recent BEQ puzzle.

Default - 337317 Words
New 9L 79S POSTBOXES

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     PIPESTORY (1)

I couldn’t confirm that this was a legitimate phrase — one dictionary suggests that it’s a synonym for “pipe dream.” Anyone ever heard of it?

     POMERANIA (60)

I never thought about the geographic region that the toy dog breed is named for. I wonder if anyone has made a visual puzzle based on matching dog breeds to map locations of Alsace, Dalmatia, etc.

     POPESNOSE (50)

The Benny Hill Show once re-created the old joke about a woman visiting a butcher shop seeking a Norfolk turkey. The butcher presents several birds, but the woman rejects them all, observing that they are not Norfolk turkeys. The butcher asks how the woman knows and she points out that a Norfolk turkey has a firm pope’s nose. She adds that the previous butcher always saved such a turkey for her. When she asks the new butcher where he is from, he drops his pants and says, “You tell me, you’re the expert.”

Default - 337317 Words
New 9L 79S PINKFLOYD

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     PBSKIDSGO (75)

This was a marquee entry in a themeless crossword I constructed a while back. It ended up being a dealbreaker with editors to whom I submitted the puzzle — the television programming brand is not as well-known as, say, MUSTSEETHURSDAY, and wasn’t considered fair to solvers. I’m keeping the fill score relatively high based on my personal fondness for the entry, though I have to be careful if I have the option to use it in a commercial puzzle.

     PEBBLIEST (43)

Comparatives and superlatives, like plurals, receive scores ending in 3 or 8. The more common one get a standard 53 score, but might go up to a 58 with good letters or clue options. Less desirable ones are downscored from 53. What would be some clue options for PEBBLIEST?

     PENCILING (55)

From the two verb definitions of “pencil” in 11C, I could clue this entry as {Sketching, in a way} or {Scheduling tentatively, with “in”}. In the second clue, {…with “in”} is basically a hidden partial indicator. The fill score of 55 is based on the non-partial option, though I would probably use the more-common partial sense if I used this entry in a puzzle.

     PICOFARAD (45)

Wikipedia mentions that engineers refer to this unit, the smallest practical unit associated with capacitors, as a “puff.” That’s sort of interesting…to a 45-fill-score degree.

Added AcrossLite Files and a few Notepad entries
Default - 337317 Words

Transposal: NORMARAE / ROMANERA

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The transposal is not particularly impressive for length or letter value, but I like the fact that the first words and second words in the phrases individually transpose.

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     BLOODLIBEL (5)

The traditional sense of this term is culturally unpleasant. Sarah Palin’s recent (mis)use of the phrase elevated the entry to temporary meta-acceptability, and Brendan Emmett Quigley took quick advantage of the opportunity. I appreciate Brendan’s use of current language phrases in his puzzles, but for the project, I’ve got to think long-term when giving a score.

     KATAMARI (70)

This year’s MIT Mystery Hunt introduced me to the Katamari Damacy video games. I’ve checked out some YouTube videos of the game play and admit that I find the concept of demolishing cities with a sticky ball relaxing to watch. The fill score is probably too high for commercial purposes — I don’t think it would receive an editorial smiley face in the margins if in a puzzle submitted to the New York Times.

     PAWNSTARS (75)

I recently learned that this is one of my brother’s favorite TV shows. Mom recently went to Las Vegas and Ronnie asked if she would visit the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop and get Chumlee’s autograph for his daughter Mindy. *Sigh*.

     RORYS (43)

I’ve been manually scoring longer entries since coming up with the new fill score system, so I haven’t come across many plural first names. 43 seems like a fair standard for this type of entry.

Default - 337147 Words
New 9L 79S PASSIVATE

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     PAGETHREE (60)

I can’t remember how I acquired this entry. It might be in the CCWIN list (based on the British reference) or it might have been used in a Jonesin’/Onion/some-other-alternative-syndicate crossword I harvested (based on the reference to topless women). I think I learned of this term from a Monty Python sketch.

     PALANQUIN (60)

I learned this word for an Asian litter carried by servants when I read the libretto for Pacific Overtures years ago. I can see it as an entry in a Karen M. Tracy puzzle.

Default - 337147 Words
New 9L 79S OVERPOWER

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     OFFTHEPEG (45)

Like MILKFLOAT, this is one of those Britishisms that lures me with misguided temptation. A possible clue might be {Savile Row alternative, in sales slang}.

     OPHIUCHUS (60)

The serpent-bearer is not hard to spot in the summer sky if you gauge by the location of Scorpius and its red supergiant star Antares. Some recent news items about this zodiacal interloper may have elevated the status of the constellation name for crossword use, though it’s unlikely to stick.

Transposal: ACTIONPAINTERS / TRANSPECIATION

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The Notepad included some *paint* finds from OneLook. The transposal words aren’t great, but I don’t find new 14s often.

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     FACEPAINTER (80)

Street fairs are popular summer diversions in rural Kansas. I volunteered to be a face painter at one of the Ottawa street fairs in the early 90s. Most kids wanted hearts, rainbows, or animal makeup, but one one young man asked me to paint Fred Flintstone. It was a challenge to paint him from memory, but I was so impressed that this kid had even heard of Fred Flintstone that I obliged his request.

     GSUSA (45)

I was on the Girl Scouts website recently (researching cookies) and noticed that the organization refers to itself as Girl Scouts of the USA, abbreviated GSUSA. I didn’t see reference to “Girl Scouts of America” or “GSA.” I hadn’t realize the name changed, and, apparently, neither have several of crossword constructors/editors.

Default - 336997 Words
New 9L 79S OAKLANDAS

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     NEEDINGTO (40)

When I add a new phrasal verb to the Notepad for Default inclusion, I include the variants of present tense, past tense (-ED), third-person (-S) and present participle (-ING). NEED TO is similar to the flawed phrasal verbs AIM TO and OPT TO where the preposition “TO” is required for contextual substitution. However, the variants NEED TO and NEEDS TO have an English-language loophole in the clue option {Must}. NEEDED TO and NEEDING TO don’t have so handy a clue option. I probably added NEEDINGTO in haste years ago without realizing this problem.

     NEWBROOMS (43)

Another CRUCIVERB inheritance. The score is generous, and I guess it could be clued in the {They sweep clean} vein in a pinch.

     NICKELING (45)

This could be clued with a reference of coating with metal, but {___-and-diming} is the approach that comes to mind first.

     NORMABRAM (60)

“Who is she?” I wondered as I Google-checked this entry. Oops! Sorry, Master Carpenter.

Added Notepad
Default - 336977 Words

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The segments of the Default with short word lengths have relatively manageable numbers of entries. I was able to manually adjust the complete list of 3-, 4-, and 5-letter entries with little trouble. At the 6-letter mark, the number of entries became more burdensome. In particular, the large number of entries with a 29 score — most of which are obscure and merit a low adjusted score but require a search engine check just in case — was overwhelming. I came up with a new system for grading 29-score entries of 6 or more letters. I exported the entries into a spreadsheet and quickly scanned the entries. If I recognized an entry (good or bad) or thought the entry was familiar, I marked it as “pass”; otherwise a marked the entry “fail.” The pass entries, usually about 5% of the total 29-score list was retained for manual score adjustment while the fail entries were summarily deleted from Default. With this system, I know that I will fail many good entries because I don’t recognize them or simply overlook them during a quick scan, so I keep the spreadsheet of fail entries and invite other crossword constructors to conduct their own scans.

The Notepad added most recently contained entries from the 8-letter fail list. Patrick Berry scanned the list and marked 130+ entries for rescue. I added all of his recommendations — a few were decent entries that I had overlooked in my initial scan. Anyone else want to scan a past fail list? It’s as fun as white-washing a picket fence!

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     GALAXIAN (70)

The 80s-arcade-geek missed this entry in the initial scan? Bad Todd! Bad, bad Todd!

     KOOTENAY (45)

Here’s an odd variation on the British-variant scoring problem: Several rivers, lakes, and other place names come from this Pacific Northwest tribe name, but KOOTENAI is the standard U.S. spelling while KOOTENAY is preferred in Canada. Regardless of spelling, the entry is not especially attractive for a crossword fill.

     MOBOCRAT (50)

I understand MOBOCRACY as a tongue-in-cheek, colloquial coinage for mob rule, but the back formation MOBOCRAT (in 11C) is bizarre. Would you identify individuals in a mob rule situation as MOBOCRATS?

     SCHOOLER (45)

Many of the words in this list are only usable with fill-in-the-blank clues. 45 is the standard score for partials, but it most situations it would be unfortunate to fill an 8-letter grid space with such an entry.

Default - 336838 Words
New 9L 79S MUCLIAGES

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The unmodified entries in the Default list have fill scores that end in the digit 9. The two largest groups among these entries are the 79s (currently about 78,000 entries) and the 29s (about 121,000 entries). The 79 group includes entries that I manually entered with a fair-to-medium fill score as well as the CRUCIVERB data list (hastily added years ago with a normalized score) and the “high-scoring” entries from the original CCWIN data list. The 29 group includes entries that I manually entered with a below-average-to-low fill score as well as the “low-scoring” entries from the original CCWIN data list. The scoring system in the CCWIN list is based (I presume) on dictionary source. Entries in common dictionaries get higher scores and entries only in unabridged dictionaries get lower ones. Of course, inclusion in a common British dictionary is no guarantee of desirability/acceptability in a crossword constructed under America commercial guidelines. So, the 79s and 29s, in addition to being the largest score groups, produce the largest score spreads when modified in the project.

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     MISSTEXAS (60)

This was a CRUCIVERB inheritance. I haven’t gotten around to manually entering all of the MISS [state name] and MISS [country name] entries that could be clued in some form of {Pageant contestant} (I do know that I have MISSUGANDA thanks to a Dana Motley puzzle from a few years back). I should add all of these MISSes to the database, not because I think they’re great entries but because I’d like to assign them all appropriate mediocre scores in one fell swoop. Other list categories that have received this treatment are CAPITAL? and SILENT? — those were scored lower than 60.

     MIXEDWELL (70)

     MIXESWELL (70)

As I typed these entries in the blog, I wondered if I overscored them. I suppose they could be clued with some reference to cooking or socializing, but I’m not sure if they’re idiomatic in the inflected forms. I’ll leave them at 70 and possibly adjust them if they come up in a fill list.

     MORTGAGOR (40)

Didn’t this come up in a recent published puzzle? The word (and the ill-will it inspired) seem familiar, as from puzzle discussions of the last few weeks.