The Autofill Project

Added Across Lite files/Notepad
Default - 323766 Words

Transposal: LATINMASS / TALISMANS

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     BREADSTIX (60)

Glee is hardly one of my favorite current TV series, but I keep it on my DVR recording list play episodes for background audio. I did notice in the most recent Christmas episode that the Glee kids’ favorite Olive-Gardenesque Italian restaurant is not “Breadsticks” but “Breadstix” (actually “BreadstiX”). Inferable, popular TV show, and a Scrabbly letter to boot — a reasonable addition to the Notepad.

     PHO (70)

I don’t eat at restaurants often, but I keep meaning to try more Vietnamese cuisine. Denver is particularly rich in pho joints, which are numbered according to a system that eludes me. Foodie friends of mine discuss their favorite locations with comments like, “Oh 88 is much better than 57, but if don’t feel like driving then 64 will do.” While I don’t eat this Vietnamese beef soup as often as others, I think it’s a good crossword option that hasn’t started racking up the Cruciverb database hits.

     SOPA (45)

The Stop Online Piracy Act has been in recent headlines but will probably fade from public memory in due course. Still, it’s useful as a puzzle entry and can join SLA and SDI as an acronym kept alive by crossword constructors.

Default - 323597 Words
New 10L 69S HAIRSALONS

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     FAXNUMBERS (83)

Some time back I heard some radio story about technology in which a commentator mused on the impending obsolescence of fax machines and that business cards with fax numbers betray a company with stagnated priorities regarding technology. The value of fax references in crossword clues and entries is stable, though I wonder about the validity of the commentator’s assessment and at what point modifiers such as “old-fashioned” or “once ubiquitous” will be appropriate to clue FAX and similar entries.

     GARDENSPOT (50)

This CRUCIVERB import appeared as an entry in a themeless NYT puzzle, but I’m not convinced that it’s a dictionary-value term for a backyard growing location. I remember that it was a short-lived 1980s branding term for the salad bars at Wendy’s restaurants.

     GODWINSLAW (70)

I like this entry as a lively, contemporary reference to fiery, Internet discourse, but I can see some challenges in using the entry in a mainstream crossword puzzle. The term is esoteric and not essentially inferable. “Learn-something-new” entries with thorough, explanatory clues are occasionally used in mainstream crosswords. But GODWINSLAW requires an allusion to Nazism and Hitler that’s neither insensitive nor ineffectual. It’s doable but challenging.

     PANTSONFIRE (70)

I’ve been reading PolitiFact.com more often since the debates of Republican presidential candidates began. The website’s rating for unmitigated falsehoods uttered by political figures struck me as an interesting, quasi-topical seed word.