Default - 324381 Words
New 10L 79S BABBITTING

The word list New 10L 79S contains 16,574 entries. Most entries are single words ranging from utilitarian to undesirable and receiving an adjusted fill score of 65 and lower. A few phrases or otherwise interesting entries show up hear and there.

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     AEROZAMBIA (55)

I found a long list of international airlines that I added to Default many years ago. These entries suffer the same problem as other business names in a world of volatile corporate identity/existence. The 55 score was purely instinctual, but later I researched AERO ZAMBIA and learned that the now defunct airline existed for about five years. It’s an inferable business name and gettable with meticulous clue so I let the possibly generous fill score stand.

     ALCOHOLICS (23)

Medical terms, particularly ones that are overly clinical, obscure, or unpleasant, receive a fill score in the 20-25 range, which is far below the threshold that I would use in a mainstream crossword. ALCOHOLICS would be difficult to include with sensitivity in a puzzle so I scored it as a reference to a medical condition. ALCOHOLIC was scored 65, though it would be clued as an adjective for “containing alcohol.”

     AMBUSCADED (53)

I had to look up this word, as synonym for “ambushed,” but I kind of like it. I won’t go out of my way to put it in a crossword, but I’ll add it to my ten-dollar-word arsenal and try to find a chance to use it in conversation.

     ATHABASCAN (45)

I had never encountered this word before seeing it in the word list. After a quick definition check, I decided that it was fairly obscure and assigned the relatively low fill score. A few hours later I was looking through the archives on the Learned League site and found the word (with the variant ATHABASKAN spelling) in a question on Denali. I didn’t change the score, but was amused by the coincidence.