Don Monson notes that the rec.puzzles.crosswords newsgroups is more oriented toward cryptics than toward American-style crosswords; sounds worth checking out.<\/p>\r\n
He also mentions an amazing program called Crossword Maestro that solves cryptic clues for you. Here's an example of the program's approach to a clue from this column:<\/p>\r\n
\r\nSave father unusual present on his day (10)<\/p>\r\n
AFTERSHAVE Confidence: 61%
\r\n'present on his day' is the definition.
\r\nI don't know anything about the answer so I cannot judge whether it can be defined by this definition.
\r\n'save father unusual' is the subsidiary indication.
\r\n'unusual' indicates an anagram.
\r\n'save'+'father'='savefather'
\r\n'savefather' anagrammed gives 'aftershave'<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\nI'm very impressed. Don noted that the program isn't perfect; for our \"Inspire half-breeds with two articles (7)\" clue, it suggests SPINIER, but gives a low 19% confidence. But it does better if it knows some of the letters in the answer (as it often would in solving a real crossword). Even without knowing any letters in the answer, it correctly solved at least three of the other clues provided in the column.<\/p>\r\n
Don adds that indirect anagrams\u2014anagrams of synonyms rather than of words actually in the clue, as in our \"Messy porn is a requirement (4)\"\u2014are frowned upon by cryptic enthusiasts. Oops. And he notes that in \"Utter only half of puns read (4),\" a purist would prefer something like \"first half\" to indicate which half.<\/p>\r\n
\r\n(Last updated: 10 February 1999)<\/p>\r\n
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