Okay, so I wanted to make a crossword puzzle, but I’m, like, super lazy. I didn’t want to come up with all the clues and stuff myself. So, I thought, “Hey, I can probably get a computer to do this for me, right?” It’s 2024! Everything’s possible.
I started messing around. My first bright idea? I grabbed a big list of words – think a dictionary file. Then, I wrote this script – nothing fancy, just some basic code – to pick out words randomly and try to fit them together. You know, like how a crossword looks, with words going across and down.
First Try: Total Disaster
The first few attempts? Embarrassing. The code would just pick words and try to jam them together. Most of the time, it didn’t work. I’d end up with, like, two words connected and a whole lot of empty space. It looked more like modern art than a crossword.
So, I tweaked it. I told the code, “Okay, be a little smarter. If a word can fit, put it there. Don’t just give up.” I also made it favor longer words, because, duh, crosswords have long words.
Getting (Slightly) Better
This helped a bit. I started getting grids that were, like, 20% filled. Still terrible, but an improvement! I felt like a genius, even though it was still pretty much a low-quality crossword generator.
I kept messing with the rules. I added a rule that said, “Try to make the grid ‘square-ish’. Don’t let it get super long and skinny.” That made things a little more crossword-like.
The “Aha!” Moment (Sort Of)
Then I realized something. Instead of just placing words randomly, I could try every possible spot for a new word. If I had a word that could fit in, say, five different places, I’d try all five! Then I’d pick the spot that gave me the most connections to other words.
This was a game-changer. My fill rate went way up. We’re talking, like, 50-60% filled now! Still not amazing, but definitely looking more like a real crossword.
Still Room for Improvement
I’m still tinkering with it. I want to make it even better. Some ideas I have:
- Make it prioritize words that have lots of possible connections.
- Maybe add a “scoring” system to rate how good a crossword is (more connections = better score).
- Try different word lists, maybe even themed ones!
It is still very much a low quality crossword, the process was fun and the result is better than I expected. I thought I would fail to make something close to it.
So, yeah, that’s my journey into making really bad crosswords. It’s been a fun, messy, and surprisingly educational experience. Who knew random word placement could be so interesting?
