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The Computer Journal 1979 22(1):67-70; doi:10.1093/comjnl/22.1.67
© 1979 by British Computer Society
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Computer assisted analysis of cryptic crosswords

P. W. Williams * and D. Woodhead *

Computation Department, P.O. Box 88, Sackville Street, Manchester, UK

An analysis of the structure of cryptic crossword puzzle clues is developed and a formal definition using a notation similar to BNF is provided. The language LACROSS seems to describe nearly all cryptic clues in British daily newspapers. The clues are made up of components of the solution and operators describing how the components are put together. A computer program is described which gives the possible interpretations of the words of the clue by using two main dictionaries, one of frequently used abbreviations and one of indicator words in the clues showing the possible operators and components. The complete BNF type definition of the LACROSS language is given and examples of output from the computer analysis program are presented.

Received June 1977.

* Computation Department, P.O. Box 88, Sackville Street, Manchester M6O 1QD


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