1.4 KiB
1.4 KiB
Crossword Generator
This very simple Python script generates a clueless crossword puzzle. It harnesses the capabilities of Python and LaTeX to output the puzzle in a printable PDF.
Algorithm
I purposefully designed and implemented this little project without performing research on crossword generation techniques; I wanted to see if I could do it by myself. The very simple algorithm that is implemented here is as follows:
- The technique receives a list of words, in a .txt file (I tested using these lists).
- A number (100, by default) of words are chosen randomly from the list that is given, and these are the words that will be used hereafter.
- The technique expands the list of words into a list of possibilities, where each possibility encodes a possible starting location for a word, as well as its direction. This essentially constitutes all possible words that can be placed into the grid.
- A new word is taken from the list of possibilities and placed on the grid. This makes it so a number of possibilities are now invalid, and these are removed from the list. Steps 3 and 4 are repeated until the grid is as full as we want it to be.
Usage
For now (until I implement arparsing), all you have to do is run the script on a folder where a "words.txt" file with one word per line exists. I recommend using the aforementioned lists!