XWord Info and OneLook are two popular websites for constructors. XWord Info knows a lot about crosswords (at least NYT ones), it can rank answer words by “score”, it has access to several dictionaries as well as a carefully curated word list. It doesn’t really understand anything about the words themselves.
OneLook understands words. It knows how they’re pronounced (so it can find rhymes), it taps into Google Ngrams so it can differentiate common from rare words, it knows parts of speech. It can find related words or words within a topic.
Wouldn’t it be great if somehow the knowledge and power of each were brought together into a single tool for constructors? We’re on it! This integration is just starting but I’m excited about what we can do already with the new “OneLook Search” button in our Finder.
Here’s a taste of what works so far:
Examples
Click the links below to see the results of each OneLook search:
- PEACH — A complete word shows definitions for that word, and for other words OneLook thinks might be related.
- A??O*E — As with standard pattern searches, ? means any single letter, and * means any number of unspecified letters. Words from our word list that have never appeared in any NYT puzzle are in bold purple.
- CR@##*D — @ means any vowel, # means any consonant.
- :CROSSWORD — A colon before the entry means “show me words related to that topic.”
- *X*:MUSIC — Patterns and topics can be combined. This search looks for words associated with music that contain an X.
- ????*+ABCDEFG — The + sign means only use the letters that follow. The search here finds words at least four letters long that can be spelled with music note names.
- D*-EIOUY — The – sign means exclude the letters that follow. This search looks for words starting with D where A is the only vowel because the rest are excluded.
- **WINTER** — Phrases that contain the specified word.
Another Bee Cheat
The tricks above can be combined with commas. Let’s build up another way to cheat at Spelling Bee using what we know so far.
A recent Bee used the letters MACIORT, with the M required.
- *+MACIORT finds words using only those letters. Many are too short, so let’s modify that to include only words four letters or longer.
- ????*+MACIORT eliminates short words but we’re forgetting the requirement that M must be included. Here’s where that comma comes in handy.
- ????*+MACIORTY,*M* does the trick. The *M* means the word must contain an M somewhere.
Disclaimers
We use the word “OneLook” as a shorthand for “results like those from OneLook.” We get results not from OneLook directly, but from the exact same data source that powers the OneLook site.
Results can be hard to fathom. That link above searching for words related to CROSSWORD generates expected results like grid, cryptic, and enigmatology, surprising insights like ecru, oreo, and acme, and bizarre results like masturbator. No idea.