Dictionary Updates

You should now get better Abridged and Unabridged dictionary results in the Finder.

I made a couple of changes:

1. Standard dictionaries have been updated to more modern sources.
2. The older Scrabble dictionary has been replaced with the updated ENABLE wordlist.

Many new words have been added to the standard dictionaries. Even more less useful barely-words have been deleted. The result is a slightly smaller but more useful set.

When you search with the Finder, you first see words that have already appeared in Modern, Variety, or Pre-Shortz puzzles, then words from Jeff Chen’s curated list. Those results are unchanged.

But below that, there are other results from various dictionaries that have never made it into either NYT puzzles or Jeff’s list. This can help you find interesting debut entries, or save you when filling a tough corner.

My previous Scrabble dictionary was from 2009. More modern Scrabble dictionaries are proprietary, so I’ve replaced it with a near-equivalent set called ENABLE (Enhanced North American Benchmark LExicon), a list used by many Scrabble-like games including Words with Friends.

An important caveat remains: dictionary entries are sometimes unsuitable. They might be obscure or even offensive.