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https://github.com/rdeits/cryptics

Cryptic crossword solver
https://github.com/rdeits/cryptics

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Cryptic crossword solver

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README 

        
# Introduction

This is a general cryptic crossword clue solver, written in Python



[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/rdeits/cryptics.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/rdeits/cryptics)



# Required python packages:

	

(see `requirements.txt`)

The easiest way to install the correct version of all the required packages is:



Optionally, create a new virtual environment so that your system python isn't affected:



	pip install virtualenv

	virtualenv env

	source env/bin/activate



Install all required python packages:



	pip install -r requirements.txt



# Other requirements:



	python (tested with 2.7)

	rake



# Installation:



Clone this repository somewhere convenient, then `cd` to the folder containing this file. 



Run this command to download the python NLTK Wordnet corpus from [http://nltk.org/data.html](http://nltk.org/data.html):



	rake download

	

Generate the n-grams and synonyms datasets by running



	rake data



in the main cryptics folder (this will take a few minutes to finish). 



# Usage:



Web interface: http://localhost:8080/



	rake serve



Test cases (requires the python nose package):



	rake test



## Clue format:



For each clue, you _must_ give the number of letters in the answer, and you _may_ give a letter pattern for the answer to follow, where a '.' represents an unknown letter (ignoring spaces). For example:



Clue:



	Initially babies are naked (4)



Answer:



	BARE



Clue: 



	Lees horse galloping to dangerous_coasts (3,6) l.....r..



Answer: 



	LEE_SHORES



You can give the solver a hint that a set of words form a phrase (and need not be treated separately) by combining them with an underscore (as in 'dangerous_coasts' above). 



## Output format: 



The output is given both as a hierarchical representation of the clue structure and as a natural-language description:



	100%: (top (sub (sub_ "initially") (lit "babies") -> B) (lit "are") (d "naked") -> BARE) 

	'initially' means to take a substring of 'babies' to get B. 

	'naked' is the definition. 

	Combine 'b' and 'are' to get BARE. 

	BARE matches 'naked' with confidence score 100%. 



and



	90%: (top (lit "lees") (ana (lit "horse") (ana_ "galloping") -> HORES) (d "to_dangerous_coasts") -> LEE_SHORES) 

	'galloping' means to anagram 'horse' to get HORES. 

	'to_dangerous_coasts' is the definition. 

	Combine 'lees' and 'hores' to get LEE_SHORES. 

	LEE_SHORES matches 'to_dangerous_coasts' with confidence score 90%. 



# Interacting with the solver



Here's a demo of more ways you can play with the solver interactively: [cryptic_demo.ipynb](http://nbviewer.ipython.org/github/rdeits/cryptics/blob/master/cryptic_demo.ipynb)



# More Information



To learn more about how the solver works, see this blog post: [http://blog.robindeits.com/2013/02/11/a-cryptic-crossword-clue-solver/](http://blog.robindeits.com/2013/02/11/a-cryptic-crossword-clue-solver/).



# Acknowledgements



This program uses the English bigrams corpus from [After the Deadline](http://blog.afterthedeadline.com/2010/07/20/after-the-deadline-bigram-corpus-our-gift-to-you/) licensed under the [Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). 



In addition, it uses the UK Advanced Cryptics Dictionary, Copyright (c) 2009 J Ross Beresford. For license information see `raw_data/UKACD.txt.`



Indicator word lists are from:

http://sutherland-studios.com.au/puzzles/anagram.php

http://www.crosswordunclued.com/2008/09/dictionary.html



# License



See LICENSE.txt