Software Program Dr.Fill Finally Wins Prestigious Crossword Puzzle Event 32
Long-time Slashdot reader gregstumph writes:
Dr.Fill, a software program that solves crossword puzzles, finished in first place at the 2021 American Crossword Puzzle Tournament, for the first time ever (its previous best was 11th place in 2017). Dr.Fill, created by Matt Ginsberg, has been participating as a non-competitor at the tournament since 2012. This year, Ginsberg made improvements to Dr.Fill with the assistance of a team from the Berkeley NLP Group.
The program finished "a scant 15 points ahead of Erik Agard on the main block of puzzles 1-7," Ginsberg posted on Facebook. This was followed by "then solving the playoff puzzle perfectly in 49 seconds" (while according to Wikipedia the fastest human competitor, Tyler Hinman, took three minutes to solve the puzzle).
The Facebook post adds graciously, "Total kudos to Erik, the true winner of puzzles 1-7, and to Tyler Hinman, the winner of the event itself."
The program finished "a scant 15 points ahead of Erik Agard on the main block of puzzles 1-7," Ginsberg posted on Facebook. This was followed by "then solving the playoff puzzle perfectly in 49 seconds" (while according to Wikipedia the fastest human competitor, Tyler Hinman, took three minutes to solve the puzzle).
The Facebook post adds graciously, "Total kudos to Erik, the true winner of puzzles 1-7, and to Tyler Hinman, the winner of the event itself."
They let an computer play? (Score:2)
They let an computer play?
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Robophobe!
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As summary stated: as a non-competitor
There shouldn't be a problem. This way they can get the computer program working well. It isn't that much different than computer chess programs.
"software program" = bad writing (Score:1)
A "software" program As opposed to a hardware program, or a swimming program?
It's just called: software.
Non-tech writers in a tech world. *sigh*
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According to TFS, that was written by a "long-time Slashdot reader."
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Could have said "program" and the sentence would have read just as fine. Could it have been hardware*? Yeah, but most likely not.
*Think dedicated hardware.
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Re: "software program" = bad writing (Score:2)
Sorry, what channel would that be on?
I only know Dr. Phil, dumbass among the dumber. The regular one.
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A "software" program As opposed to a hardware program, or a swimming program?
As opposed to firmware written into a ROM. Or a CUPL program burned into a PAL. Or a program compiled to a bitstream and loaded into an FPGA. Or a program compiled to an ASIC mask.
Not all programs are "software".
Re: "software program" = bad writing (Score:2)
Yes, we call the former still software, and the latter isn't a program but a chip.
Do you call your gearbox "software" too?
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Fluidics [wikipedia.org], which can be an embedded algorithm. There's also mechanical computers as well with embedded algorithms (sometimes manifested as cam profiles).
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Well, my user ID might not be quite as low as yours, but I have made my living writing software for the last 30 years, and "software program" seemed like a perfectly reasonable turn of phrase to me. But I guess you can't please everyone.
Re: "software program" = bad writing (Score:2, Informative)
Yes, I have programmed for just as long, and no, it's not reasonable, because it's an example of breaking the maxim of quantity:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=IJ... [youtube.com]
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Yes, I have programmed for just as long, and no, it's not reasonable, because it's an example of breaking the maxim of quantity:
You might want to watch that video, which says "Although, despite how they are written, they are not prescriptive, you-must-do-rules: they're just guidelines". I think "software program" is perfectly fine. Now, I did laugh my ass off when I saw someone selling "glutton free blueberries".
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Well, if it wasn't American, you might have a point. But there are TV programs. TV programming is something TV stations do.
Now, if it wasn't an American contest, maybe you have a point, because elsewhere it's TV programmes.
Also, I've had to program my VCR, program my thermostat, program my microwave and so forth. The thermostat program controls the temperature based
Re: "software program" = bad writing (Score:1)
Yes, but we're on Slashdot.
Ad I said above: Maxim of quantity makes "program" default to "software" on Slashdot, aswell as in context of TFA, ... and makes "software" default to "program" because what else would it be?
So unless somebody is completely clueless or got an illness where he has trouble with these things, it is telling us the same thing twice. Which is misleading, as it implies there are other kinds of software etc, and a waste of time in general.
It's like those who get told their writing is bad,
The typo... (Score:2)
The typo, *right* in the word "properly" was just Murphy's law. ... It was inevitable. ;)
I am truly sorry, and will now commit seppuku.
Meh (Score:2)
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I am pretty sure the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament uses cryptic puzzles.
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Actually, this question came up in a roundtable discussion with Matt Ginsberg during the tournament, and his answer was pretty interesting. I had also assumed that cryptic crosswords would be harder, but Matt's point was that there is a fairly standard set of clue types for cryptics, and building rules based on them wouldn't be that difficult. So they might actually be easier for a program to solve than standard crosswords.
Crossword puzzle? Lame. Not Impressed. (Score:3)
He should have stuck to giving advice on Oprah.
Re: Outside Help breaks rules (Score:2)
Yes, as long as they store them in their own memory.
Is this a game changer? (Score:2)
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Will hosts the tournament, and congratulated Matt on Dr. Fill's "victory." They had an interesting chat about the nature of intelligence that was streamed during the event.
"Prestigious" (Score:2)
You and people have a different definition of that word.
*Whispers loudly:* It means you have no life!
Pay to access puzzles (Score:4, Informative)
It appears you must pay to access the actual crossword puzzles. I was interested in seeing how vague or nuanced the clues were. A computer would have some major, major advantages in this field because it could essentially solve the puzzle backwards. Pattern matching, like the various "scrabble word finder" websites, is incredibly simple for a computer to do. AKA find all words matching the pattern "a??t??e", and based on an English word set, the software will pretty much instantly narrow that down to 14 words (acetate, acetone, agatine, agatise, agatize, agitate, airtime, alltime, anytime, apatite, austere, axstone, azotise, azotize). Once you have such a small set of words it can, with less intuition and intelligence than a person, try to find which of those 14 words best match the hint ("Smallest ketone").
Run that over multiple permutations of initial seed words and find the best fit. Humans of course work it the opposite way, which is racking their brain to find words the match the hint, and then seeing if those fit the space provided and the existing letters.
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I would be interested to hear from some top X-word puzzlers (of the meatbag type) to see if your claim is true. Perhaps they in fact use a combination of "what words do I know which fit" and "what words match the clue"
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