Codewords solver
A simple ruby-based allgorithm for solving codewords (AKA Cypher crosswords) - popular in many newspapers.
Usage
require "codewords_solver"
CodewordsSolver.solve! coded_words: grid, starting_letters: { 5 => "F", 7 => "L" }or
require "codewords_solver"
solver = CodewordsSolver.new grid, { 5 => "F", 7 => "L" }
solver.solve!where
grid = [
[1, 13, 7, 11],
[22, 5, 5, 13, 10, 17, 4, 15],
[4, 13, 18, 3, 23],
[16, 13, 7, 7, 13, 22, 26],
[15, 10, 4, 12, 24, 25, 7, 17],
[25, 13, 4, 22],
[12, 24, 22, 9, 26, 23],
[5, 13, 12, 26, 10, 17],
[17, 26, 21, 14],
[24, 12, 4, 23, 13, 12, 26, 15],
[19, 4, 22, 8, 17, 10, 23],
[4, 12, 13, 15, 17],
[11, 13, 15, 10, 22, 9, 26, 23],
[2, 9, 13, 19],
[1, 22, 4, 20, 15, 19, 12, 10, 17],
[19, 22, 11],
[7, 12, 18, 17, 4],
[22, 25, 21, 13, 22, 9, 15],
[15, 23, 12, 24, 13, 26, 12],
[7, 17, 18, 22],
[5, 13, 16, 16, 7, 17],
[23, 12, 4, 23, 12, 26],
[13, 11, 7, 17],
[24, 13, 6, 23, 9, 4, 17],
[17, 11, 13, 23, 13, 22, 26],
[12, 11, 13, 17, 9],
[15, 22, 26],
[22, 21, 17, 4, 15, 7, 17, 17, 19],
]which is a machine-representation of a real-world grid that looks like this:
Note that while a codewords puzzle is typically formed into a grid with intersecting words, you do not need to mark such intersections here. A simple array of each of the numbered words will suffice!
Please note
A good codewords solver requires a good word list, and this one is far from perfect. If it isn't solving a puzzle or it's making a mistake, it's quite likely that it's because there are words missing from the list!