HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: levin@world.std.com (Levin F Magruder)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Subject: Re: PuzzlePack word game software; Scrabble Dictionary
Date: 1 Sep 92 19:05:11 GMT
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA

I wrote about puzzlepack;

In article <1992Sep1.171923.792@bryson.demon.co.uk> ross@bryson.demon.co.uk (Ross Beresford) writes:

>Sounds to be similar to my TEA program, which is "freeware", and available
>on SIMTEL:
>
>pd1:<msdos.txtutl>
>TEA100.ZIP      TEA word search program for crosswords v1.00
>TEABD100.ZIP    Dictionary database encoder for TEA v1.00
>
>: The dictionary is based on The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, so
>: there are a lot of odd words...
>
>That's very interesting: does anyone know what the "Official" means in
>this context ... who owns the copyright to the collection of words in
>the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary?

The Scrabble people - now Milton Bradley, or else Mirriam Webster
own the copyright.  A number of people have digitized the dictionary,
and it's used in several products I know of.  But, it's never mentioned
by name, for copyright reasons.  The companies which  have owned scrabble
don't let anyone use the name, and apparently take a dim view of people
who write scrabble programs.  There is no question, though, that the
dictionaries in these products, which are targeted for Scrabble buffs,
are complete and accurate.  (I'm not claiming they're 100% accurate, but
I know perhaps a dozen people who use them and have never heard of an error
or ommission.)

I've never heard of an "OSPD-compatible" dictionary on electric media
which is available in a form directly usable to the buyer.  (The products
I mention all have the dictionaries stored in some indexed format.  I 
suppose a comp sci person might be able to get the list out; I can't.)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
From: levin@world.std.com (Levin F Magruder)
Subject: PuzzlePack word game software
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 02:36:54 GMT


I just saw some software I thought readers of this group might be interested
in. The program is called Puzzlepack.  It costs $20, runs on msdos only.

There are two programs, "jwords" and "xwords".  "jwords" gives you all
the words in a bunch of letters - say you tell it to use "letters", it
will come up with sleet, steel, reels, eel, letters, etc.  You can give
it constraints, like only words of 4+ letters, but nothing much fancier
(you couldn't ask for only words where the letters are in alphabetical
order, for example.)

"xwords" will tell you every word that fits a pattern; say you give it
"m???w" it will come up with miaow, and whatever else is there.

The dictionary is based on The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, so
there are a lot of odd words... I asked for ?acdeinr in jwords, for
example, and it came up with acridine, candider, crannied, dicentra, 
inarched, radiance, and riddance, most of which words I wasn't familiar
with.

Too much is better than too little, though.

It seems to need a lot of memory - very near 640.  My friend who owns
it has to boot off a diskette, because device drivers suck up too much
RAM, and he doesn't have anything fancy at all.

RecRoom RecWare
P.O. Box 307
Pacific Grove, CA 93950

Specify disk size; $20 US + $2 for postage.

I'm not affiliated with the author, I don't even own the software.

Oh, I forgot to mention, it's fast.  Even on a search like 
????est the time it takes to run is something like 5 seconds.


Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
From: hutch@bellman.lanl.gov (John Hutchinson)
Subject: Re: PuzzlePack word game software
Reply-To: hutch@bellman.lanl.gov
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 23:49:45 GMT

In article 10514@waikato.ac.nz, bill@waikato.ac.nz () writes:

>Does anybody know how the program stores its dictionary to enable such
>fast lookup? I'm also interested if anyone knows of any other dictionary
>storage method that is useful for crossword-style searching.

I too would be interested in how this program, and any others, store the
dictionary data.  It would be very interesting to find out how this is done.

-Hutch-
From: guy@ulysses.att.com (Guy Jacobson)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Subject: CWC15 winners
Date: 26 Aug 92 20:19:31 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

The winning clues for CWC15 are:



   Like Puck, spare Quince translation - twin Bottom is superfluous (10)



by rt@ukc.ac.uk for the first word, and



   Mark (from the printer company) cut off performing after Henry the First (8)



by tomd@cayman.amd.com (Tom Deneau) for the second.  The second clue
is the overall winner, and I hereby invite Tom to start up CWC15.


   Note to would-be clue solvers:  These clues both have a Shakesperean
   theme because this was a constraint in the contest.  Also, be warned
   that neither word is very common (especially the second one).

-- 
_________________________________________________________________
Guy Jacobson   (908) 582-6558              AT&T Bell Laboratories
        uucp:  {att,ucbvax}!ulysses!guy	   600 Mountain Avenue
    internet:  guy@ulysses.att.com         Murray Hill NJ, 07974
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
From: richard@ssd.intel.com (Richard Chamberlain)
Subject: ACC8
Organization: Supercomputer Systems Division, Intel Corp.
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 20:55:18 GMT

Araucaria Clueing Competition no. 8
-----------------------------------
To enter write a cryptic clue for the word given below
(only one clue per person, please). Email it to me (richard@ssd.intel.com)
by 23:59 GMT 14 Sep 92. I'll post my choice of the winning clue soon after
that, and a list of all the clues I receive. The winner will be
invited to judge the next ACC.

The word to clue (disguised in rot13 mode) is:

   PNGNFGEBCUR

Apparently the judge can set the rules and while I do not intend to
change the rules, my judging will be based slightly differently. In
diving, there is a difficulty factor associated with a dive which is
factored into the score. Correspondingly, I think it is easier to
write a clue with say, a straight anagram of the word, than a more
complicated clue. I will be taking this into account and will not
be hypercritical of clues if they are accurate, consistent and read well.
Of course, a perfect straight dive can win.... so dive in!


Richard Chamberlain
From: bill@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Subject: Re: PuzzlePack word game software
Date: 2 Sep 92 09:49:25 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

In article <BtvoLJ.CqL@world.std.com>, levin@world.std.com (Levin F Magruder) writes:
> 
> I just saw some software I thought readers of this group might be interested
> in. The program is called Puzzlepack.  It costs $20, runs on msdos only.
> 
> There are two programs, "jwords" and "xwords".  "jwords" gives you all
> the words in a bunch of letters - say you tell it to use "letters", it
> will come up with sleet, steel, reels, eel, letters, etc.  You can give
> it constraints, like only words of 4+ letters, but nothing much fancier
> (you couldn't ask for only words where the letters are in alphabetical
> order, for example.)
> 
> "xwords" will tell you every word that fits a pattern; say you give it
> "m???w" it will come up with miaow, and whatever else is there.
> 
> The dictionary is based on The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary, so
> there are a lot of odd words... I asked for ?acdeinr in jwords, for
> example, and it came up with acridine, candider, crannied, dicentra, 
> inarched, radiance, and riddance, most of which words I wasn't familiar
> with.
> 
> Too much is better than too little, though.
> 
> It seems to need a lot of memory - very near 640.  My friend who owns
> it has to boot off a diskette, because device drivers suck up too much
> RAM, and he doesn't have anything fancy at all.
> 
> RecRoom RecWare
> P.O. Box 307
> Pacific Grove, CA 93950
> 
> Specify disk size; $20 US + $2 for postage.
> 
> I'm not affiliated with the author, I don't even own the software.
> 
> Oh, I forgot to mention, it's fast.  Even on a search like 
> ????est the time it takes to run is something like 5 seconds.
> 
> 

Does anybody know how the program stores its dictionary to enable such
fast lookup? I'm also interested if anyone knows of any other dictionary
storage method that is useful for crossword-style searching.

Bill Teahan
Systems Programmer
University of Waikato
Hamilton, New Zealand
"I have never been lost but I will admit to being confused for several
weeks." -- Daniel Boone
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
From: sjm@bcrki65.bnr.ca (Stuart MacMartin)
Subject: Re: PuzzlePack word game software
Reply-To: sjm@bcrki65.bnr.ca (Stuart MacMartin)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada
Date: Wed, 2 Sep 1992 12:54:02 GMT

Newsgroups: rec.puzzles.crosswords
Subject: Re: PuzzlePack word game software
Summary: 
Expires: 
Followup-To: 
Distribution: 
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa, Canada
Keywords: 

In article <1992Sep2.094925.10514@waikato.ac.nz> bill@waikato.ac.nz writes:
>In article <BtvoLJ.CqL@world.std.com>, levin@world.std.com (Levin F
Magruder) writes:
>> There are two programs, "jwords" and "xwords".  "jwords" gives you all
>> the words in a bunch of letters - say you tell it to use "letters", it
>> will come up with sleet, steel, reels, eel, letters, etc.  You can give
>> it constraints, like only words of 4+ letters, but nothing much fancier
>> (you couldn't ask for only words where the letters are in alphabetical
>> order, for example.)
>> 
>> "xwords" will tell you every word that fits a pattern; say you give it
>> "m???w" it will come up with miaow, and whatever else is there.
>> 
>> Oh, I forgot to mention, it's fast.  Even on a search like 
>> ????est the time it takes to run is something like 5 seconds.
>> 
>> 
>
>Does anybody know how the program stores its dictionary to enable such
>fast lookup? I'm also interested if anyone knows of any other dictionary
>storage method that is useful for crossword-style searching.
>
This is fast?  Maybe I've been spoiled by my UNIX workstations, but
a simple egrep '^????est$' /usr/dict/words takes only 2 seconds.  And this
is a pretty stupid algorithm - run through every word and see if it 
matches.  Some simple tables dividing words into 26 sections, e.g.
one for 1st letter, another for last letter, would speed up many 
searches sufficiently, I would think, to make up the difference 
between a PC and my RS6000.  The words could also be stored by size,
so that a request like ????est would only look at the 7-letter words.
Is there need to be more clever than that?

jwords should be faster, because running through all combinations 
of 7 letters is only 5040 combinations.  Even if every combination
was checked for the leading characters being a word - e.g. "carpets"
has "car", "carp", "carpet" and "carpets" - then this is only 35000
or so checks, and this has many redundant checks.  This can easily
be reduced significantly if the dictionary can be asked: 
"are there any words that start with 'zq'?"  So again, stupid
algorithms should be fast enough, and slightly clever algorithms
should be blindingly fast.

Have I missed something?

Of course the standard way of doing this kind of things is 
Patricia tries.

Stuart

: Stuart MacMartin                                    email: sjm@bnr.ca      :
: Bell-Northern Research                              phone: (613) 763-5625  :
: PO Box 3511, Stn C, Ottawa, K1Y-4H7, CANADA    Standard disclaimers apply. :
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: wilkinsn@rtsg.mot.com (Andrew J. Wilkinson)
Subject: Re: HINT: 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,?
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Distribution: rec
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 13:22:35 GMT

dany@marva.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il (Nabutovsky Dan) writes:

>>In article <1992Aug25.120533.24301@wisipc.weizmann.ac.il> I write:
>>   What is the next item in the serie:
>> 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ?, ...

>   This is a well-known serie. In fact, everybody knows it.
>If I'll give you the next item, you should know all others immediately.
>(Of course it is not 12).

>   All answers based on sophisticated mathematical rule are
>certainly wrong.

>		Dan


	How about :	Jack
	Followed by :	Queen, King, Ace?

Andy.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles,sci.philosophy.tech,sci.philosophy.meta,sci.logic
From: gardner@cs.monash.edu.au ()
Subject: Nomic
Organization: Computer Science, Monash University, Australia
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 05:16:24 GMT

Hi everybody,

I've had considerable interest in the game Nomic, a Self Modifying Game Based
On Reflexivity in Law. To save myself repeating myself over and over, I've
created a mailing list, to distribute news about Nomic and its
implementation as a Networked game. So, now you can talk to me individually 
as gardner@bruce, or send comment/suggestions/proposals to...
 
						  nomic@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au
						  
and your mail will reach the whole group.
						  
If you want to be added to or removed from the group, mail
						  
nomic-request@yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au
											  
To recapitulate:

Nomic is a game where each move consists in a proposal by one of the players
to change the rules in some fashion. This proposal is then voted on by the
other players. It is clear that, after some time, the game being played may
resemble only in spirit the game that was initially embarked upon. If this
sounds interesting to you, get in touch with me.

The initial set of rules for the game are contained in Douglas R. Hofstadter's
wonderful book, _Metamagical Themas_, in (I think) ch. 4. The rules are
quite lengthy, but graspable. They were written by Peter Suber.

Unfortunately, although Hofstadter concedes that the game would ideally be
played under Networked conditions, which would allow the simplest method
of maintenance of the current condtions of play, the actual game as it appears
in MT is designed to played around the dinner table. Therefore modifications
to the initial set of rules are desirable, before Networked play can begin.
At this time, my friend Geoff thinks he has an appropriately modified set
of rules lying around somewhere, and he should be able to locate them soon.
If not, we'll just reinvent the modifications.

The other work that needs doing is the actual implementation of Nomic as a
Networked game. Geoff thinks that this can easily be done using an
extremely stripped down version of a MUD, and he says that he'll get around
to it RSN.

So, hopefully, we'll be able to play Nomic, as DRH originally suggested it
*should* be played, pretty soon. If you'd like to play, mail nomic-request@
yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au

*******************************************************************************
* __  ___  ___ \    /  ___  |  *              We have no choice.              * 
*|__   |  |__   \  /  |__   |  *        We must believe in free will.         *
*___|  |  |___   \/   |___  o  *                                              * 
*gardner@bruce.cs.monash.edu.au*            Isaac Bashevis Singer             *
*******************************************************************************
From: ajtd@honey.st-and.ac.uk (Tony Davie)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: <None>
Date: 28 Aug 92 09:03:45 GMT
Organization: St.Andrews University

In article <BtoG93.BIz@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu>, rstimets@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (robert and stimets) writes:
> >
> An ofshoot to this one goes:
> 
> OK, your driving a bus, right.  Well at the first stop... etc...
> So now who's driving the bus?
> 
> RStimets
> 
> 

and in another offshoot I remember from when I was a kid
no driver's name is mentioned (certainly not 'you'). then:

"So what was the driver's name"

"Huh?"

"Smith"

"Why?"

"Because his father's name was Smith"
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: karr@cs.cornell.edu (David Karr)
Subject: Re: 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,?
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
Distribution: rec
Date: Wed, 26 Aug 1992 18:30:20 GMT

In article <1992Aug25.120533.24301@wisipc.weizmann.ac.il> dany@marva.wisdom.weizmann.ac.il (Nabutovsky Dan) writes:
>   What is the next item in the serie:
> 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, ?, ...
>
>   (Not 11)

How about the rule, "a(i) is i+1 written in base 19-i."
Then the next item is eleven written in base nine, i.e. "12."

-- David Karr (karr@cs.cornell.edu)


Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: PANDERSON@OAVAX.CSUCHICO.EDU(Peter Anderson)
Subject: Re: ANYONE INTO LOGIC PROBLEMS?
Organization: California State University, Chico
Date: Fri, 04 Sep 1992 17:11:42 GMT

It depends on what kind of logic problems you're talking about. One 
variety deals with problems such as a visit to an island populated by two 
tribes: one always tells the truth the other always tells lies. The 
visitor must discover which is which. The other variety deals with a list 
of facts dealing with a group persons. The solver-usually using a 
diagram-determines which facts refer to which person. I very much like the 
first variety and am much less enthusiastic about the second.


panderson@oavax.csuchico.edu(PeterAnderson)


From: Adrian.Scott@p2.f158.n633.z3.fidonet.org (Adrian Scott)
Sender: acsnet@csource.oz.au
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Little Quiz
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 1992 15:54:00 +1000

This is a simple little gues the answer puzzle.. See if you can figure it out..

        An Archeologist can across two perfectly preserved bodies at a Location
in Africa. After clearing away all the dirt, debris and dust from his excavation
he came to the astonishing conclusion that these two bodys, (1 male the other
female) were Adam and Eve.. How did he know this?

Adrian :) 
 

 * Origin: -/\-: RAVENLOFT - RPG DEDICATED BBS :-/\- (3:633/158.2)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: rstimets@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (robert and stimets)
Subject: Re: Virtual reality puzzle
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 06:07:47 GMT

How can one tell if their VR machine is still going or not (despite the
thought that you unplugged your machine)?

Continue life as normal for approx. three months without paying your electric
bill.  The electricity will in TRUE reality be eventually disconnected for you.

Notice that in this sort of solution you only NOT do something for a set amount
of time.  There is a presumption about a comparison of time (real vs. virtual)
made here, i.e. that the perceptions of both are the same.  I believe this to
be a fairly safe conclusion. 

Note also that VR will attempt to convince you after a couple of months or so that
the electricity has been shut off.  Don't be fooled!  Wait until the full three
months have passed!!!  (or whatever it takes in your area--I assume you have an
idea)

RStimets
From: mrios@meltdown.chi.il.us (Michael Rios)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Idle Minds (circle chopping)
Date: 3 Sep 92 03:27:44 GMT
Organization: The Meltdown - A Team Star BBS

Hi everyone.  I was just trying to get to sleep a few nights ago and came up
with these.  I have the answers to most of them now, but the later ones elude
me.

1. We'll begin at the beginning.  One straight line can, at best, divide a     
  circle into two parts.  Two straight lines can, at best, divide a circle   
into four parts.  Three straight lines give, at best, seven parts.  How   
about 4 straight lines?  5?  n?

2. One straight line, properly placed, can divide a circle into two equal   
parts.  Now imagine a line with a right angled bend in it (or two             
perpendicular rays at a common origin, if you wish 8-).  Can this angled      
line be placed within the circle so as to divide it into two parts of equal
   area?

3. Three straight lines divide a circle into seven pieces at best.  Can the    
  lines be placed such that all the pieces have equal areas?

That's all for now.

mike rios.
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: ssave@ole.cdac.com (Shailendra Save)
Subject: Re: Nerd words
Organization: CDAC, WA
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 1992 17:30:25 GMT

In article <matthew.714590752@base.cs.ucla.edu> matthew@base.cs.ucla.edu (Matthew Merzbacher) writes:
>linden@positive.Eng.Sun.COM (Peter van der Linden) writes:
>>I am looking for two words that, when catenated together
>>form a third word, with opposite meaning to the first word.
>
>SHAME + LESS = SHAMELESS
>SHAME + FULL = SHAMEFUL (L :-))
>Matthew Merzbacher	ARPA:	matthew@CS.UCLA.EDU


  How about:

  ENGINEER + NERD = ENGINERD  :-)  (now, *that's* funny)

  -Shailendra
  ssave@ole.cdac.com
From: dik@cwi.nl (Dik T. Winter)
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
Subject: Re: <None>
Date: 29 Aug 92 01:23:24 GMT
Organization: CWI, Amsterdam

In article <10555@spark.ed.ac.uk> iad@cogsci.ed.ac.uk (Ivan A Derzhanski) writes:
 > In article <1992Aug27.164827.24480@col.hp.com> cab@col.hp.com (Chris Best) writes:
 > >Ask someone to time you (at something/anything) for 15 seconds.
 > >When they say time's up, ask them what time it is.  Only a very
 > >few will know, even though they were staring at their watch for 
 > >15 seconds!
 > 
 > Now that you mentioned it, I believe this to have happened to me many
 > times.  (No, I haven't been tested, it just happened by chance.)

Worse still.  How many times have you had it happen that you look at your
watch to see whether it is time to go home, and only one second afterwards
somebody asks you how late it is.  In most cases you have to watch again
because you did not register the time, only that it was not yet time to go.
-- 
dik t. winter, cwi, kruislaan 413, 1098 sj  amsterdam, nederland
home: bovenover 215, 1025 jn  amsterdam, nederland
dik@cwi.nl
Newsgroups: rec.puzzles
From: schweitz@fwi.uva.nl (Mischa Schweitzer (W86))
Subject: Re: <None>
Organization: FWI, University of Amsterdam
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 1992 11:43:29 GMT

vreddy@husc3.harvard.edu writes:

>I dunno if this is what you are talking about, but what about the bus-stop
>question? You know... a bus stops at the first stop and 5 get on... the next
>stop, 2 get on and 3 get off, the next stop, 5 get on abd 1 gets off, etc etc
>etc... then the question at the end: How many stops did the bus make?

>The people are so preoccupied doing the math, which they are led to believe is
>the key to the question, and they are caught without an answer when they
>realize the question asked them for something they weren't paying attnetion
>to.. :)

>-- Venk --
> 

How about telling the same story, but starting with: "You are a driver on a
bus. At the first stop...". And at the end the question is: "What is the name
of the driver?" That way YOU don't even have to count the number of stops!
(BTW: The correct answer is of course the name of the one who you are asking
 this.)

Mischa. 

Mischa Schweitzer (schweitz@fwi.uva.nl)
University of Amsterdam, Holland.