MotsCroisés is an open-source java program to automatically generate crossword grids.
This software is open-source and released under the GPLv3; in particular, there is no warranty.
Find/create a word dictionnary (text file, UTF8, one word per line), or use /usr/share/dict/words, and run:
$ motscroise --cols 14 -rows 14 --size 14 --dictionnary fr.txt --seed 42 --maxFill 20
Grid found in 265 iterations.
A B C D E F G H I J K L
+====================================+
1 | ■ B E ■ C A D R E R ■ G |
2 | S A C C A G E ■ T A T E |
3 | ■ L A ■ R A S ■ A T O N |
4 | P A R T I C I P I A L E |
5 | E N T R A I N A N T E S |
6 | ■ C E ■ S E T ■ S I R E |
7 | ■ O L E ■ Z E N ■ N E S |
8 | P I E ■ R ■ R A S E ■ ■ |
9 | A R R I E R E G A R D E |
10 | N E A N T I S E R A I T |
11 | S ■ I ■ E ■ S U ■ I ■ E |
12 | E R E I N T A S S E N T |
13 | N ■ N ■ T A I E ■ N U A |
14 | T U T I E ■ S ■ O T A S |
+====================================+
27 black cells (16%)
Or create an init.txt file, and run in fixed-black / initialized mode (with a verbose mode to see the process going):
$ cat init.txt
.......#.......
.#...#.#.#...#.
....#..#..#....
...#MAGICAL#...
..#....#....#..
.#...#...#...#.
.......#.......
###.#.###.#.###
.......#.......
.#...#...#...#.
..#....#....#..
...#GHOSTLY#...
....#..#..#....
.#...#.#.#...#.
.......#.......
$ motscroises --verbose 2 -c 15 -r 15 -s 7 --seed 43 --maxFill 30 --fixed --init init.txt --dictionnary /usr/share/dict/words
Grid found in 169 iterations.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O
+=============================================+
1 | B U T T O N S ■ D E P A R T S |
2 | E ■ I O N ■ L ■ E ■ D O E ■ O |
3 | F A R E ■ J O ■ S H ■ L I M B |
4 | A G E ■ M A G I C A L ■ S U E |
5 | L E ■ S E R A ■ A M I E ■ M R |
6 | L ■ R T E ■ N O N ■ M A W ■ L |
7 | S H A Y K H S ■ T H E R E B Y |
8 | ■ ■ ■ M ■ O ■ ■ ■ A ■ L ■ ■ ■ |
9 | M E L I S S A ■ I N C I T E S |
10 | I ■ T E N ■ B E N ■ L E A ■ O |
11 | S C ■ S A W S ■ S E A R ■ D I |
12 | L O G ■ G H O S T L Y ■ W A R |
13 | A D E N ■ O R ■ A M ■ D I N E |
14 | Y ■ L O G ■ B ■ L ■ C O N ■ E |
15 | S E T T E E S ■ L E S S O N S |
+=============================================+
49 black cells (21%)
You can forbid some cells to be black, just use an underscore in the initialization file:
$ cat init2.txt
_____________
_#_#_#_#_#_#_
____._._.____
_#_......._#_
__.........__
_#_......._#_
__.........__
_#_......._#_
__.........__
_#_......._#_
____._._.____
_#_#_#_#_#_#_
_____________
$ motscroises -c 13 -r 13 -s 13 --maxFill 25 --init init2.txt --dictionnary fr.txt
Grid found in 1178 iterations (seed is 1476815916472)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
+=======================================+
1 | C O N T R E T I R E R A I |
2 | A ■ O ■ E ■ E ■ E ■ E ■ R |
3 | T R I S M E ■ L I M I E R |
4 | H ■ R I E N ■ A N O N ■ E |
5 | E X ■ ■ R ■ D ■ S I ■ A S |
6 | T ■ R ■ C H U T E ■ G ■ I |
7 | E C U R I E S ■ R O U E S |
8 | R ■ T H E ■ ■ B E L E ■ T |
9 | I N ■ O R ■ D O R E R A I |
10 | S ■ C ■ I N ■ R I ■ I ■ B |
11 | M A R L O U ■ D O R S A L |
12 | E ■ U ■ N ■ N ■ N ■ O ■ E |
13 | S A T I S F A I S A N T S |
+=======================================+
38 black cells (22%)
Another grid, made in fixed mode with a regular black pattern, for the fun:
Grid found in 5184 iterations (seed is 1476816809553)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M
+=======================================+
1 | D E C A R B O N A T A N T |
2 | E ■ E ■ A ■ U ■ G ■ V ■ R |
3 | P A R T I E ■ S E R I N A |
4 | R ■ C R A N E U S E S ■ N |
5 | A L E A ■ T U E ■ G A R S |
6 | V ■ S I E E ■ E M I T ■ H |
7 | E U ■ T U ■ ■ ■ U S ■ R U |
8 | R ■ P I E U ■ F A T S ■ M |
9 | A F R O ■ P S I ■ R A T A |
10 | I ■ I N T A I L L A T ■ I |
11 | E U S S E S ■ M Y I A S E |
12 | N ■ E ■ T ■ L ■ R ■ N ■ N |
13 | T U R L U P I N E R E N T |
+=======================================+
33 black cells (19%)
An even more regular pattern of 9x9:
Grid found in 48 iterations (seed is 1476825993618)
A B C D E F G H I
+===========================+
1 | A R C H I T E C T |
2 | S ■ O ■ M ■ X ■ H |
3 | P A R A M E T E R |
4 | I ■ R ■ O ■ R ■ E |
5 | R A I L R O A D S |
6 | A ■ D ■ T ■ D ■ H |
7 | T H O R A Z I N E |
8 | E ■ R ■ L ■ T ■ R |
9 | D I S A S T E R S |
+===========================+
16 black cells (19%)
Of course you can make a large grid with short words (30x30 grid with words of 10 letters or less). Be careful, the following grid took a few minutes to compute:
$ motscroises -c 30 -r 30 -s 10 --maxFill 22 --dictionnary fr.txt
Grid found in 5573 iterations (seed is 1476823947160)
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z [ \ ] ^
+==========================================================================================+
1 | B U V O T A ■ M ■ G ■ A ■ S A P A J O U S ■ M I L S ■ O H M |
2 | ■ N ■ R I M A I L L O N S ■ X ■ S A U N A T E S ■ A N S E E |
3 | T A C ■ S I ■ R O U P E T T E S ■ U T I L E ■ B ■ L ■ E U S |
4 | R U C H E R ■ E U T ■ R U ■ S E I N ■ ■ I ■ L A I E S ■ ■ ■ |
5 | I ■ ■ ■ ■ A M E R E ■ I C ■ ■ C ■ I R A S ■ O S ■ R E L I S |
6 | A C C A B L E ■ A N S E ■ P O U R R A I ■ C F ■ C A L I N A |
7 | ■ A H ■ A ■ V E T ■ A S T U ■ L A ■ M E G O T E E S ■ E U S |
8 | E P O I N T E R ■ D L ■ ■ L I A S S E S ■ N ■ M S ■ A R T S |
9 | M O U ■ ■ E N G A M A M E S ■ R H E ■ ■ E C H U S ■ R A I A |
10 | U T ■ ■ E S T ■ R ■ S A M E D I ■ T A C H E ■ S E R A I L S |
11 | L E U R S ■ E U R O ■ ■ ■ E ■ S E S ■ A ■ D E ■ S E S ■ I ■ |
12 | E S T ■ S E ■ N I ■ E T E ■ M E N ■ A P L A T I ■ S ■ O T E |
13 | N ■ ■ D E P L I E N T ■ ■ R E ■ T I S S E ■ U N I S ■ P E U |
14 | T A I E ■ E ■ ■ R E E N G A G E R ■ ■ ■ S K I F ■ E T E ■ S |
15 | ■ C O N T E N U E S ■ E ■ P I L E ■ C L E ■ ■ E ■ M O N O S |
16 | R E N I A S ■ ■ R ■ H O U P ■ I ■ C R I ■ S U R H A U S S E |
17 | ■ R ■ ■ L ■ O ■ ■ ■ A ■ T R E M U L E R A I ■ T ■ ■ R ■ E S |
18 | G E R E E ■ S T A D I A ■ E U E ■ ■ V E R ■ S I C ■ O S ■ ■ |
19 | ■ R A S E E S ■ ■ E ■ V ■ T E R R E E ■ E T A L O N N A I T |
20 | T A I T ■ M U S A R D A M E S ■ U S E Z ■ H I E R ■ ■ L ■ ■ |
21 | R ■ N ■ L I ■ ■ M A ■ L I ■ ■ R A S ■ E M E T ■ N U M I D E |
22 | A M A R I N A M E S ■ I M P I E ■ A U N E S ■ P E N A T E S |
23 | M A ■ ■ E C U ■ N A S S E ■ F I L I N ■ T E N U E ■ I ■ C C |
24 | A L T O ■ A ■ ■ D ■ C E ■ C ■ N ■ M E U R S ■ N ■ S T R I A |
25 | ■ M U ■ S I G N E ■ A R M A ■ V ■ A ■ N A ■ L A S E R ■ ■ L |
26 | F E R R E E ■ ■ R E L A I S S E E S ■ E S ■ I ■ O ■ I O D E |
27 | I N C A R N E R A ■ P I S T O N S ■ A S ■ V E R N I S S E S |
28 | A I ■ S I T U A S S E ■ ■ R U T ■ O H ■ R O S I ■ D E ■ G ■ |
29 | S E M E E ■ E S ■ A R R I E R E ■ S A L U E ■ E ■ E R R A T |
30 | ■ Z ■ R E S S A S S A I ■ R I S B A N ■ T U A S ■ S A U T A |
+==========================================================================================+
207 black cells (23%)
For more information on available parameters:
$ motscroises --help
Soon to be: a more detailed human-readable algorithm explanation.
In the meantime, you can read the source code.
Enjoy.
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