Unusable Entries in the Cruciverb Word List

[rgh]

Hi All,

I frequently run into entries in the Cruciverb word list ("all.txt") that are unusable in construction. Words like "areaode", in which the "c" has been removed for humorous effect. The word list page claims that these types of thematic words (wordplay - added/removed/switched letters, etc.) have been removed from the word list, but this is not the case in my experience.

It seems these words are flagged by a red exclamation mark in the database. Has anyone made a list of these unwanted words, or can such a list be made? It would be nice to do a bulk delete of them in my personal word list, as they are a nuisance in construction.

Thx.

rgh

[mmcbs]

I know there was an effort to remove "unusable" words from the list, but as it's a manual process, obviously some were missed. There's a lot more stuff in the "ALL" list  that is essentially unusable (overlong partials & letter runs, green paint, obscure and obsolete words, misspellings, little-used variants, unfamiliar abbreviations, etc.). I've just made it a practice to delete anything I see in the "possible" list on Compiler that I know I should never use. 

[rgh]

Hi,

I realize there is a larger set of a undesirable entries in the word list than what I have identified. For now, I’m only interested in the entries that are flagged with red exclamation marks in the database. If they are flagged, it should be possible to get a list of them.

I want to remove all words from my word list that will never see the light of day, not simply lower their score. It seems that this would be an easier way to eliminate a nice chunk of them, rather than one-by-one as I come across them.

Rgh.

[mmcbs]

Well, if AREAODE is a typical example, it's not flagged in the database as a theme entry, so I suspect that flag is what keeps it out of the ALL list.

[rgh]

I guess I misread the database entry for AREAODE, I thought there was a red exclamation point (there isn’t, but there should be). However, I have come across many examples of entries with red exclamation points in the database, indicating they are word play theme entries, which are nevertheless still in the word list. These shouldn’t have to be removed manually.

Rgh.

[mmcbs]

Hmm.  I just look at several that had the red ! in the database and none of them are in the ALL word list  (BRINGDOWNTHEH, for one) . If you have many example of words in the ALL database that are red !'s in the database, perhaps you should report them to the administrator for his review. kmccann@cruciverb.com

[rgh]

The version of “all.txt” I included in my word list was from a few years ago. Maybe this has been cleaned up in the recent version. Unfortunately, I deleted the version I used (from 2013 I think), so I can’t find out what the changes are.

If I run across this problem with the 2019 version, I’ll follow your advice.

Rgh.

[rgh]

All,

FYI, I was able to restore a version of "all.txt" which was labelled '2013' from an old backup. I used Python to find words that were in the old version, but not in the new 2019 version. I got about 100 junk words (mostly wordplay). I thought there would be more. Anyway, after examining the list,  I can do a quick multiple delete from my word list (although it looks like I deleted some of them already).

It seems the newer versions of "all.txt" have removed junk from the previous versions. From now on, as new versions come out, I will compare to the previous version to see if more junk has been removed.

rgh.