Autofill no-no

[zvit]

I've read that professional constructors don't use autofill. I'll explain my question.

The autofill often says it can't fill the grid after designing a grid (American style) and putting in the theme words. If I understand this correctly, the autofill would need you to either adjust the grid design, change the order of the theme words, or change some theme words completely.

My question is as follows: If the autofill, which uses word lists that consist of hundreds of thousands of words, can't fill the grid, what are the chances that you would be able to fill it manually?

In other words, wouldn't it make sense to run the autofill a few times only to make sure that technically, there are at least a few possible ways to fill it at all before attempting to fill it manually?

[mmcbs]

I'd say the chance of you being able to fill it manually are pretty slim if the autofill attempt fails. You might be able to if you found words that were usable that are not in your word list. But in reality, your first comment is really what you should do (rearrange themers, rearrange the grid, etc.).

Some professional constructors use autofill in certain circumstances. I certainly do. It's advisable only when you have a bulletproof word list (no garbage), which most constructors don't have.