Crux

About Crux

Crux is a program which attempts to find sets of words which fill a grid. The grid is divided into cells and the program will assign letters to cells, one to each, such that specified sequences of cells form words in the supplied dictionary. Each cell has a label consisting of alphanumeric characters, and the file specifying the grid is read from standard input.

The default dictionary file is ‘dict’ in the current directory. See the FAQ for sources of suitable word lists.

Examples

Here is a simple example grid file:

c1 c2 c3 c4 c5 c6 c7 c8 ;
c8 c7 c6 c5 c4 c3 c2 c1 ;

This grid file instructs Crux to find a pair of eight-letter words where the second is the reverse of the first. The program finds ‘DESSERTS’ (and ‘STRESSED’).

Here are some more examples.

Grid file	Sample result	Diagram
c00 c01 c02 c03 c04 c05 c06 c07 ; c01 c11 c12 c13 c14 c15 c16 c17 ; c02 c12 c22 c23 c24 c25 c26 c27 ; c03 c13 c23 c33 c34 c35 c36 c37 ; c04 c14 c24 c34 c44 c45 c46 c47 ; c05 c15 c25 c35 c45 c55 c56 c57 ; c06 c16 c26 c36 c46 c56 c66 c67 ; c07 c17 c27 c37 c47 c57 c67 c77 ;	crabwise ratlines atlantes blastema winterly intertie seemlier essayers
c00 c01 c02 c03 =your ; c10 c11 c12 c13 ; c20 c21 c22 c23 ; c30 c31 c32 c33 =name ; c00 c10 c20 c30 ; c01 c11 c21 c31 ; c02 c12 c22 c32 ; c03 c13 c23 c33 ;	your adry reif name yarn odea urim ryfe
a b c ; e f g h ; j k l m n ; q r s t ; x y z ; a e j ; b f k q ; c g l r x ; h m s y ; n t z ; c h n ; b g m t ; a f l s z ; e k r y ; j q x ;	one baas sorns idea sed obs naoi eards snee sad ess nana oared bode sis
c000 c001 c002 c003 ; c010 c011 c012 c013 ; c020 c021 c022 c023 ; c030 c031 c032 c033 ; c100 c101 c102 c103 ; c110 c111 c112 c113 ; c120 c121 c122 c123 ; c130 c131 c132 c133 ; c200 c201 c202 c203 ; c210 c211 c212 c213 ; c220 c221 c222 c223 ; c230 c231 c232 c233 ; c300 c301 c302 c303 ; c310 c311 c312 c313 ; c320 c321 c322 c323 ; c330 c331 c332 c333 ; c000 c010 c020 c030 ; c100 c110 c120 c130 ; c200 c210 c220 c230 ; c300 c310 c320 c330 ; c001 c011 c021 c031 ; c101 c111 c121 c131 ; c201 c211 c221 c231 ; c301 c311 c321 c331 ; c002 c012 c022 c032 ; c102 c112 c122 c132 ; c202 c212 c222 c232 ; c302 c312 c322 c332 ; c003 c013 c023 c033 ; c103 c113 c123 c133 ; c203 c213 c223 c233 ; c303 c313 c323 c333 ; c000 c100 c200 c300 ; c001 c101 c201 c301 ; c002 c102 c202 c302 ; c003 c103 c203 c303 ; c010 c110 c210 c310 ; c011 c111 c211 c311 ; c012 c112 c212 c312 ; c013 c113 c213 c313 ; c020 c120 c220 c320 ; c021 c121 c221 c321 ; c022 c122 c222 c322 ; c023 c123 c223 c323 ; c030 c130 c230 c330 ; c031 c131 c231 c331 ; c032 c132 c232 c332 ; c033 c133 c233 c333 ;	mark idea naan awls idol dali ogee loan same ecad nerd army twae eels geos smee mina idol sena tegs adaw dago acer weem real olea marm aloe kans lien eddy esse mist adaw roma klee idee dace elal aids nong agee aero neds alas worm lame snye

Add the line

once

to the grid file and Crux stops after finding one solution. Add

loud

and progress information is output, helpful for long runs. Add

dict <filename>

and Crux will read its dictionary from the specified file, rather than the default ‘dict’ in the current directory.

System requirements

Crux should work on any Linux system with:

a 386-class or higher processor
16Mbytes RAM; more will make things faster for complex problems

The program is tested under RedHat Linux 6.2, Debian Woody and Ubuntu 6.10.

Download Crux

Crux is freely distributable for any purpose, provided that the messages it displays at start-up are retained. Examples of exceptional or amusing grids generated by the program are welcomed for inclusion in this website; sources will of course be credited.

Download release 20030303 (gzip’ped, tar’red ELF binary, about 10kbytes) here.

This page most recently updated Thu Dec 6 17:08:03 GMT 2012