Hello, dear friend, you can consult us at any time if you have any questions, add WeChat: THEend8_
Homework 6 — Crossword Blackout
In this homework we will work with concepts inspired by crosswords, however we will not be following all the
rules that would be required by a proper “American-style” or “British-style” crossword. As such, you should
read the entire handout carefully. Crosswords are quite popular, so there is lots of material available online.
You may not search for, study, or use any outside code related to crossword puzzles. You are welcome to
find additional puzzles to experiment with and try to solve by hand.
The basic goal is to consider a two dimensional grid in which each square either contains a letter or a black
square, and find one or all boards that meet some requirements (described below) and have all other squares
blacked out. Any sequence of two or more squares touching is considered a word. In order for a HW6 solution
to be valid it must contain no words shorter than 3 letters, and all words must be in a provided dictionary
(more on this later). Words only run in two directions, across (meaning left-to-right) and down (meaning
top-to-bottom). A letter in a square can belong to an across word, a down word, or both an across and down
word. A letter in a square is never part of two or more across words at the same time, or two or more down
words at the same time. Finally, in a real crossword grid, all the words must be “connected”, and black
squares must be placed to ensure symmetry, but neither of those are requirements for the baseline HW6.