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Crosswordle is a puzzle in the family of Jotto and Wordle.  
Each puzzle starts with a blank crossword grid.  
Each solution is a completely filled grid, where all the rows across and down are real words.
Probe words, which must be real words, are compared to the entire grid, not to a particular row or column of the grid.

empty
The grid starts empty.  The solution is a completely filled crossword, with no blank squares.
first word
Suppose the first probe word is TRASH.   The R S and T squares become green,  the framed yellow squares contain one of T-R-A-S-H but not in that position.
bring
Suppose the second proble word is BRING.  The N and R sqares are correct for this word, and the center-top square also contains B-R-I-N-G, but not in that position.  The other yellow and green squares without the bright frames are not selected by BRING.
trend
Suppose the third probe word is TREND.   All the framed green words are correct and in position for this word.  The S is not selected by this word.  The framed yellow square at the top-center also contains T-R-E-N-D but not in that position.  The unframed yellow and green squares are not selected by TREND.
final
Guesses continue until the entire grid is filled in.   All the elements are real words from the zyzzva scrabble dictionary.
Other information about the construction:
  • The basic lexicon is approximately 4000 "common" 5 letter words, but experimentally, it was impossible to construct puzzles like this using a smaller lexicon of  about 2000 words.  You can deduce that many puzzles will contain at least one slightly obscure word.
  • There will be no duplicate words within a single puzzle.
  • A "good score" is somewhere in the range of 9-12 probes.


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