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Clever Clues Clobber Crossword Computer

Posted by Soulskill on from the blithe-banter-bamboozles-brainy-bots dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "Steve Lohr reports that an impressive crossword-solving computer program called Dr. Fill matched its digital wits against 600 of the nation's best human crossword-solvers, finishing only 141st at the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament in New York. 'I wish it had done better,' says Dr. Matthew Ginsberg, the creator of Dr. Fill and an expert in artificial intelligence. Dr. Fill typically thrives on conventional crosswords, even ones with arcane clues and answers; it solved one of the most difficult puzzles at the tournament perfectly. But the computer does poorly with clever clues based on puns or jokes, because humans and machines solve the crosswords very differently. Humans recognize patterns based on accumulated knowledge and experience, while computers make endless calculations to determine the most statistically probable answer. The computer program is literal minded, and tends to struggle on puzzles with humor, and puzzles with unusual themes or letter arrangements. Take this clue from a 2010 puzzle in The Times: Apollo 11 and 12 (180 degrees). The answer is SNOISSIWNOOW, seemingly gibberish. A clever human could eventually figure out that those letters, when rotated 180 degrees, spell MOON MISSIONS. Humans get the joke, while a literal-minded computer does not. 'Occasionally, Dr. Fill just doesn't get it,' says Ginsberg. 'That's my nightmare.'"

13 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. He named it a pun, but it sucks at puns. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Can it manage ironic clues?

  2. GIGO by Jimbookis · · Score: 2

    It's not Dr Fill's fault for not getting it. Clearly it's Dr Ginsberg who is not getting it.

  3. My favourite "not real" crossword clues by whyloginwhysubscribe · · Score: 5, Funny

    If I see someone doing a crossword I usually say "I was stuck on a crossword the other day - the clue was 'very busy postman'". Eventually (sometimes it takes a while) they ask "how many letters" at which point you can say "hundreds!"

    I'm such a funny guy...

    Oh - another one is to say "seven up is lemonade"...

    1. Re:My favourite "not real" crossword clues by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Perhaps unsurprisingly, one down is justifiable homicide.

    2. Re:My favourite "not real" crossword clues by Inda · · Score: 2

      I went to a funeral the other day. The deceased was a crossword compiler.

      He was buried 6 down and 4 across.

      ^^ you can have that one for free :)

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
  4. I'd luck to congratulate by mapkinase · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'd luck to congratulate submitter on a clever title. Does not happen very often here.

    --
    I do not believe in karma. "Funny"=-6. Do good and forbid evil. Yours, Oft-Offtopic Flamebaiting Troll.
  5. Re:Poor example? by dkf · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nor is it a word in any conventional sense, nor comprised of words. The only place it ever appears is in relation to discussion of this particular clue. The correct clever human response to such thing is to punch the setter in the face; they have broken the formal compact of crossword setting by using a non-word/non-phrase as an answer.

    --
    "Little does he know, but there is no 'I' in 'Idiot'!"
  6. Redundancy by Hentes · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Not being able to guess a few words might not be a problem, skip it and solve the other ones, once there are enough letters in it a computer can easily look up the available words, and if there are more than one even use a nonlinear approach. Even without any clues, a few words can't be that hard to bruteforce.

    1. Re:Redundancy by Bigby · · Score: 2

      A human can cleverly clobber a crossword computer with brute force.

  7. "That's my nightmare" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2

    Unfortunately for Dr Fill's creator, the problem of how to get the program to work with such unorthodox solutions is the same as getting it to think like a person. At a certain point, all AI questions become the same AI question: this is the very essence of Turing horizon, and all such efforts converge there.

    The program he wants to write is, sadly, doomed, as it will be impossible until such time as our species generates a true artificial consciousness with human intelligence, at which point the problem will be trivial - we will have much larger concerns that day.

  8. Re:Poor example? by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2

    TFA does make it sound like crossword puzzles are the paper equivalent of the most horrible, broken, 'adventure'/'puzzle' games of the 90s. The ones that were only solvable by either having a direct mind-meld with the developer and gaining mystic insight into "puzzles" or by brute-force-clicking every single pixel on every single ill-drawn background to interact with the entire set of interactable objects in the gameworld in all possible orders...

    There is a fine line between 'subtle clue' and 'inside joke with a population of one', and it is entirely possible to cross it.

  9. Re:Poor example? by bws111 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Here is one that just appeared this week (LA Times, I think):

    Clue: Hail Answer: DANTESINFERNO
    Clue: Poe Answer: FLATBROKE
    Clue: What you need to get the above two answers: SOUTHERNDRAWL

    Not sure how you make a routine to come up with those answers.

  10. Re:When is a moon mission not a moon mission? by grandpastackhouse · · Score: 3, Funny

    *HSOOM*