[bvm]

> The crossword solver is a closed system—it can’t just Google the answers.

yet from the wiki:

> Probabilities for individual words or phrases in the puzzle are computed using relatively simple statistical techniques based on features such as previous appearances of the clue, number of Google hits for the fill. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr.Fill

I don't think it's fair to describe it as a closed-system if it's Googling stuff, even for pruning.

[karamanolev]

Can't the number of Google hits for all words in the dictionary be enumerated and stored before entry into the competition? Wouldn't that keep it a closed system, even if it uses metrics like that?

[wongarsu]

Humans are allowed to prepare however they like, so anything from the real world should be fair game as long as you don't add anything during the solving process itself.

[SamBam]

It's not googling stuff live, it's using a pre-computed database.

[EGreg]

Sounds like how AlphaGo beat Stockfish or Rybka… massive precomputing vs alphabeta search in real time

[sillysaurusx]

Hmm. AlphaGo and AlphaZero were trained using self play. I don't think there was any precomputing, unless you count training as precomputation.

[EGreg]

Precomputation on a huge cluster for a long time