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AMAN, APLAN,ACOMPUTER
EricAlbert
byHelene
Hovanec
Jn 1989Eric Albert,acomputrwhizwirh
I apassionfor words,neededto constructa
Ihome-hased businessfor himself.He and
hiswife,Peghimak, wereplanningto starta
family and had a$eed ttrat he would be the
parent.Drawinguponhis edustay-at-home
professionalworkexpecationalbackground,
rience,andprowessatScrabble,Albertstarted
to createcomputer-generated
crosswords.In
justa shorttime his puzzleshaverisen!o the
topof thecrosswordhit parade.
While there are commercialcrosswordconsfructingprogramson
themarket,Albert's
differsfrom themin threemajorways.First"
his sophisticated
programcreatesgrids and
fills themwith thebestpossiblecombinations
ofwords,allowinghim to achieveanelegance
of creationheretoforereservedfor few constructors.
Second,eachentryin hisconstantly
expandingdatabasehasbeenratedas o is
desirabilityin crosswords.
Third, Eric Albert
is theforcebehindtheprogramandhis skills
maketheprogramefficacious.
Albert'sjoumeyfromaprecociouschild to
a crosswordentrepreneur,who is also the
primarycaregiverfor his year-oldson, followsalogicalpath.He'sa computerscientist,
atopnorchScrabbleplayer,andtheauthorof
numerous
articleson words.Moreover,he's
notafraidto changecarcers,is adeptat net-

September/October
1992

working,andis a nurnring person.

wonderful. I got to eam money and leam
Albertstartedfiddlingaroundwithpuzdes, programming."
computers,
numbers,andwordsasachild.His
Hewasinfluencedbythisexperience
afew
father,a computrprcgrummer,drilled him yeanlaterwhenheenrolledatBrownUniveron matl from thetime he wasfive yearsold. sity as a computersciencemajor. Sincehe
TheseniorAlbert,alsoenthralledwith math, "alreadyknewall ttrestuff theyweregoingto
mechanical,
andlogicalpuzzles,passedalong leachaboutcomputers,"hetook theminimal
thispassionto hisson."I knewttreclassicSam numberof computercoursesand pursueda
Loyd and nick puzzlesby the time I was BA (ratherttranttreraditional BS) degreein
eight,"Albertrecalls."I hadmemorizedthem computerscience.While at Brown, Albert
withmyDad."
joineda Scrabbleclubandleamedtoplay the
Thetwo alsosolvedttrecrosswords
in Tfte gamecompetitively,wheretheemphasis
is on
New YorkTimes wgether,competinggood- smtegy. As his abilities progresed and he
nahredly for the answers."If I lnew ttre startedto competein more toumaments,he
answertoaclue,I'dtellmyfatherthenumber useda computerto give him a leadingedge.
"I was
andhe'd try to saytheanswerbeforeI wrote
able to track down a copy of The
it in the grid, andvice versa."Albert, influ- Official ScrabblePlayers
Dictionary in comencedby this early teamwork,rarely solves puter form." (He nenvorkedwith a former
puzzlesalone."I like cooperationmorethan colleaguewho owedhim a favor andrepaid
competition."
thedebtby sendinghim theprogram.)Heand
The 34-year-oldAubumdale,Massachu- afewothertopScrabbleplayers
hackedaway
settsresidententeredthe world of profes- at thedictionaryto analyzethedisributionof
sionalcomputingasal3-year-oldbyworking tiles in thegame.Theyproduceda list of the
for a companythat publisheda magazine seven-letter
wordsmostlikely [o showup on
abut computers.'"Theownerwasinterested aScrabblerack.
Thentheymemorized
thelist"
in doingresearchaboutartificial intelligence enablingthem to play more efficiently and
andwouldhirehighschml studensfrom my scorehigherpoints.
schml.Backthencomputrs
werehigh-priced
After graduating,Albertworkedasa comrefrigerator-sizedmachineskept in locked puterscientistfor a companythatqpeciatized
rc,oms.
Almostnobdygotto seethem.It was
(Continued on Page 7)

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Albert (from Page5)

designaprogramandgatherinformationabout interested
in volume."My goalwasaprogram
publishers'needsandpayrats.Hisimmedi- thatcouldconstruct
gridsthatwerenotdistinate goals were to find out if he could sell guishablefrom the besthumanconstuctors
crosswords
andif thecomputercouldhandle (inAlbert'sopinionHenryHook,
MerlReagle,
most of the work. The one-yearrestriction andMike Shenk).If I wasgoing0odo tharthe
was necessarybecausehe needed"another computerhadto havetaste;youcouldn'tjust
careerveryquickly" ifthis onedidn'tpanout. put a bunchof randomwordsin ttregrid."
"As my
As he was developinghis program,two
databasegew I would tag the
colleaguesprovidedprofessionalassistance. entries(asmanyas 1,000a day) and would
Scott Marley, an editor for Dell Clampion rate eachof them on how good I thoughtit
Puzzles,gaveAlbert detailedoitiques of his was,e.g.,howmuchIwanteditto showupin
computer-generated
grids,while AlanFrank, thegrid eventually.I wouldrateall theenries
a masterScrabbleplayer and computerex- foreachwordlength,gofrom A toZ for all the
pert,helpedhim fine-tunehis program.This three-letterwords, then the 4-letter words,
feedbackwassovaluablethat"it actuallycut etc." Every time he completedratinga word
a half yearoff of my leamingcurve."
lengthhewasableto usewordsof ttratlengttr

in largegovemmentresearchprojecs. A1thoughheenjoyedhis work andttrefinancial

compensationhe felt frusnatedbecause,"I
neversawanyoneusingthisstuffandit drove
mecrazy."
Soheworkedfor a few smallercompanies
thatwerecreatingconsumerproducts.
Through
one of thesevenhres, Albert and his coworkersdesignedandmarketedacommercial
program. Alttroughhebecameapartner/vicepresidentin thiscompany,he"wasn't getting
up in the moming and looking forward to
goingto work." He quit and decidedto take
stockof his life.
Albert reflectedfor a month-"lying on
my couchand talking with my s29."-s1d
decidedto pursuea carcerasa psychottrerapist Thedesirewasn'tthatbizarrefor hehad
Alberthasgiveneachentryin his database
a numberfrom 0 to 12.The
abackgroundin socialservice-working for
"how muchI want
numberrepresents
to seeanentryshowupin thegrid."
theSamaritans,
volunteeringon a suicidehot
"somethingwhich probably
is
0
the
best;
12
is
I
wouldn'tuse,evenin a
line,andteachingsignlanguage.After enrollnucleardisaster."He rarelyusesentrieswith a 9 or above.Note that an
ingatl-esleyCollegein Cambridge-snrdying,
inteming,gettinghis degree,andttrenworkenffycanbeoneword,aphrase,apartialphrase,anabbreviation,
etc.Here
ing professionally-he realized that he no
are
samples
at
each
level:
longerwantedthis career."I liked being a
0. Dr. Jekyll;Fort Knox
9. guns'n(e.g.,Rockgoup, _Roses);
therapist,
butI hadaromanticideaof whatthe
Imno (e.g.,Movie, "_ Angel")
l. full moon;gameplan
job hourswere--not the job, the hours. I
10. lnys (e.g.,AcressMyma andfamily);
thoughtit was 'work out of your own home, 2. backstab;claptrap
WSI (e.g.,abbr.for Wall Smeer
3.
moonlit;
octopus
Journal)
makeyourown hours,run yourown life,' but
quality;
1
1
.
nosarian;
4.
(ag.,
Sobscene)
(this
Sharif
Omar
category
_ )
it wasn't.Oncemy hoursweresetI hadto do
represents
veryspecinlized
5. routine;notice
and/orobthesamettringat thesametime everyweek."
6.
scene
dared;
words
scoops
that
would
never
beused
He retumedto the computerfieldand, in
in
"When
?.
feeblest;
posers
a
mainstream
puzzle)
theinterim,metandmarriedPeg.
we
8. frere; abbr.
t2. blastid; trabeae(very obscurewords)
decidedwe wanted!o starttrying to havea
child we felt pretty strongly that one of us
shouldbe home for the baby. Sincepeg is
Albert's venturehasthreemajor compo-. in his program.(He's completedthe ratings
comfortable
workingwith big companiesand nents:thebusiness
side-sendingoutpuzzles, throughthe nine-letterenries.) He now has
I've neverbeenenchantedwith bureaucracy, drummingup business,
andgettingpaid;the 750,000entriesin his database;
about16 of
we decidedthat it would do for me to stay computerprogram-constructingthe grids; themhavebeenrated.
homeoncethebabyarrived."
and the database-obtaininga hugecollecAlbertsoonrealizedthathewasgoingtobe
Albert'sgoalswerespecific:earnmoney, tion of wordso frll thegrids.
ableto producepuzzlesthat wereasgoodas
makehis own hours,takecareof the baby.
The databaseis the crux of the program. the best stuff out there.He remembersthe
Whatcareercould meettheseneeds?While Startingwith thathrst Scrabbledictionaryin "goldenmoment"when someoneactuallv
hewasmakinghis decisionhe attendedthe computerform, Albert usedhis networking commissione
d a ptzzlefromhim.
annual
NationalPuzzlers'kague convention abilitiesto b"ck downliss of wordsto addo
Eric andPeg'sotherplanswereon schedandchattedwith severalleaguememberswho his base."There were a lot of programs ulealso-they wereexpectinga babyin early
supportthemselvesby creatingcrosswords. availablethatindividualshadjusttlped upon 1991.HequithisjobjustbeforeGus
wasborn.
Suddenly,
he thought, "I could do this.I'll their own. I'd buy a copy of the program, He hadalreadystartedto sell hispuzzles,had
makea living sellingcrosswordpuzzles."
figure out how it was encrypted,and then purchaseda powerful computerand laser
Theyall ried o dissuade
him,pointingout write a programto decodeit and move the printer,andhadsetup his homeoffice.He's
themainpitfall-low pay for a lot of work. wordsto my database."Using this method beenbusyeversince.
"I decided he'saddedentiredictionaries,
Thisdidn'tdeterAlbertbecause,
fivia lists,and
A fypical day for Albert srartsar 10:30in
therewas a chanceof writing a computer specialized
liss-musicians, songs,books, themoming(Gusis trainedto sleeplate)when
program
tospeeduptl-reprocess
andeliminate authors,films, enterlainers,
etc.-to his data- he"rolls outof bed"andgoesto thecomputer
a lot of thegruntwork. I felt that the normal base.
to seehow it's frlledthegrid ovemight..,It's
"to
penoncan'tmakea very goodliving doing
goal
Albert's
was havethecomputer oneof thepleasures
of myjob thatI getalmost
puzzles,but maybewith thecom- hll in thegrrdaswell asanexpert.I decided asmuchfun asthesolvendobecause
crossword
I don't
puterdoinga lot of work I could."
thatthewayfor meto makemoneywasto go knowwhat'sgoingtoshowup.Frequently
the
He plannedto spendone year trying to for the Cadillacof crosswords."
He wasn't
(Continuedon Page9)

ERICALBERT'SRATINGSYSTEM

September/October
1992

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Albert (from Page7)

PuzzlesandDellChampionVarietyPuzzles
forever.Whathe'dreallyliketo dois to write
(hedoesall thecontestsfor thesetwomaga- a best-selling
murdermystery.But that'son
zines), the CreatorsSyndicateeditedby thebackbumerfornowbecausehedoeslike
Stan Newman,Tough Puzzles,Games toseehisbylineonpuzzles,andhisnameand/
"That's
magazine, united Media syndicated orpichre onthecoverof a magazine.
puzzles, the WashingtonPost, and the wortha lot to me."
Crosswords-of-the-Month
club. He also
Althoughhe's"in no dangerof starving,"
puzzles.
sellscustom-made
hewouldlike to gethis salarycloserto that
Albert feelsthat "there'sa reasonI sell of computerscientists.
Acknowledgingthat
everythingI doandthere'sareasonI gotso "in crosswordstlat's a challenge,"herealpopularso quickly.unlike the majorityof izesthat he may haveto go into editingor
othersI constructto makemoney.I didn't syndicatingto achievethosegoals.
grow up thinkingsomedayI wantedto bea
Rightnowhiscareerallowshim to spend
crosswordconstructor.Mostpeoplein this quality time with Pegand Gus,earna fair
businessreally enjoy sitting down and amountof income,have a flexible work
makingcrosswordpuzzles.The reasonI schedule,andmakeanameforhimself.He
gotinto thiswasto makea living; soI spend hasfew monthlycommitments,preferring
all my energieson two things-trying to to think of himselfasa free-lancerandnot
maketheeditorshappyandtrying to make evenremotelyasa hired person.Although
thesolvershappy.
Ialmostneverconstructhe's neverbeenable to keepup with the
apluzzleto makeme happy."
demand,andturnsdownwork everymonth,
Albertkeepsup with ttrecompetitionby hedoesn'tanticipateincreasinghis output.

computersurprises
me." Albert's crossprocessinvolvesseveral
word-constructing
steps-some manualand somecomputergenerated.
First, he comesup with a tieme
and searchesthe databasefor the main
entries. After placing them in the grid
manually,the computerfills in the rest of
the grid with black squares,following his
presetparameters.
Thecomputergiveshim
optionsby finding thefirst "legal" grid and
thencontinuingto find betterones."When
I getboredI stopthe machine."
Next, the computerfills in the non-thematic wordsone sectionat a time (he has
manuallypre-dividedthe grid into a few
majorparts.) After the computerfinds the
first choice, it keeps offering something
betterand might come up with 30 or 40
"IfI have rush
versions.
a
deadlineor I'm
bored,I might stop it earlier.Usually the
first grid is somethingthat canbe sold,but
CLUESANDTHEMESFROMTHEALBERTFILE
I'm trying to makea namefor myselfso if
"Frequent fllers'n
I've got thetime I'll pushit all the way to
"Junk mail"
ttCalls a epade a thpade,,
ftLlspsD
"Pillar of the community?"
..Lot's wife"
comeup with thebestone."Althoughmost
"Lose one's tail"
..Shakett
{oThenon.silenceof the lambs" {(Baas',
gridsarecompletedin a few minutesto a
'{Recording star?t
r{Pepysrt
"Bookmakers?tt
fewhours,he'sbeenknown"to spenda day
6Pagedt
"Add your
.Torgett
John Hancock?tt
'The eyesheveit"
or two on really wide-opengrids" (those
..SlghtD
"Useful artlclett
,olhe.
with very few black squares).
From '"TheWizard of Paws" (Dogs+ '"TheWizard of Oz'):
After the grid is filled, the computer
"C*nlne.lover's lament?tt
'6If IOnly Hada Dane,'
checksthe entries to eliminate duplicate
'Canlne klng?'
'{Bowwowardly Llontt
words and point out words which have
{olorfut crnlne?tt
(Rover the
Rainbodt
something
in common,e.g. dogfightand
"I
dogfish. scanthatquicklyto seeifthere's
Someof Albert'sgridsaretruly innovative.In "TippingPermitted"thethemeentries,
anythingthat bothersme. If there is, I'll
"Tilt
at windmills,""Angle for," and"Ifan on Me" wereplacedin thegrid diagonallv.
refill that section."
"swiss
In
cheeso"the themeentrieshad "holes" (blacksquares)in th; riaoi. "irii.
Albertthenrunsa programwhichallows
phrases.
Thus,thel3letterphrase,HOLEINTHEWALL,filled 15boxeswith twoblack
himto makesureheneverduplicatesa clue
spaces
betweenH andE. In "Crushquote"Albertmergeda Stepquote
anda Crushword.
he'salreadyusedfor a magazine.(WhenThe finished pazzlehad a euotetrat readfrom trt" top left squareto the botromright
everhefinishescluingapuzzleheentersall
square(theStepquotepart),
whilesomeofthesquares
containedmorethan
oneletter(the
thecluedwords in his baseindicatingthe
part).
Crushword
magazine
to which it's going.)This program,after eliminatingcluesalreadyused buying every major pvzle publicationand
What he doesenvisionis "hiring people
for a client,picksout thebestunusedclue studyingthe puzzlesand letterscolumnsto to clue for me." He'd give them lists
of
andprecluesalmosthalfof thepuzzle.
seewhat'sbeingpublishedand to find out wordsandlet themunleashtheircreativity
"like
Thenhe stara cluing
a normalper- solvers'preferences.
to write cleverdefinitions.Then he'd add
son."He feelsthat'tlues shouldhavebalHis programis designedfor "lop-notch their cluesto his database,filing eachset
Thereshouldn'tbeabunchof one-word consbructing
ance.
ofpuzzles"andhedoesn'tenvi- underthe nameof the cluer."I could then
cluesin a row,etc."Albertis "a slowcluer." sion marketingit commercially."People act asan editorof my own puzzles."
Hethinksthat"no solverevernoticesthehll wouldn'tmindpaying$50for a progmmto
Alberthasbeenat hislatestcareerlonger
buttheydo noticetheclues."He useslotsof constructoneprtzzls.This programisn't for thanthe l8-month spanof manyprior venreference
booksandaimsfor clevemess.
that.I thinkthereareonlyadozenpeoplein
the tures.SinceGusis very young,needsto be
After typing tle clues he usesa spell- United Statesfor whom this programwould nurturedfor years,andmight
somedayhave
checkprogramto eliminatetypos.Thenhe be beneficial."But that'snot to saythat"if a siblingwho'll needcomparable
attention,
printsout the puzzle grids and clues and someonecamealonglomorrowandgaveme it's possiblethat his dad's
crosswordswill
mailsthe pnzzle.Anotherprogramtracks a check for $100,000I wouldn't sell the continueto give solverspleasure
for a long
hispuzzles-wherethey'vebeensent,who programandstartanotherbusiness."
time.
n
oweshim money,whenhe getspaid.
In spiteof araininghiswork-related
goalsHispuzzlesarefoundinCROSSW RD freedomto sethis own hoursand financial HELENE HOVANEC is editorandpubmagazine,Dell Champion Crossword independence-Albertdoesn'tplano do this lisherof Kids' PuzzleExpress.
September/October
1992

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