Crossword puzzles use a grid of black and white squares that traditionally obeys the following rules.

1. Every word (a string of consecutive white squares in a row or column) has at least 3 letters (white squares). Each letter is part of a word going across and a word going down, and there are no 2-letter words.
2. The grid is symmetrical. It is the same upside-down.
3. The grid is connected. Between any two white squares, there is a path of white squares that only goes horizontally and vertically.

What is the most words possible in a crossword puzzle with 15 rows and 15 columns? Find a 15*15 crossword grid with the maximum number of words.

The following  are the stats for the grids listed
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Author   Words     Blocks    Blocks     min blocs   max blocks  ave. word
                             rows 1-8   per row      per row     length**
J.Krozel   86         45       24          2            4        4.19
S. Lord    88         63       33          3            6        3.68
Jer        92         53       30          2            7        3.74
Jer        94         48       25          0            5        3.94
Coded2 MM  94         53       31          2            9        3.66
S. Lord*   94         55       32          2            9        3.54

*almost identical to that from MM
** ave = 2 * (15^2-blocks)/words

Edited on June 8, 2019, 8:13 pm

Posted by Steven Lord on 2019-06-07 20:48:38