commit 40bb7b6585266071b48ebabc71a17c23b33b02c5
Author: Markus Birth <mbirth@gmail.com>
Date:   Tue Dec 1 01:00:18 2015 +0100

    Initial commit

diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
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+Acrostic Solver
+===============
+
+Get a dictionary file (text file with one word per line) from [here](http://www.puzzlers.org/dokuwiki/doku.php?id=solving:wordlists:about:start)
+and change the `WORDLIST` variable accordingly.
+
+
+`SQUARE` holds the square - without spaces or anything else. Just all letters one after another.
+
+
+At the bottom, the `letters` variable holds all available letters from the `SQUARE` and their amounts.
+
+To start a search, run:
+
+```
+result = try_solve(letters.copy())
+print(result)
+```
+
+If it doesn't find anything, try a different wordlist or specify a limit to which you want to search to:
+
+```
+result = try_solve(letters.copy(), max_level=4)
+print(result)
+```
+
+If you already have the first and second words, use this:
+
+```
+rem_first = check_valid("BEACON", letters.copy())    # get remaining letters after first word
+rem_second = check_valid("NROBE", rem_first.copy())  # get remaining letters after second word (NOTE: Since the letter "E" is used up already, we specify NROBE.)
+result = try_solve(rem_second.copy(), ["BEACON", "ENROBE"])   # solve remaining
+print(result)
+```
diff --git a/solve.py b/solve.py
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+#!/usr/bin/env python3
+# (c)2015 Markus Birth <markus@birth-online.de>
+# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
+
+import math
+
+WORDLIST="web2.txt"
+
+#SQUARE="NRONACNELEGOOESLEIEECIDEAIRBBTBODETS"
+#SQUARE="DUAEAYURIZESAEIRLPESPESRSSESSAPPSEED"
+#SQUARE="ERRSERYTORLTERYRERSLEEOSE"
+#SQUARE="NNREDCTEMAROACRAMEEIAIMTONCTETERESEC"
+#SQUARE="NEREILGEDENALRLELRIGNAATREONALETUGTE"
+#SQUARE="FNADIHALNARTANUUGIANFALNSCGNTATRICTS"
+SQUARE="RRCOLALAALETSTEIIRSATSTRRECCAEOSEHRE"
+word_len = math.sqrt(len(SQUARE))
+
+print("Word length: %i" % word_len)
+
+
+def count_letters(pool):
+    letters = {}
+
+    for i in range(len(pool)):
+        letter = pool[i]
+        if not letter in letters:
+            letters[letter] = 1
+        else:
+            letters[letter] += 1
+
+    return letters
+
+letters = count_letters(SQUARE)
+print(repr(letters))
+
+for l in letters:
+    if letters[l]%2 == 1:
+        print("Diag candidate: %s" % l)
+
+candidates = []
+
+f = open("web2.txt", "r")
+for line in f:
+    line = line.strip().upper()
+    # check word length
+    if len(line) != word_len:
+        continue
+    # check word letters
+    cand_letters = count_letters(line)
+    for l in cand_letters:
+        if not l in letters:
+            break
+        # If a letter occurs twice in a word, we need at least 3 to build it across and down. (1=>1, 2=>3, 3=>5, etc.)
+        if cand_letters[l]*2-1 > letters[l]:
+            break
+    else:
+        candidates.append(line)
+
+f.close()
+
+#for c in candidates:
+#    print(c)
+
+print("%i candidates." % len(candidates))
+#print(candidates)
+
+def check_valid(word, letters):
+    for i in range(len(word)):
+        l = word[i]
+        if not l in letters:
+            return False
+        if letters[l]>1:
+            letters[l] -= 1
+        else:
+            del letters[l]
+        if i == 0:
+            continue
+        if not l in letters:
+            return False
+        if letters[l]>1:
+            letters[l] -= 1
+        else:
+            del letters[l]
+    return letters
+
+def try_solve(letters, words = [], max_level = 99):
+    level = len(words)
+    if level == max_level:
+        return ["---ABORTED---"]
+    start_letters = ""
+    for i in range(len(words)):
+        start_letters += words[i][level]
+#    if level == max_level -1:
+#        print("Prefix: %s, letters: %s" % (start_letters, repr(letters)))
+    next_matches = []
+    for w in candidates:
+        if w[:level] != start_letters:
+            continue
+        rem_letters = check_valid(w[level:], letters.copy())
+        if type(rem_letters) is dict:
+#            next_matches.append(w)
+            if len(rem_letters)>0:
+                more = try_solve(rem_letters.copy(), words + [w], max_level)
+                if more:
+                    next_matches.append((w, more))
+            else:
+                next_matches.append(w)
+    return next_matches
+
+#rem_first = check_valid("BEACON", letters.copy())
+#rem_second = check_valid("NROBE", rem_first.copy())
+#print(rem_second)
+#result = try_solve(rem_second.copy(), ["BEACON", "ENROBE"])
+
+result = try_solve(letters.copy(), max_level=5)
+print(result)
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