Word List Frequently Asked Questions

Almost all good crossword constructors use software to help them make high-quality puzzles. And a good word list, especially a good scored word list is of great value.

The XWord Info Word List has 251,446 entries scored from 5 to 60.

114,567 come from published NYT puzzle. The other 136,879 are our own additions.

It's possible to make crosswords without such tools, but using them often results in cleaner, snazzier puzzles. Today's editors have extremely high standards, and a quality word list will help you produce the quality puzzles they expect.

• Our list starts with every entry ever used in the NY Times crossword since Will Shortz became editor in 1993.
• We include entries from NYT Variety puzzles, including Acrostics, which often have particularly interesting words.
• Jeff has added many tens of thousands of entries by hand, from a huge number of sources, collected over many years.
• We SCORE most words (see below for details). Without some scoring system, every entry is valued the same, and that's not good. (Words like LNG, TER, etc. aren't common in everyday language and shouldn't have the same weighting as regular words.) A scoring system will help you make cleaner crosswords.
• We remove all bogus (sometimes called thematic) entries; that is, contrived answers that only make sense for a particular theme.
• Entries from rebus puzzles are expanded to their full answer so you can use them as fill in other puzzles.
• Similarly, words that go backwards or turn corners in gimmick puzzles are straightened out.

Our XWord Info Word List is the best and most useful word list you can subscribe to.

Well, second best. See "Jeff's Personal List" below.

The XWord Info Word List keeps most entries at a nominal score of 50, but many have been upgraded or downgraded, based on Jeff's years of experience working with Will Shortz, Matt Gaffney, Peter Gordon, Stan Newman, Rich Norris, Mike Shenk, David Steinberg, Ben Tausig, Patti Varol, Brad Wilber, and other editors. Jeff erred on the side of keeping as many at 50 as possible, only downgrading entries that he believes will not be received well by a good chunk of solvers or editors.

Jeff tried to keep it very simple, with just a few levels:

No.

The scores are based on Jeff's experience, but every editor has her or his own pet peeves, and each publication has its list of no-nos. Plus, you must always be careful to make every crossing fair. Two somewhat esoteric proper names might be perfectly fine on their own, but crossing them can result in a poor solving experience.

You can download the most recent version any time, as long as you maintain your Angel status. A big bolus of new entries is uploaded about four times a year, and a smaller set about once a month. The list is also continuously improved as new puzzles get published, and scores get tweaked.

Definitely not.

You can often get more colorful fill overall if you accept small gluey bits here and there. Setting your minimum score at 25 or 20 or 15 can often be beneficial in coming up with a grid that is both colorful and (mostly) clean.

First, download the XWord Info Word List and save it to Crossword Compiler (see below for the nitty gritty.)

Then, set your minimum word score at 50 for your initial grid layout. If it is fillable, you can be sure that you're going to get cleaner fill than if you set your min score at 25 or 20.

1. Download the XWord Info Word List, saving it to someplace on your computer that you can remember ("Desktop" is a good place).
2. Open Crossword Compiler.
3. Go to the "Words" menu, and select "Word List Manager" at the bottom.
4. Go to the "Convert" menu, and select "Plain text file..." at the bottom.
5. Browse to wherever you saved the XWord Info Word List and double-click on it.

If you want to combine the XWord Info Word List with your own personal one, you can do that through the "Word List" menu. Select your own list, and then use "Add Other Lists" to add the XWord Info Word List. You'll want to click "Use the added list's new scores" button.

ALWAYS MAKE SURE TO BACK UP YOUR OWN WORD LISTS! It's easy to overwrite files or accidentally delete them, so please BACK EVERYTHING UP! We cannot recover a file for you if you delete it from your computer.

Yes. Make sure you download the ".dict" version of the file. Then:

1. Open Crossfire.
2. Go to the "Edit" menu, and select "Config" at the bottom of that menu. Then click on the "Dictionary" tab. (Different versions of Crossfire may have this option in a different location.)
3. Click on the "Add" button, and browse to where you saved the .dict file (most Macs will save to your "Downloads" folder by default.
4. Click on your new word list and click "Make Primary." This will set the XWI Word List as your primary word list and any others you use will be treated as secondary lists.

Jeff uses his own private "Jeff Chen's Personal List" that adds 28,584 excellent additional words scored at 60 points to the basic list. These words (along with 136,879 in the basic list) have never appeared in any NYT crossword.

Those premium extra words do show up in Finder searches if you're an Angel subscriber, but you need to buy the Jeff Chen's Personal List if you want to integrate them into your construction software. This list will grow over time as Jeff continues to add new words.

First, you need to have an Angel-level account. That costs $50 and gives you access to the basic XWord Info Word List.

Then, there is an additional one-time $200 fee which provides lifetime access to Jeff Chen's Personal List, as long as you maintain your annual Angel status. Jeff frequently adds new words and you can download the latest version whenever you want. (If your account expires, don't worry. Re-up as an Angel and you'll once again have access to "Jeff Chen's Personal List".)

Send $200 directly to Jeff using PayPal or if you need more information, please email us.

Most professional constructors maintain their own word lists drawn from various sources including their own imagination. We don't give out information about our customers but it's fair to say that the vast majority of NYT constructors have XWord Info accounts. The NYT puzzle staff are regular users of this site.

We don't keep detailed stats on this, but in a typical week, most NYT debut words are already in our word lists.

With a great word list, you're ready to go forth and make better crosswords. Have fun! We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with.