I'm new to crossword construction after solving hundreds of NYT puzzles over the years and I'm having a difficult time understanding how to use word lists/dictionaries, particularly in CrossFire.
I've done quite a bit of digging and haven't found a clear overview of how to obtain, manage, curate, score (or not) word lists, and, for that matter, I don't really understand the broader concept and finer points about scores, scoring words, using scored word lists, etc.). I understand the general concept--and I suppose that a lot of this will clear up as I progress in my craft as a constructor--but I don't understand the Best Management Practices and right now I get lost pretty quickly when it comes to the details and nuance. I'm also nervous that my lack of understanding will cause me to establish bad habits or just not have an intelligent strategy about obtaining/using/curating/managing these lists from the beginning--and then have to go back and undo my mistakes or fix some structurally FUBAR'd situation at a later point (I'm all for "learn by doing", I just want to learn by doing intelligently, not ignorantly). I hope someone here can help me with this, perhaps point me towards a more detailed discussion somewhere, or show me other helpful resources, or just be willing to converse with me about this directly.
I bought Crossfire, then I installed the cruciverb-l ALL.txt word list and also another word list or two from online sources. I successfully moved them into the Crossfire (Preferences-->Dictionary-->Add) and they appear in my list of dictionaries. But now what? I don't understand the concept of ordering these dictionaries in the Preferences list. Why position one above or below another if they're all going to be used together in a single list (are they)? Why keep the MyEdits.dict dictionary above the others (or not)? Do I need to merge dictionaries? What exactly happens when you merge dictionaries? Why would I need to use the Edit-->Save Dictionary command? Which Dictionary does it save, how do I choose this (DO I even get to choose this?)? What are the ramifications of having multiple word lists wrapped into one (does this even happen?) when some are scored using 0-50 scale, others use 0-100, and some don't score at all? Should I merge these together? Won't that Frankenstein words of different scoring scales into each other and kinda render the whole point of using these scores moot, since it will all be unstandardized? While completing fill, if I add words to a grid on the fly that aren't in "my dictionary", do these words automatically go into my dictionary or must I add them/save them? But what does "my dictionary" even mean, when I have multiple dictionary files to choose from? What about if I want to eliminate all the scores from all the entries, must I do this one word at a time? In each different dictionary? Or can I do one big sweep and zero (or 100) them all out in one fell swoop? How do I know what score to give words that aren't scored, if I want to do so?
Thus far, I've inferred a fair amount about these questions, and I've read several resources online as well as the documents that Beekeeper Labs provides ("An Introduction to CrossFire" and "Making a Puzzle with CrossFire"). These were helpful and I gleaned some ideas about all of this word list/dictionary business, but these sources didn't really provide the big picture or the nuance, and reading them hasn't helped me enough to really understand the architecture of word lists/dictionaries and how to use them intelligently and, instead, has only raised more questions, like how do I properly set up and start using my dictionary(-ies?) and word lists from the ground up? How is a Dictionary different from a Word List (is it?)? Is it not good enough to merely add multiple word lists to CrossFire, click the check boxes in Preferences, and then start constructing?
I don't mean to sound daft, I'm just insecure without a clear overview of the whole business. Can someone help me with this?
Thanks in advance!
