Codeword – the ‘sudoku’ for language lovers

December 7, 2021 by Alison Tunley

What is a codeword puzzle?

A codeword puzzle is a crossword grid in which each letter of the alphabet has been substituted by a number from 1-26. Usually, you are given 2-3 letters to help you on your way. For example, the codeword puzzle might reveal that ‘S’ is represented by number 10, and ‘O’ by number 23. The challenge is to fill out all the words in the grid and map each letter in the alphabet to the correct number. This is a soothing task for the linguistically minded, which avoids the embarrassment of having insufficient general knowledge to complete conventional crosswords or the need to develop the warped mindset of the cryptic crossword solver.

Strategies for solving codeword puzzles

Codeword – the ‘sudoku’ for language lovers

The strategy I use is simple – first you fill out any squares containing the starter letters, next see if you can guess any whole words, work out some possible letter options from your word guesses and continue sketching out word guesses to create additional letter-number options. Sometimes you find you are stuck, with letter options producing a string that cannot be mapped to an English word, in which case you will need to unravel your assumptions and try again. At some point, your guesses take you to a tipping point, where you have enough compatible conjectured words to be confident that you have guessed correctly, and you can complete the grid.

Frequency analysis for codeword puzzles

So, I was interested when my dad suggested an alternative approach – he asked whether I began by looking for the most frequently occurring letters, for example, using the knowledge that ‘e’ is the most common letter in English to help decipher the puzzle. This had never occurred to me, although clearly understanding letter distribution underpins the word-guessing approach. I was interested to find The Puzzler confirming my instinct that “undertaking an analysis of letter frequency is not very useful as an approach to solving these puzzles.” One reason for this is that any ranking of the most common letters is highly context dependent. The often-cited order e, t, a, o, i, n, s, h, r, d, l, u might be valid for the most commonly occurring words in written and spoken English, but puzzles are not necessarily representative of such trends. Puzzle-setters are also acutely aware of letter frequency strategies and are fond of thwarting such logic by including lots of uncommon letters or restricting the inclusion of some of the more common letters.

A more useful approach involves understanding common letter combinations in English, such as which letters can form double-letter groups and an awareness of recurrent word endings. This can sometimes be combined with frequency analysis, for example ‘q’ is always followed by ‘u’ and is a relatively uncommon letter. So, if a number only appears a couple of times on the grid, always followed by the same number, that might add weight to a ‘q’ + ’u’ hypothesis. Similarly, words ending ‘-ing’ can be a useful key to unlock the grid. Long words are another weak point in the code because the number of possible letter combinations is more limited than in shorter words.

Despite using letters rather than numbers, the codeword seems to me to be closer to the sudoku than it is to a crossword. The solution is found through pattern matching rather than linguistic clue solving and the process is somewhat repetitive and soothing. Whatever your puzzle preferences, Stephen Sondheim summed it up well saying, “The nice thing about doing a crossword puzzle is, you know there is a solution.”

Share This Post

Comments

Add Comment








Andreea Mohan

Taylor Wessing LLP

We are very pleased with the services provided by Rosetta Translations. They always send very prompt responses, transparent prices and deliver their work product at the highest standards.

More Testimonials

Jackie Brook, Sr Product Manager

American Express

Thank you very much for your prompt and efficient service.

More Testimonials

Conor McLarnon

Maximus Crushing and Screening

I have translated multiple projects with Rosetta now and I cannot emphasise how great the service they provide is; quality, turnaround time and pricing is the best I have found yet. The qualities of translations we receive are of the highest standard and communication from the start of a project to the end is consistent.

For a company looking into translations, I would highly recommend Rosetta as first pick, as the support and service they provide is first class.

More Testimonials

Get a Free Quote

Our Accreditations

  • ATA Logo
  • ATC Logo
  • BSI 9001 Logo
  • BSI 9001 Logo
  • DIN EN 15038 Logo

Recent Updates

International Day of Sign Languages

What is the International day of Sign Languages? The International Day of Sign Languages is one of the most recent arrivals in the annual procession of official days, having been introduced by the United Nations as recently as 2017. Read More

© 2024 All Rights Reserved
Rosetta Translation, 133 Whitechapel High St, London E1 7QA · 0207 248 2905