This year sees the publication of a new word list – CSW21 – which contains no additions, but 419 deletions from CSW19.
WESPA have produced an initiation kit which Mattel have endorsed, containing the removed words of 3-8 letters. This is available from the ABSP Database under the OnBoard section, but you must have renewed membership for 2022 to access that area. Players will also receive a printed copy if they currently receive a printed copy of OnBoard.
Note:This kit must not be uploaded to a public website and can only be shared with members.
WESPA have announced that from 4 April 2022, all their events must be played with CSW21.
At the ABSP AGM, we made it clear we would give sufficient notice before implementation of a new dictionary, as we wanted to have resources in place for the smooth running of events. Given we now have an initiation kit and many word checkers including Zyzzyva are already updated, we are happy to announce a changeover date. It is expected that other software such as Ulu will also be changed in the coming weeks.
The date for implementation of CSW21 for ABSP events will be Tuesday 19 April 2022, i.e. after Easter Monday. Before that date, all games must be played to CSW19 and from then on, all games must be played to CSW21. As we said at the AGM, there will be no parallel running of two dictionaries as that would be confusing. We are also trying to avoid conflict with WESPA as much as possible and, given there is a joint WESPA/ABSP event in May 2022, we want to give clear details for entrants and organisers alike.
There has been a delay in the publication of the Collins official word list book until 17th February, but we do not see this as a major barrier to implementation given that use of the physical copy is limited.