Riddler 22 May 2020 https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/somethings-fishy-in-the-state-of-the-riddler/

mackerel.py

#!/usr/bin/env python

states_list = [
    "Alabama",
    "Alaska",
    "Arizona",
    "Arkansas",
    "California",
    "Colorado",
    "Connecticut",
    "Delaware",
    "Florida",
    "Georgia",
    "Hawaii",
    "Idaho",
    "Illinois",
    "Indiana",
    "Iowa",
    "Kansas",
    "Kentucky",
    "Louisiana",
    "Maine",
    "Maryland",
    "Massachusetts",
    "Michigan",
    "Minnesota",
    "Mississippi",
    "Missouri",
    "Montana",
    "Nebraska",
    "Nevada",
    "NewHampshire",
    "NewJersey",
    "NewMexico",
    "NewYork",
    "NorthCarolina",
    "NorthDakota",
    "Ohio",
    "Oklahoma",
    "Oregon",
    "Pennsylvania",
    "RhodeIsland",
    "SouthCarolina",
    "SouthDakota",
    "Tennessee",
    "Texas",
    "Utah",
    "Vermont",
    "Virginia",
    "Washington",
    "WestVirginia",
    "Wisconsin",
    "Wyoming",
]

states = [(s, set(s.lower())) for s in states_list]

mackerels = {}
for s in states_list:
    mackerels[s] = []
mackerel_count = {}
for i in range(1, 50):
    mackerel_count[i] = []

with open("../../Box/reference/dict/word.list") as f:
    for word in f:
        word = word[:-1]  # cut off \n
        mackerel = ""
        for (state_name, st) in states:
            if (set(word) & st) == set():
                if mackerel == "":
                    # haven't seen one yet
                    mackerel = state_name
                else:
                    # oops we saw one already, we're done
                    mackerel = ""
                    break
        if mackerel != "":
            # that's a mackerel
            # print(mackerel, word)
            mackerels[mackerel] = mackerels[mackerel] + [word]
            mackerel_count[len(word)] = mackerel_count[len(word)] + [(mackerel, word)]

for state_name in mackerels:
    print(len(mackerels[state_name]), state_name)

for count in range(49, 0, -1):
    if mackerel_count[count] != []:
        print("* ", count, mackerel_count[count])
        break