python checking crosswords from left to right - python-2.7

Question

how do i make element of list join together and check if the elements make one of some specific words ? and remove every element that does not make any words and replacing them with a blank space. I am a beginner so go easy on me.
appreciate the help.
My Code:
def looking_word_left_to_right(the_list):
for any_words in the_valid_words:
for every in the_list:
for letters_s in every:
index_list=0
the valid words : aardvark
albatross
alligator
armadillo
barracuda
camel
caribou
cat
cattle
chamois
chicken
cod
deer
dinosaur
dog
dogfish
dotterel
dragonfly
eel
ferret
finch
fish
flamingo
fly
goldfinch
dragon
otter
ox
deer
the lists = ['e', 'l', 'l', 'e', 'z', 'a', 'g', 'c', 'h', 'i', 'c', 'k', 'e', 'n', 'b', 'n', 'd', 'o']
['d', 'e', 't', 'b', 'a', 'l', 'l', 'i', 'g', 'a', 't', 'o', 'r', 'a', 'a', 'a', 'o', 'l']
['m', 'e', 'z', 'n', 'a', 'c', 'a', 't', 't', 'l', 'e', 'e', 'b', 'l', 'r', 'c', 't', 'a']
['c', 'f', 'e', 'n', 'a', 'r', 'c', 'e', 's', 's', 's', 'a', 'd', 'l', 'r', 'i', 't', 'f']
['h', 'f', 't', 'r', 'a', 'r', 'r', 's', 's', 'o', 's', 'a', 'o', 'i', 'a', 'r', 'e', 'f']
['a', 'a', 'r', 'e', 'p', 'p', 'o', 'h', 's', 's', 'a', 'r', 'g', 'h', 'c', 'e', 'r', 'u']
['m', 'r', 'h', 'e', 'i', 'r', 'm', 'm', 'w', 'i', 'l', 'd', 'f', 'c', 'u', 'm', 'e', 'b']
['o', 'i', 'm', 'l', 't', 'a', 'a', 'i', 'r', 'f', 'o', 'v', 'i', 'n', 'd', 'a', 'l', 'b']
['i', 'g', 'l', 'a', 'l', 'o', 'b', 'e', 'h', 'o', 'e', 'a', 's', 'i', 'a', 'x', 'u', 'e']
['s', 'a', 'b', 'l', 'd', 'i', 'n', 'b', 'b', 'c', 'c', 'r', 'h', 'h', 'r', 't', 'y', 'l']
['r', 'l', 'a', 'h', 's', 'i', 'f', 'd', 'l', 'o', 'g', 'k', 'r', 'c', 't', 'l', 'a', 'i']
['a', 'r', 'e', 'o', 'g', 'o', 'l', 'd', 'f', 'i', 'n', 'c', 'h', 'e', 'f', 'n', 'n', 'd']
['d', 'm', 'n', 'e', 'e', 'p', 'o', 'l', 'e', 't', 'n', 'a', 'r', 'n', 't', 'a', 'd', 'o']
['d', 'i', 'n', 'o', 's', 'a', 'u', 'r', 'o', 'x', 'o', 'f', 'o', 'e', 'c', 'l', 'i', 'c']
['t', 'n', 'a', 'h', 'p', 'e', 'l', 'e', 'p', 'a', 'l', 'g', 'a', 'i', 'e', 'r', 'h', 'o']
['h', 'c', 'a', 'o', 'r', 'k', 'c', 'o', 'c', 'y', 'a', 't', 'r', 'm', 'o', 'a', 'c', 'r']
['f', 'l', 'a', 'm', 'i', 'n', 'g', 'o', 'e', 'r', 'e', 'f', 'a', 'f', 'l', 'o', 'e', 'c']
['h', 'a', 't', 'e', 'e', 'h', 'c', 'h', 'd', 'r', 'a', 'c', 'a', 'r', 'i', 'b', 'o', 'u']
my_str="ellezagchickenbndodetballigatoraaaolmeznacattleeblrctacfenarcesssadlritfhftrarrssosaoiarefaareppohssarghcerumrheirmmwildfcumeboimltaairfovindalbiglalobehoeasiaxuesabldinbbccrhhrtylrlahsifdlogkrctlaiareogoldfinchefnnddmneepoletnarntadodinosauroxofoeclictnahpelepalgaierhohcaorkcocyatrmoacrflamingoerefafloechateehchdracaribou"
def create_2d_list(N):
output_list=[]
counter=0
for row in range(0,N):
temp=[]
for col in range(0,N):
temp.append(my_str[counter])#you can add a charcter instead of counter
counter=counter+1
output_list.append(temp[:])
return output_list
N=18
x=create_2d_list(N)
for row in range(0,N):
total=0
s="|"
for col in range(0,N):
my_str="{0:2} ".format(x[row][col])
s=s+my_str+"|"
print "-"*(N*4+1)
print s,
print " "
the_valid_words=open("E:/asd/words.txt","r").readlines()
def list_duplicates_of(seq,item):
start_at = -1
locs = []
while True:
try:
loc = seq.index(item,start_at+1)
except ValueError:
break
else:
locs.append(loc)
start_at = loc
return locs
def looking_word_left_to_right(the_list):
for any_words in the_valid_words:
for every in the_list:
for letters_s in every:
index_list=0

Answer 1

Converting your rows to strings makes it easier to find your target words. the_list needs to be a list of lists for this to work.
row_letters = [''.join(r) for r in the_lists]
words = 'aardvark albatross alligator armadillo barracuda camel caribou cat '
'cattle chamois chicken cod deer dinosaur dog dogfish dotterel '
'dragonfly eel ferret finch fish flamingo fly goldfinch dragon otter '
'ox deer'.split()
for i, row in enumerate(row_letters[:]):
for word in words:
if word in row:
wi = row.find(word)
row_letters[i] = ' '*wi + word + ' '*(len(row) - wi - len(word))
if ' ' not in row_letters[i]: #works if word size < row size
row_letters[i] = ' '*len(row)
>>> row_letters
[' chicken ', ' alligator ', ' cattle ',
' ', ' ', ' ',
' ', ' ', ' ',
' ', ' ', ' goldfinch ',
' ', ' ox ', ' ',
' ', 'flamingo ', ' caribou']
>>> new_the_list = [list(r) for r in row_letters] # puts back to list format