actually you can. It's in FAQ - https://github.com/twitter/scalding/wiki/Frequently-asked-questions#what-if-i-have-more-than-22-fields-in-my-data-set
val toFields = (1 to 24).map(f => Symbol("field_" + f)).toList
input
.read
.mapTo('line -> toFields) { line: String =>
new Tuple((1 to 24).map(_.toString).map(_.asInstanceOf[AnyRef]): _*)
}
the last map(_.asInstanceOf[AnyRef]) looks ugly so if you find better solution let me know please.