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Word Puzzle
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 10:21 pm
by Ben Wilson
Spot the common rule/pattern.
EBB
CAGE
DICED
LACKED
CARNAGE
COMEDIAN
COWARDICE
DISCIPLINE
ANTIBIOTICS
No clues.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Sat Nov 01, 2008 11:44 pm
by Joseph Bolas
I assume you want answers via PM?
I will PM you mine, of which I am very confident is correct
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 3:39 pm
by Ben Wilson
Mr. Bolas has got the answer but if anyone else wants to have a crack at it they're more than welcome.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 4:21 pm
by Joseph Bolas
Ben Wilson wrote:Mr. Bolas has got the answer but if anyone else wants to have a crack at it they're more than welcome.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Thank you for the puzzle Ben
It is quite a fun puzzle to solve
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 7:15 pm
by Kai Laddiman
Ben Wilson wrote:Mr. Bolas has got the answer but if anyone else wants to have a crack at it they're more than welcome.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
To what, pester him until he gives us the answer? OK, I'll give it a go.
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Sun Nov 02, 2008 10:49 pm
by Joseph Bolas
Kai Laddiman wrote:Ben Wilson wrote:Mr. Bolas has got the answer but if anyone else wants to have a crack at it they're more than welcome.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
To what, pester him until he gives us the answer? OK, I'll give it a go.
I'm sure a champ, like yourself Kai, can solve this without hints
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 10:55 am
by Kai Laddiman
I noticed that each word has 1 more letter than the one above it.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:09 pm
by Ben Wilson
Kai Laddiman wrote:I noticed that each word has 1 more letter than the one above it.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
That's not an entirely useless piece of information...
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:18 pm
by Frank Rodolf
Hmm... I thought I saw a common rule... And then I realized COMEDIAN would be an exception to that rule...
Back to the drawing board.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 2:20 pm
by Howard Somerset
Ben Wilson wrote:Kai Laddiman wrote:I noticed that each word has 1 more letter than the one above it.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
That's not an entirely useless piece of information...
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
I certainly guessed that number of letters was significant. I'm now going to take those words with me for a couple of nights in the Lake District, and ponder over them.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 10:25 am
by Dinos Sfyris
Sussed it
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 8:12 pm
by Howard Somerset
Howard Somerset wrote:I certainly guessed that number of letters was significant. I'm now going to take those words with me for a couple of nights in the Lake District, and ponder over them.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Got it during a short break on the drive up to the Lakes on Monday.
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
So not having that to do during the following couple of nights, instead I tried in vain to find a word which might follow ANTIBIOTICS.
PMming my solution to Ben.
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:43 pm
by Ben Wilson
I think I can reveal the answer now, which Joseph, Dinos and Howard all got- converting the letters into numbers e.g. A=1, B=2... Z=26, the sum of the letters in each word is the square of the letters in the word. e.g. E+B+B=5+2+2=9=3^2.
I don't know if there are any 12-letter examples of this but there are certainly 3 more with 11 letters in. Open-ended puzzle time, anyone?
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2008 10:44 pm
by Kirk Bevins
Ben Wilson wrote:I think I can reveal the answer now, which Joseph, Dinos and Howard all got- converting the letters into numbers e.g. A=1, B=2... Z=26, the sum of the letters in each word is the square of the letters in the word. e.g. E+B+B=5+2+2=9=3^2.
I don't know if there are any 12-letter examples of this but there are certainly 3 more with 11 letters in. Open-ended puzzle time, anyone?
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
Awesome. Love it.
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:19 am
by Howard Somerset
Very good puzzle. The thing that helped me solve it was noticing that there was a preponderance of letters from the early part of the alphabet, and then trying to work whether or not that was significant.
What a shame that, with A being valid as a one letter word, there is no 2 letter word that fits.
Loved it, Ben.
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 8:51 am
by Jon Corby
Rats, I came so close to working out the letter values like that, and then got distracted by something shiny and never went back to it. Arse. Nice puzzle, Ben.
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 6:22 pm
by Joseph Bolas
Ben Wilson wrote:I don't know if there are any 12-letter examples of this but there are certainly 3 more with 11 letters in. Open-ended puzzle time, anyone?
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
It's taken me a while, but if you were to use the English CSW list, that is included in Zyzzyva, there are a total of 376 words that are 12 letters in length and total 144
The first alphabetically is ACCULTURATES and the last is WORKABLENESS
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:04 pm
by Ben Wilson
Joseph Bolas wrote:Ben Wilson wrote:I don't know if there are any 12-letter examples of this but there are certainly 3 more with 11 letters in. Open-ended puzzle time, anyone?
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_e_smile.gif)
It's taken me a while, but if you were to use the English CSW list, that is included in Zyzzyva, there are a total of 376 words that are 12 letters in length and total 144
The first alphabetically is ACCULTURATES and the last is WORKABLENESS
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
In some ways I don't want to know how you worked that out, and yet in others, I do... care to work on the 13s now?
![Wink ;-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Thu Nov 06, 2008 7:42 pm
by Joseph Bolas
Ben Wilson wrote:Joseph Bolas wrote:It's taken me a while, but if you were to use the English CSW list alone, that is included in Zyzzyva, there are a total of 376 words that are 12 letters in length and total 144
The first alphabetically is ACCULTURATES and the last is WORKABLENESS
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
In some ways I don't want to know how you worked that out, and yet in others, I do... care to work on the 13s now?
![Wink ;-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Going by the same English CSW word list in Zyzzyva alone, there are a total of 249 words that are 13 letters in length and total 169
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
. The first alphabetically is ACOTYLEDONOUS and the last is YELLOWHAMMERS
Just to also add to this, using the same list alone, there are a total of 77 words that are 14 letters in length and total 196
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
, starting with ADVENTITIOUSLY and ending with WORDLESSNESSES.
There are also a total of 10 words that are 15 letters in length and total 225
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
and they are as follows:
FRUCTUOUSNESSES
NONPRODUCTIVITY
NORTHWESTWARDLY
PHOTOTYPOGRAPHY
PHOTOXYLOGRAPHY
PROPYLITIZATION
SUPERSYMMETRIES
TREMULOUSNESSES
ULTRASTRUCTURAL
UNPROGRESSIVELY
Re: Word Puzzle
Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2008 8:34 pm
by Ben Wilson
Joseph Bolas wrote:Ben Wilson wrote:Joseph Bolas wrote:It's taken me a while, but if you were to use the English CSW list alone, that is included in Zyzzyva, there are a total of 376 words that are 12 letters in length and total 144
The first alphabetically is ACCULTURATES and the last is WORKABLENESS
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
In some ways I don't want to know how you worked that out, and yet in others, I do... care to work on the 13s now?
![Wink ;-)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Going by the same English CSW word list in Zyzzyva alone, there are a total of 249 words that are 13 letters in length and total 169
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
. The first alphabetically is ACOTYLEDONOUS and the last is YELLOWHAMMERS
Just to also add to this, using the same list alone, there are a total of 77 words that are 14 letters in length and total 196
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
, starting with ADVENTITIOUSLY and ending with WORDLESSNESSES.
There are also a total of 10 words that are 15 letters in length and total 225
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_e_biggrin.gif)
and they are as follows:
FRUCTUOUSNESSES
NONPRODUCTIVITY
NORTHWESTWARDLY
PHOTOTYPOGRAPHY
PHOTOXYLOGRAPHY
PROPYLITIZATION
SUPERSYMMETRIES
TREMULOUSNESSES
ULTRASTRUCTURAL
UNPROGRESSIVELY
Next time you're on msn I'll send you my list of 'extended' csw words (16s and over) :p