Copyright (c) 2009 Butler University All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways Recent documents in Word Ways en-us Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:22:06 PST 3600 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/35 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/35 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:32 PST A nonogram puzzle. Simon Nightingale http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/34 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/34 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:31 PST Back cover of this issue. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/32 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/32 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:30 PST A crossword puzzle. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/33 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/33 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:30 PST Instructions to authors wishing to contribute. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/31 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/31 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:29 PST Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/30 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/30 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:28 PST In "What's In? A Name!", quizzes that have previously appeared in Word Ways, solvers were asked to reconstruct words from the letters that remained after names of individuals were removed from these words. Here's a new twist on that theme -- literally! Each of the thirty examples that follow represents the compression that results when a four-letter name, spelled right to left, has been erased from one of Webster's entries. Steve Kahan http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/29 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/29 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:27 PST The following four grids are intended to suggest lists of common two-letter combinations. Can the reader give meaning to the lists? Answers will be given in the next issue. Harold Jacobs http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/27 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/27 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:26 PST Below, more amusing errors and odditites followed by arch responses, assembled for a book in progress. Contributions of blooper sightings, to the above address, are welcome. Don Hauptman http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/28 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/28 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:26 PST Assigning A=1, B=2, etc., the letters forming the first and second halves of a word within an even number of letters sometimes make a Numerical Tautonym or a Numerical Palindrome. SPEA.KING=41.41 and POE.TRY=36.63, respectively, are examples of the two genres. Susan Thorpe http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/26 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/26 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:25 PST Presented below are the definitions of thirty two words, each of which contains three or more appearances of the letter "U". All of these have been inserted in their proper place in each answer, with blanks representing members of the remaining twenty five letters of the alphabet. As you peruse (sorry!) the list in your search for solutions, be forewarned -- this exercise is not for the U N A D V E N T U R O U S! Steve Kahan http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/24 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/24 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:24 PST In the August issue we exhibited a progressive terminal transaddition where the single letter S is extended by one letter at a time up to the 13 letter SHEPHERDESSES, with all terms in the series being legitimate words (most found in dictionaries).By stretching logological licene somewhat, a longer chain is possible culminating in the 18-letter word CHARACTERISTICALLY. Jeff Grant http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/25 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/25 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:24 PST Most words in this crossword puzzle are anagrams of other words in the puzzle, such that definitions can refer to each other in such a way as to make the whole puzzle a logic puzzle in addition to being a crossword puzzle. Using the clues below, figure out what the words are, and solve the puzzle. Mark J. P. Wolf http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/23 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/23 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:23 PST I welcomed a special guest to Mickey's Corner at the JCC last Wednesday night. He is Will Shortz, the crossword editor of The New York Times and the riddle maven that we love to listen to every Sunday morning on NPR. Mickey Maurer http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/22 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/22 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:22 PST Martin Gardner's "Speak Clearly" poem. Martin Gardner http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/20 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/20 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:21 PST I've applied the HeLa tetragram process from the preceding article to all the contributors to Word Ways in the past ten years in order to curry favour. So read on -- you may find yourself in here! Checking each author against Webster's Third (W3) and Macquarie (Mq) Dictionaries, I found only ten common words and less than two dozen uncommon words or proper nouns, mostly irrelevant. A Anil http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/21 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/21 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:21 PST Webster's Tenth Collegiate dictionary lists synonyms of headword adjectives in two ways: in small caps in the main definitions set, and at the end with the heading syn followed by a group of additional small cap synonyms. Approximately 220 of the headword adjectives merit the syn treatment, and the one thousand synonyms they dissect represent about one-sixth of the headword adjectives. A. Ross Eckler http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/19 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/19 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:20 PST A poem Sir Jeremy Morse http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/18 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/18 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:19 PST HeLa is a strain of human cervical cancer cells widely used in tissue-culture research. It is named after the original donor Hedy Lamarr sorry Henrietta Lacks and is now regarded as a word. This nomenclature style is reminiscent of "Animal Crackers" in May 2005 Word Ways where the first three letters of an animal's genus and species names made words; eg, the chimney swift Chaetura pelagica yields chapel. This led me to wonder how many words can be formed by shortening famous names to the first two letters of their first and last name. My best results first, cases in which the tetragram word has an AFFINITY with the person. I found a disappointingly small number, and most of those had only a general affinity. A Anil http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/17 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/17 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:18 PST Today's international community faces challenging but not insurmountable obstacles, as do you in the bipartite quiz that follows. To begin, utilize each of the definitions below to access an appropriate lexicon entry of indicated length. Then supplement your response with the given letter of the alphabet and anagrammatize the outcome into a member of the United Nations. Steve Kahan http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/15 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/15 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:17 PST Butler University was host on September 18, 2009 to 25 students of Peggy Boulden's class from Broad Ripple High School in Indianapolis. The students were all mathematically astute and we wanted to show them something new and decided to present a Martin Gardner magic effect. Jeremiah Farrell http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/16 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/16 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:17 PST Martin Gardner's "Autumn" poem. Martin Gardner http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/14 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/14 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:16 PST I have been thinking about extending Forms into three or more dimensions for a few years now and have so far only inflicted my thoughts on the National Puzzlers' League and G4G participants. Sadly, it has become time to end this journal's readership's bliss and begin to bloviate here. Ronnie Kon http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/12 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/12 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:15 PST A collection of linguistic kickshaws. Dave Morice http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/13 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/13 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:15 PST A poem Sir Jeremy Morse http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/11 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/11 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:14 PST In the February 1981 issue of Word Ways we exhibited a theoretical solitaire Scrabble game where all 100 titles are used to achieve a score of 4454 points. With some slight adjustments to the setup and a few new words it is possible to add 16 more points, giving a new total of 4470. Asterisks (*) indicate the two blank tiles. Jeff Grant http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/9 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/9 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:13 PST Comments in response to previous articles. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/10 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/10 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:13 PST Martin Gardner's poem "Good Sport." Martin Gardner http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/8 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/8 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:12 PST Wonderland, Oz, Never-Never Land, Narnia, Middle-Earth -- who needs pulpy tales of outer space or the future, when more mainstream writing offers us no end of fantastic story settings? Below is a list of 40 such fabulous fictive locales, as well as a roster of the perpetrating authors. Both lists are alphabetical, making for some odd pairings -- can the reader set things right? Solution, book titles and dates in A&S. Jim Puder http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/7 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/7 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:11 PST Triangular Progressions etc. have recently appeared in Word Ways 2009088, 2009167 and 1009285. In addition to words which form UPRIGHT triangles, other words form INVERTED triangles and, within each of these two forms, there are 3 categories. Susan Thorpe http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/5 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/5 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:10 PST In the May 2005 issue of WORD WAYS, Bob McKenty, Alexian Gregory, and I published a version of this article. Ever since, I have continued to dive almost daily for the treasure of additional eye rhymes. You know how it is: We logologists get swept away by a letter-perfect, endlessly undulating concept, and we drown ecstatically in its depths and its shallows. Richard Lederer http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/6 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/6 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:10 PST Martin Gardner's "Politeness" poem. Martin Gardner http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/4 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/4 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:09 PST Professor Knuth supplied these three unusual puzzles that he had handed out to participants at the International Puzzle Party (IPP) held at San Francisco in August 2009. He dedicates the puzzles to the memory of Nob Yoshigahara. Solution will be provided in the next issue. Donald Knuth http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/3 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/3 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:08 PST Paul Dickinson's marvelous book Drunk: The Definitive Drinker's Dictionary (MelvilleHouse 2009), contains an amazing 2954 synonyms for the word "drunk", a considerable enlargement of the 228 terms listed by Benjamin Franklin in his 1737 Drinker's Dictionary. I celebrate its riches with the following bit of doggerel, written exclusively with his terminology. A. Ross Eckler http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/2 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/2 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:07 PST A crossword puzzle. http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/1 http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/wordways/vol42/iss4/1 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:09:06 PST Front Cover, Publication Information, and Table of Contents