Author Topic: Re-usable letters?  (Read 25913 times)

Alan W

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Re-usable letters?
« on: March 20, 2018, 04:11:41 PM »
On the Amazon (US) page for one of the Chihuahua puzzle books, Fred D. has left the following review:

Quote
I thoroughly enjoy the Chihuahua Nine-Letter Word Puzzles series of books. I would kill for word puzzles that allow you to reuse the letters, as in the 7-letter puzzles ("Spelling Bee'") in the NY Times Magazine Section. But short of that, these keep my mind stimulated.

Naturally this intrigued me. Would he really kill for such puzzles? If I created some, would he kill anyone I nominated?

But what mostly intrigued me was, how much fun are the type of puzzles he's talking about, and would it be worth my while to make such puzzles available, on the web site and/or in books? Have any forumites tried these puzzles, in the NY Times or elsewhere? How do you like them?

As far as I can gather, the Spelling Bee puzzles are similar to Chihuahua puzzles, but with 7 letters, all different. Each letter can be used as many times in a word as needed. As in Chi, there is a middle letter that must be included (at least once) in each word. Words are a minimum of 5 letters. There are bonus points for any word that uses all 7 letters, and I assume there is always at least one such word possible.

There don't seem to be any books of these puzzles, even though Amazon has many puzzle books by Frank Longo, who is credited in the NY Times as the creator of the Spelling Bee puzzle. The name Spelling Bee comes, no doubt, from the letter cells being hexagonal, so that the puzzle recalls a beehive.
Alan Walker
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yelnats

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #1 on: March 20, 2018, 06:13:59 PM »
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Would he really kill for such puzzles? If I created some, would he kill anyone I nominated?

Les, I think the best hiding place would be in the Peruvian Amazon, but use a VPN when you play Chi. ;D

pat

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #2 on: March 21, 2018, 12:48:17 AM »
I’m not familiar with that type of puzzle but it sounds as if it could be enjoyable. Feel free to create one, Alan!

mkenuk

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #3 on: March 21, 2018, 03:00:20 AM »
What Pat said.

cmh

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #4 on: March 21, 2018, 03:55:54 AM »
I'd probably give it a go too

Dragonman

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #5 on: March 21, 2018, 05:07:45 AM »
I have played a similar puzzle in a Saturday newspaper and they are great fun They do have a compulsory letter and there is always a 7 letter word....they can be quite challenging .
Please go for it Alan to add to the fun of Chi.

Les...if you feel i danger I am prepared to offer asylum.  :-C ;D

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Les303

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #6 on: March 21, 2018, 09:00:23 PM »
Thankyou so much for your offer of asylum, but as usual I am one step ahead of Alan & i have already planned my escape to Bletchley where I am sure that one of the locals there would protect me.
« Last Edit: March 21, 2018, 09:02:27 PM by Les303 »

birdy

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #7 on: March 22, 2018, 04:16:29 AM »
Poor Les! How come everyone thinks you would be Alan's first target?  ... Well, on second thought...

Hobbit

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #8 on: March 22, 2018, 07:14:10 AM »
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Thankyou so much for your offer of asylum, but as usual I am one step ahead of Alan & i have already planned my escape to Bletchley where I am sure that one of the locals there would protect me.
Most definitely Les! I'm not sure you'd like our weather very much after what you're used to.  We had yet more snow over the weekend & I was out in -1 on sunday afternoon sweeping the snow off my car.  It was a bit like Siberia but without Putin :laugh:
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Hobbit

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #9 on: March 22, 2018, 07:15:31 AM »
Sounds like a great idea Alan.  I agree with all the others & would love to give it a go.
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Alan W

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #10 on: March 27, 2018, 10:10:29 PM »
I've been playing around with this style of puzzle over the last few days, and it looks like it might be worth including as an option. But before I go much further, I'd value some feedback on how it plays. Since I haven't incorporated it into the Chihuahua site, you'll have to play it on paper for now (like the readers of the NY Times do).

The rules of the puzzle are: There are 7 letters, all different. You have to make words of at least five letters. There is no maximum size for the words you make. You can use any of the letters as many times in each word as you like. As in Chi, there is one of the letters that must be used in every word (but in this puzzle, it could be used more than once). There will be at least one common word that uses all 7 letters. It won't necessarily be a 7-letter word - it could well be larger.

First, here is an example with solution, to make sure the rules are clear.

The seven letters: AEHNRWY
The N is the one that must be in every word.

It is possible to make the following 15 common words:

ANYWAY

ANYWHERE

ARENA

EARNER

HENNA

HYAENA

HYENA

NANNY

NEARER

NEWER

RENEW

RERAN

WARREN

WEENY

YEARN

The word that uses all the letters is ANYWHERE. There are another 35 rare words that can be made.

Now, here's one for you to work on. Please don't post your solutions here. Write them down or type them in a file for now. But feel free to post progress reports on how many words you've found and how you're finding the puzzle.

The letters: BEHILOR. The mandatory letter is B. There are 24 common words to be made (and if you're ambitious, 59 rare ones). There is one common word that uses all the letters. Good luck!
Alan Walker
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pat

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #11 on: March 27, 2018, 11:05:26 PM »
A very clear explanation of the rules, Alan, and it’s good fun. Go for it, I say!

(I wonder if the three-trophies-every-day-brigade are busily writing programs so that they can instantly get a trophy in the new game  >:D)
« Last Edit: March 27, 2018, 11:09:41 PM by pat »

Maudland

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #12 on: March 28, 2018, 12:26:37 AM »
Oh. I was feeling pleased with myself, then I re-read the rules.... Minimum 5 letters... Doh! Keep going...

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #13 on: March 28, 2018, 03:04:41 AM »
It's tricky to switch gears! I'm definitely not typing in words as quickly as I do with Chi. I'm liking the challenge so far.

mkenuk

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Re: Re-usable letters?
« Reply #14 on: March 28, 2018, 04:39:29 AM »
Oh. I was feeling pleased with myself, then I re-read the rules.... Minimum 5 letters... Doh! Keep going...

Yes, it's tricky getting used to finding words of 5 or more letters.

Apart from that, the only slight problem at the moment is knowing if a word is common or not.

Example. boiler is surely common and 'hellebore' is probably rare. But reboil ?? and boohoo??
Are they playable?

First impressions are very favourable, though. I could definitely get hooked on it.