The GQ thread about the word game “ghost” got me thinking about my collection of unusual letter sequences. For the last five years or so, whenever I come across a word that contains such a sequence I write it down. For example, the sequences ugu and mmk seem a little strange at first sight, but the first actually occurs in a fair number of English words (e.g., jugular, augury, inauguration), and the second in a few unusual words (e.g., dummkoff, and krummkake). The list below has some unusual letter sequences, some easier than others. See if you can identify the word in each case. Except where noted, I believe there is only one common English word (plus related forms) for each of these sequences. You may use a print dictionary to help you if you like, but you are on your honor not to use any electronic media (electronic dictionaries, search engines, etc.) Warning: Some of these words sometimes are, or formerly were, hyphenated. To the best of my knowledge all these words are normally unhyphenated in modern American usage.[ol][li]ACHH[/li][li]AKNE (2 unrelated words)[/li][li]ANKRO[/li][li]CHCL[/li][li]CHSH[/li][li]EDTI[/li][li]HOSTW[/li][li]IERINE[/li][li]IJIN[/li][li]LKLO[/li][li]OWWO (2 unrelated common words and several less common words)[/li][li]SHH[/li][li]STTRA[/li][li]TCHH[/li][li]UDGM[/ol][/li]In addition, each of the four sequences below occur in only one English word (and related forms), but these are not common words. I did not go out looking for unusual letter sequences. I came across these words by accident through my reading over the years. I happen to know what these words mean, but I don’t expect everyone to. If you are already familiar with these words, they shouldn’t be too hard. If not, they will be damn nigh impossible.
[list=16]
[li]GZW[/li][li]RNDL[/li][li]YZG[/li][li]YZY[/LIST][/li]And my favorite of all, which I read unhyphenated in a book, but which is not to be found unhyphenated in any of my dictionaries
[list=20][li]UEEY[/list]If you think you know the answer to one or more of these, shout it out.[/li]
If you have puzzlers of your own along these lines, please share them. I collect these sequences, but I don’t get much practice identifying the words from the sequences alone.
- Beachhead
- Breakneck
- Bankroll
- Beachcloth?
- Bedtime
- Ghostwriter
- Fasttrack
18
19.
20. Blue-eyed
- Glow-worm
- Fishhook
Oh, if you like puzzles, the UK’s Government Communications Headquarters – GCHQ – has a puzzle hidden on its website. They almost guarantee a job interview to anyone who solves it. I doubt any Americans would be eligible, since it’s the UK electronic intelligence gathering organisation, but it could be interesting nonetheless.
- conch-shell ???
- Folklore
- Matchhead
- All I can get for this is Grudgematch, are you sure you didn’t make a typo?
- Syzygy (sp?)
Consider me honorable.
ACHH - Beachhouse probably is two words or hyphenated, huh?
AKNE (2 unrelated words) - breakneck
ANKRO - bankroll
CHCL -
CHSH -
EDTI - bedtime
HOSTW - ghostwriter
IERINE -
IJIN - hijinks
LKLO - folklore
OWWO (2 unrelated common words and several less common words) - powwow
SHH
STTRA
TCHH - hitchhike
UDGM - judgment, although j-u-d-g-e-m-e-n-t is becoming quite a common spelling these days.
GZW
RNDL
YZG
YZY - syzygy
UEEY - blueeyed
Consider it done. 
If I think of any, I’ll post them here. I seem to recall Lewis Carroll was a fan of this type of puzzle.
Fun post, bibliophage. Thanks for sharing. Please post the answers to the hard one after a reasonable time.
Cordially,
Myron M. Meyer
The Man Who
How about:
[ol]
[li]NSHI[/li][li]BOI[/li][li]GEYE[/li][li]TCHST[/li]PTI[/ol]
- Gunship
- Boiled?
- Watchstrap
- Cryptic
None of those is the one I was thinking of for each, but yeah . . . I guess those work:)
Hmm . . .
GHTA
OWBE
DVAR
TEBO
BJE
DROPH
TOGL
1-3: beachhead, breakneck, bankroll. Points to mattk There remains another -akne- word, probably more common than breakneck.
4: not beachcloth, which is not in my dictionairies
5: not conch-shell, which is not in my dictionaries. Good guess, though.
6-7: bedtime, ghostwriter. Points to mattk
8: I thought this one might be a stumper.
9: hijinks. Point to The Man Who
10: folklore. Point to The Voice of Reason
11: powwow. Point to The Man Who. glowworm. point to mattk. The less common ones are yellowwood, slowworm, swallowwort, and bowwow (the last is usually hyphenated).
12: fishhook. Point to mattk
13: fasttrack certainly isn’t the one I was thinking of. It is always either hyphenated or two separate words, according to my dictionaries, so it is out. The one I was thinking of is unhypenated in the American Heritage Dictionary but hyphenated in the New Shorter Oxford.
14-15: hitchhike and judgment. Point to The Man Who. Matchhead is not in my dictionaries.
16: I never heard of this word until 6 months ago. It would probably be considered jargon.
17: I thought this one would be pretty easy, because it’s so unusual.
18. Not your everyday sort of word.
19: syzygy. Point to The Voice of Reason
20: blueeyed. I’m surprised you guys got it so fast. Point to mattk
The standings (unless I counted wrong):
mattk: 8 (it pays to post first)
The Man Who: 4
The Voice of Reason: 2
iampunha: posted a little too late.
Yes, I do plan to give the rest of the answers eventually if nobody gets them.
17 – dirndl
One point to Fretful Porpentine
DVAR- aardvark
TOGL- togless?? (rare)
TEBO – notebook
DROPH – hydrophone
STTRA – Dust-trap? Dust-trail?
Oh, of course. HYDRO. I was looking through all my dictionaries for androphile, androphobia, etc… -droph- could also be hydrophobia.
Nope. Dust-trap is hyphenated, and my dictionaries don’t have dust-trail. British posters may be at a disadvantage on this one. I hear the word most often heard as part of a three-word phrase. I don’t know if the phrase is in common use on the other side of the pond.
I can’t find word #4 (-CHCL-) in the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, which is odd. I thought it was a fairly common word, and it does show up in the other 4 dictionaries I consulted. In fact, all 4 of these dictionaries have two spellings for the word, either of which will fit.
GHTA - hightail
TOGL may keep me up all night, though.