# Word puzzle I just thought of **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 11, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328 "2011-10-11T17:58:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/1 "2011-10-11T17:58:50Z")
What’s the significance of this list of words: chid chide chin chino chinos chins chints cion cions dims dins dint dints djin djins hide hied hins hint hints into ions jins join joins joint joints jots mint mints minty nide nims nosy osmic snide snot sonic stoic tonic tons xyst xystoi ---
**Author:** ![Jbone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/58f4c7/32.png) [@Jbone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jbone)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/2 "2011-10-11T19:40:10Z")
They’re in alphabetical order. What do I win? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/3 "2011-10-11T20:22:46Z")
One thing I notice is that they’re all made with letters from the set (skip two letters in the alphabet) NEXT THREE LETTERS, i.e., from the capitalized letters below: ab CDE fg HIJ kl MNO pq RST uv WXY However, no R or W turns up. Why is that? The letters involve are the letters in MYTHIC COED HIJINKS, so maybe you’re fascinated by that phrase? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/4 "2011-10-11T21:16:03Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > One thing I notice is that they’re all made with letters from the set (skip two letters in the alphabet) NEXT THREE LETTERS, i.e., from the capitalized letters below: > > ab CDE fg HIJ kl MNO pq RST uv WXY > > However, no R or W turns up. Why is that? > > The letters involve are the letters in MYTHIC COED HIJINKS, so maybe you’re fascinated by that phrase? That’s definitely not just a coincidence, and will put you on the right track. (I mean the pattern, not the mythic coed hijinks). But I guarantee that the solution is a lot more satisfying than just “here’s some arbitrary off off on on on pattern with no other meaning, and here are some arbitrary words fitting that pattern”. ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/5 "2011-10-11T21:54:14Z")
It seems that most of the words can be derived from (at least) one other word in the list, such that the only change needed is either: Adding a letter Removing a letter Changing a letter It seems in some cases words can only be derived by chaining these rules, but it seems that it only requires chaining at most twice for any given word in the list, assuming you pick the right word to derive from. Examples of the two chain: (xyst -\> xystoi) APPEND O to end, APPEND I to end. (tonic -\> stoic) =\> APPEND S to front, REMOVE N. (mint -\> into) =\> REMOVE M, APPEND O to end. (mints -\> nims) =\> SWAP (m,n), REMOVE t ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/6 "2011-10-11T22:04:52Z")
They’re all valid boggle words if you lay out the letters thusly: ```auto CDE HIJ MNO RST WXY ``` eta: Not that I understand the significance of only using those 15 letters, or of laying them out in a pseudo-boggle pattern and then playing boggle with them. Boggle! ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/7 "2011-10-11T22:09:33Z")
R and W are also landlocked in that pattern, which might by why they don’t appear. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/8 "2011-10-11T23:34:26Z")
> [@steronz](#): > > They’re all valid boggle words if you lay out the letters thusly: > > ```auto > > CDE > HIJ > MNO > RST > WXY > > ``` > > eta: Not that I understand the significance of only using those 15 letters, or of laying them out in a pseudo-boggle pattern and then playing boggle with them. Boggle! So close… ---
**Author:** ![steronz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steronz/32/11765_2.png) [@steronz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/steronz)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/9 "2011-10-11T23:53:35Z")
Very well then… 🙂 I went to here: [http://www.wordsolver.co.uk/](http://www.wordsolver.co.uk/) It was the only boggle solver I could find that would let me do a 5x5 grid. The grid is: ```auto a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p z r s t u v w x y ``` Note that I had to shove a Z in place of the Q, but I don’t think that makes a difference. Apparently Boggle omits the Q? What follows is the resulting word list. It’s not 100% the same but that could be due to different dictionaries. Amazingly, the left 2 columns are never used. Wouldn’t have guessed that, especially with 2 vowels over there. chid chide chin chino chinos chins dims dins dint dints hide hied hims hint hints into ions join joins joint joints jots mint mints minty nosy snide snot sonic stoic tonic tons ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2011, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/word-puzzle-i-just-thought-of/599328/10 "2011-10-12T00:14:09Z")
Got it. The boggle solver I used let you distinguish between q by itself and Qu as a single letter (which is what appears in the actual boggle game).