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Front Cover, Publication Information
Word Ways
Front Cover, Publication Information, Table of Contents
A Hyperhypercube Of Side Two, Delphi Knoxjaqzonville
A Hyperhypercube Of Side Two, Delphi Knoxjaqzonville
Word Ways
In the August 1971 Word Ways, Darryl Francis challenged the reader to produce a hyperhypercube (a word cube in five dimensions) out of 80 suitably-chosen two-letter words. This array on the right represents the best solution I have been able to obtain. 73 of the words are found in Webster's Second or Third Editions (one, OP, is found in the Addenda to the Third); 5 words from Webster's First Edition; 2 (UA, UK) are found in the Times Index-Gazetteer.
Beginnings And Endings, Darryl Francis
Beginnings And Endings, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
This article was inspired by several previously-published pieces of logological work. The first piece to appear in print was in Dmitri Borgmann's book, Language on Vacation (Scribner's, 1965). On page 164 of that book he presented a list of 26 words and names, each beginning and ending with the same letter, and each letter of the alphabet being represented just once. The second piece of logological work was in an article of ours entitled "Word Chains" which appeared in the February 1970 issue of Word Ways. In this article we presented a list of 26 words, each beginning with one …
Enivo?, Ralph G. Beaman
Enivo?, Ralph G. Beaman
Word Ways
Oldtime crossword puzzle fans know a puzzle may be made as difficult as desired by using (1) unusual or cryptic definitions or (2) strange or rare words.
The puzzle which follows sometimes employs either or both of these devices. But it is not just for the expert. It can also be solved by the persistent beginner.
Hey, Look What I Can Do, Mary J. Youngquist
Hey, Look What I Can Do, Mary J. Youngquist
Word Ways
Take a word like FLING, add the letter I, and you have filing. Described below are other word-pairs in which one becomes the other merely by the addition of I. Answers are found in Answers and Solutions at the end of this issue.
The Perils Of Literal Translation, M. H. Greenblatt
The Perils Of Literal Translation, M. H. Greenblatt
Word Ways
It is well known that all languages have their own peculiar idioms. Reckless translation into foreign languages can sometimes have unfortunate, and sometimes funny, consequences. This fact is amply illustrated by the following story. An engineer had once devised a program which would enable him to translate between any two languages on earth. He described his program at a technical meeting, and in order to demonstrate its power, he had a computer loaded with the new program. After describing the program, he asked the audience to suggest a phrase for him to ask the computer to translate. Someone suggested the …
Logomachy
Word Ways
This column is devoted to various word games in which readers can match their wits against each other. Rules of play, if not given below, can be found in earlier Logomachy columns.
A Proposal For An Isomorph Dictionary, A. Ross Eckler
A Proposal For An Isomorph Dictionary, A. Ross Eckler
Word Ways
Specialized dictionaries are becoming an increasingly important tool for the serious logologist. Martin Gardner, in his "Mathematical Games" column in Scientific American for November 1965, cited Nicholas Temperley's proposal that devotees of wordplay produce an anagram dictionary. (Apparently he was unaware of Charles Haertzen's Vest-Pocket Anagram Dictionary, published by Follett in 1964.) A second dictionary of logological value is one that lists words in reverse-alphabetical order. Several of these exist, the most readily available being John Walker's The Rhyming Dictionary of the English Language, first published nearly 200 years ago (I have the Dutton 1936 edition), and the …
Kickshaws, David L. Silverman
Kickshaws, David L. Silverman
Word Ways
Readers are encouraged to send their own favorite linguistic kickshaws to the Associate Editor. All answers appear in the Answers and Solutions at the end of this issue.
Answers And Solutions
Word Ways
Answers and solutions to the puzzles contained in this issue.
Colloquy
Word Ways
Webster's Dictionary defines colloquy as mutual discourse. Readers are encouraged to submit additions, corrections and comments about earlier articles appearing in Word Ways. Comments received up to a month prior to publication of an issue will appear in that issue.
Our Move, Darryl Francis
Our Move, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
Kickshaws editor David Silverman's book Your Move (McGraw-Hill, 1971) consists of 100 problems "designed to challenge your insight" in bridge, checkers, chess, tic-tac-toe and other games, some well-known and some not so well-known. Though only four of the puzzles are called word games, these provide an amazing amount of recreation for the word puzzle enthusiast. We discuss below two of these word puzzles -- Ghost and The Last Word.
A Chemistry Lesson, Darryl Francis
A Chemistry Lesson, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
Following the monumental success of our article "A Geography Lesson" which appeared in the August 1970 Word Ways, we have decided to offer the reader a further episode of logological instruction. The previous article concerned itself with various aspects of geographicologology (the logology of placenames); this article will deal with one particular facet of chemicologology (the logology of chemical names).
Stately Forms, Palmer C. Peterson
Stately Forms, Palmer C. Peterson
Word Ways
The construction of forms (solid crossword puzzles having simple geometric shapes) is a rapidly-vanishing art. I have been able to incorporate the names of nearly 40 states with their nicknames in the following collection of triangle and diamond forms. (The Art of the State would have been a more apt title, but this was earlier used by Darryl Francis.) Several of the less-familiar nicknames can be found in the American Thesaurus of Slang. Although many of the words look odd, all can be found in standard references (however, all citations have been omitted for brevity). Perhaps the two …
Probing The Rebus, Dmitri A. Borgmann
Probing The Rebus, Dmitri A. Borgmann
Word Ways
Reproduced below is an easy rebus puzzle, using dictionary definitions (exact synonyms) instead of pictures.
In-Famous Classics, Mary J. Youngquist
In-Famous Classics, Mary J. Youngquist
Word Ways
How good are you at recognizing famous works of literature, music or movies from their plots? The plots sketched in the following paragraphs should give you enough clues to fill in the blanks with the name of each work, thus completing the sketch.
Palindromic And Acrostic Poems, J. A. Lindon
Principia Websteriana, Ralph G. Beaman
Principia Websteriana, Ralph G. Beaman
Word Ways
Hey, you mathematicians! Isn't it about time you stopped sulking because the longest words come from chemistry (Word Ways, February 1971)? You can show those chemists a thing or 2.71828, if you want to.
A Bouquet Of Christmas Anagrams, L. E. Card
A Bouquet Of Christmas Anagrams, L. E. Card
Word Ways
Each line is an anagram of the Christmas message spelled out diagonally in capital letters. Furthermore, the capitalized letters in each line remain in the same positions if the line is re-anagrammed back to the original Christmas message.
Instructions To Authors
Word Ways
Instructions to authors interested in contributing to the publication.
Front Cover, Publication Information
Front Cover, Publication Information
Word Ways
Front Cover, Publication Information, Table of Contents
A Fourteen-Letter Pair Isogram
A Fourteen-Letter Pair Isogram
Word Ways
Can the impossible be done? Can anyone outdo the careful and tedious work by legions of logologists? Is there nothing left in logology that can be improved upon? Must one examine increasingly obscure references to reach new heights in logology?
Pattern Words, Murray R. Pearce
Pattern Words, Murray R. Pearce
Word Ways
Webster's Third New International Dictionary (NI3) defines pattern-word as, "(in) cryptology: a plaintext idiomorph". The same source defines idiomorph as, "a pattern of repeated letters in cryptography". Thus to a cryptanalyst any word with one or more repeated letters is a pattern-word. PROPER, STATE and MUUMUU are pattern-words, whereas THING, WORD and UNCOPYRIGHTABLE are not. In a simple substitution, monoalphabetic cryptogram, pattern-words can provide a method of quick solution where the cyrptogram is of the easy or medium-difficult variety. Thus a long word ending with the pattern -ABCC is very likely to end in NESS. The ending -DBBC is often …
Difference Words, A. Ross Eckler
Difference Words, A. Ross Eckler
Word Ways
In his book Beyond Language (Scribner's, 1967), Dmitri Borgmann introduces the concept of difference words. As he points out in Problem 45 (The New Chemistry), the letters of the generating word FORM occupy positions 6, 15, 18 and 13 in the alphabet. The difference between 6 and 15 is 9; between 15 and 18, 3; and between 18 and 13, 5. The letters of the word ICE occupy positions 9, 3 and 5 in the alphabet. Therefore, ICE is called the difference word of FORM. For most words, of course, this process leads to a meaningless jumble of letters instead …
Mexican Memory, John Mcclellan
Mexican Memory, John Mcclellan
Word Ways
Some years ago my wife and I used to visit Acapulco in Mexico in the winter. It was my custom then as now to get up early and, there, I would walk around the town, especially in the market district, before the heat of the day set in: for the Mexican sun grows increasingly wicked as the day progresses and one is better off swimming than walking at noon.
The New Typewriter, Ralph G. Beaman
The New Typewriter, Ralph G. Beaman
Word Ways
These are our latest models in electric typewriters. They will do just about anything. Certainly, anything you may want.
Logomachy
Word Ways
This column is devoted to various word games in which readers can match their wits against each other. Rules of play, if not given below, can be found in earlier Logomachy columns.
False Plurals, Darryl Francis
False Plurals, Darryl Francis
Word Ways
A number of words in English are more commonly found in their classical plural form than in their classical singular form. Because of this dominant usage of the plural form, many people remain unaware that each of the words is already a plural and they treat them as if they were singular forms. For example, the word APOCRYPHA (writings of doubtful authorship) is the plural of APOCRYPHON. But as APOCRYPHA is often regarded as the singular, the erroneous plural APOCRYPHAS is sometimes encountered.
Alphabet Soup, Mary J. Youngquist
Alphabet Soup, Mary J. Youngquist
Word Ways
A few weeks ago I accidentally ran into an old friend, a logophilic gourmet by the name of Ambrose Ziegfield. Hadn't seen Old Ziggy in ages, and I wondered what he was up to. He excitedly told me of his new venture -- he was about to open a restaurant exclusively for word-loving gluttons. His excitement was contagious: I drooled at the thought of combining two favorite pastimes, words and eating. The A-Z Diner (he rejected my suggested name of Ziegfield's Folly) would open soon, he said, and he gave me a quick run-down of the plans.
The Lost Word, Ralph G. Beaman
The Lost Word, Ralph G. Beaman
Word Ways
Logologists everywhere were long enamored of the word SUBBOOKKEEPER. For, in simple compact form, it was not only unique in having four double letters, but also these pairs appeared one after another in magnificent progression. Unfortunately, Webster's Second, where the word appeared, has been superseded by Webster's Third, where the word is not. And so SUBBOOKKEEPER has been tossed on the junkpile of obsolete words.