Saturday, February 19, 2022

Yellow vs. Green in "Wordle"

For Wordle haven't we always thought that green was better than yellow?

I find it rather strange that this scored word

SLIMY

matches a single word on the purported official list of 2315 possible secret words in original Wordle, but this scoring of the same word

SLIMY

matches a dozen.

Monday, February 14, 2022

A Puzzle

This is a Wordle-like puzzle. You are looking at a word evaluated the way Wordle evaluates words. With this one evaluated word you should have all the information you need to deduce the secret word.

ADIEU

I've posted several of these on Facebook. The thing is that I create the evaluated word in HTML using HTML's ability to provide background coloring. But Facebook seems not to want to accept the snippet of HTML. So I've been posting screenshots of the HTML there. The question as I write this is whether Blogger will accept the HTML for an evaluated word.

It seems to work here. Well, almost. The HTML is coded so that the squares containing the letters should all have the same width, as well as the same height. I guess it's close enough.

Friday, January 21, 2022

From the System Manual

VERB(1) VERB(1)

NAME

verb — Convert any noun to a verb

SYNOPSIS

verb [ -a ] [ -d dictionary ] word

DESCRIPTION

verb generates a dictionary entry for any English noun located in the dictionary as an English verb. By default the dictionary is the system dictionary.

With the -a switch the generated dictionary entry is entered in the dictionary if the user has write permission for the dictionary. Normally the system is configured so that members of the group sysdict have write permission for the system dictionary.

With the -d switch the specified dictionary is used instead of the system dictionary.

EXAMPLES

Generate a dictionary entry for the noun “street” as a verb:

verb street

SEE ALSO

american-english(1), adjective(1), adverb(1), conjunction(1), english-english(1), expletive(1), expletive-deleted(1), grammar(5), noun(1), preposition(1), syntax(1), sysdict(1), sysdict(5), sysdict-daemon(8)

BUGS

There is no guarantee that system dictionary verb entries generated by verb are correct.

Tuesday, January 18, 2022

Words with Many Anagrams

Of course, the question of what words are the (single-word) anagrams of other words depends on having a reference list of all words. For this purpose I am using a list of 466,378 words gathered over time. The list has grown by about one-third over the last few years. Some of the additions are actually new words such as covid. On the other hand, I have the impression that many of the added words may be viewed as misspellings of standard words that have come into use. For example abcess appears now to be in use as an alternate spelling of abscess. Other words on the list are archaic spellings of standard words. Regardless, my list may not be regarded as definitive in any way.

The following table lists by rows all words having 11 or more anagrams. The first column contains the common length of the words in that row, and the second column gives the number of words in the row.

511adret ardet dater derat detar drate rated tarde tared trade tread
511airts arist astir raits sitar stair stria tarsi tiars tisar trias
511akers asker eskar kaser kesar rakes reaks reask saker sekar skear
511almes amsel lames leams males meals melas mesal salem samel selma
511apert apter parte pater peart petar prate preta taper terap trape
511arles arsle earls laers lares laser lears rales reals seral slare
511armet artem marte mater merat metra ramet tamer terma trame trema
511aspen napes neaps panes panse peans penas snape sneap spane spean
511enols lenos losen noels noles nosel nosle olsen selon slone solen
511ertop opter petro poret porte poter prote repot tepor toper trope
512abest abets baste bates beast beats besat betas esbat estab sebat tabes
512agron angor argon garon goran grano groan nagor orang organ rogan ronga
512caret carte cater cerat certa crate creat creta ecart react recta trace
512epris espri peris piers presi pries prise ripes siper speir spier spire
514acost actos ascot atocs catso coast coats costa octas scoat tacos tacso tasco tosca
514elaps lapse leaps lepas pales peals pelas pleas salep saple sepal slape spale speal
515acers acres arces cares carse caser ceras cesar crase escar races sacre scare scrae serac
515apers apres asper pares parse pears peras prase presa rapes reaps repas spaer spare spear
515erste ester estre reest reset reste retes steer stere stree teers teres terse trees tsere
515inest inset neist niste nites seint senit senti sient snite stein stine tiens tines tsine
517astel laste lates least leats salet satle setal slate stael stale steal stela taels tales teals tesla
519arest arets artes aster astre earst rates reast resat serta stare stear strae tares tarse taser tears teras treas
611agrest gaster gaters graste grates greats resgat retags stager strage targes
611aidmen amined daimen damine demain dieman dimane maiden mained median medina
611arrest arrets astrer rarest raster raters sartre starer tarres terras treasr
611capers casper crapes escarp pacers parsec recaps scarpe scrape secpar spacer
611enters ernest nester renest rentes resent streen strene tenser ternes treens
611nestor noster noters rontes sterno stoner strone tenors tensor toners trones
611palest palets pastel peltas petals plaste plates pleats septal staple tepals
612estrin inerts insert inters niters nitres sinter sterin strein strine triens trines
612hepars phares phaser phrase raphes seraph shaper sharpe sherpa shrape sphaer sphear
613aretes asteer easter eastre eaters reates reseat saeter seater staree steare teaser teresa
617alerts alters artels estral laster lastre rastle ratels relast resalt salter slater staler stelar strale talers tarsel
711angries earings erasing gainers graines reagins regains reginas searing seraing seringa
711aridest asterid astride diaster disrate restiad setarid staider staired tardies tirades
711atenism estamin etamins inmates inmeats insteam mainest manties samnite tameins tamines
711cantier centiar ceratin certain citrean creatin cretian crinate nacrite nectria tacrine
711parties pastier piaster piastre pietras pirates praties raspite spirate tapiser traipse
712easting eatings gainest gainset genista ingates ingesta seating signate tangies teasing tsigane
712estrous oestrus ousters sestuor sourest souters stoures toruses tousers trouses trousse tussore
714anestri antsier asterin eranist nastier ratines resiant restain retains retinas retsina stainer starnie stearin
911actioners anoretics atroscine certosina creations narcotise ostracine reactions secration tinoceras tricosane