Shortest Scrabble Game (Spoiler?)
jpk...@tesla.njit.edu
C
CIGS
GOES
SEZ
S
It is reached like so:
Player 1: CIGS
Player 2: CIGS
1: SEZ
2: SEZ
1: ES
2: GOES (vert) and GOES (horiz)
Can anybody either find a word that can be played on
this arrangement or find an arrangment that takes fewer
moves.
Barring of course arrangements like
QJ
KX
Which can be reached only if neither player challenges
the others bogus word.
- JPK
William Mayne
>Here is my submission for the shortest Scrabble game:
>
> C
> CIGS
> GOES
> SEZ
> S
I find neither CIGS nor SEZ in my dictionary.
Where did you find them and what do they mean?
Bill Mayne
D. J. McCarthy ~
> Here is my submission for the shortest Scrabble game:
>
> C
> CIGS
> GOES
> SEZ
> S
> this arrangement or find an arrangment that takes fewer
> moves.
If you allow such non-words like CIGS and SEZ you would probably
allow more-or-less foreign words as well.
Put LAIS in front of one of the SEZ's.
--
| D. J. McCarthy The moving walkway is now ending.
| dmc...@swtec1.intel.com Please look down.
| ...!intelhf!mipos3!modl01!dmccart
Noam Elkies
(D. J. McCarthy ~) writes:
:jpk...@tesla.njit.edu writes:
:> Here is my submission for the shortest Scrabble game:
:>
:> C
:> CIGS
:> GOES
:> SEZ
:> S
:> Can anybody either find a word that can be played on
:> this arrangement or find an arrangment that takes fewer
:> moves.
:
: If you allow such non-words like CIGS and SEZ you would probably
:allow more-or-less foreign words as well.
:
:Put LAIS in front of one of the SEZ's.
Presumably the official Scrabble dictionary does not list French
words other than those used in English expressions, but does recognize
the colloquial CIGS and SEZ as an abbreviation for "cigarettes" and an
alternative spelling of "says" (and why not, if the OED lists "xwld"
as an alt. spelling for "should"?). Ultimately the choice of just
which words are and are not allowed is arbitrary, but some choice
must be fixed for a competitive match --- though to be sure some words
such as "QS" (plural of "Q", of course) approved by the official
dictionary would be laughed out of court in most casual games.
I read somewhere that the shortest possible game using the official
Scrabble dictionary is something like
VP
PDQ
QS
(Yes, a second and even third Q is available using the blank tiles).
I'm not sure about the V; maybe some rec.puzzles reader who actually
owns that dictionary can check whether VP is allowed, and for that
matter also if it can be extended to MVP...
--Noam D. Elkies (elk...@zariski.harvard.edu)
Dept. of Mathematics, Harvard University
Ian P. Gent
>One can only answer the question "What is the shortest game of
>Scrabble?" if one has decided on a standard word reference.
> ... the British rely on Chambers English
>Dictionary (or the equivalent Chambers Words, which omits the
>definitions).
Oho! But it isn't equivalent! There are surprising omissions in
Chambers Words. I've noticed that it doesn't have either
"ashet" or "redwing": I'm 90% sure these are in Chambers Dictionary.
Both words are familiar to me at least: my (Scottish) mother serves the
Sunday roast on an ashet (a large plate) each week and redwings (a type of
thrush) visit hey garden periodically. We've never carved a redwing on
an ashet though :-)
Ian
Steven Alexander
>
> CIGS, SEZ, VP, QS, PDQ
>
>None of these are listed in the Official Scrabble Players' Dictionary.
>Neither is LAISSEZ. (Sometimes having the OSPD on line comes in handy.)
>
>One can only answer the question "What is the shortest game of
>pretty standard for the US; the British rely on Chambers English
>Dictionary (or the equivalent Chambers Words, which omits the
>definitions).
>
>reference.
Here is a solution not by me, but published in the Scrabble Players
News, Vol. XI No. 49, June 1983, contributed by Kyle Corbin of Raleigh,
NC:
[J]
J U S
S O X
[X]U
which can be done in 4 moves, JUS, SOX, [J]US, and [X]U.
In SPN Vol. XI, No. 52, December 1983, Alan Frank presented what
he claimed is the shortest game where no blanks are used, also
four moves:
C
WUD
CUKES
DEY
S
This was followed in SPN, Vol. XII No. 54, April 1984, by Terry Davis
of Glasgow, KY:
V
V O[X]
[X]U,
which is three moves. He noted that the use of two blanks prevents
such plays as VOLVOX. Unfortunately, it doesn't prevent SONOVOX.
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Steven Alexander
Comp Sci grad student ste...@cs.berkeley.edu
& non-practicing lawyer extraordinaire
{I'm really wonderful at not practicing}
Currently in the real world at: sr...@charon.amdahl.com
(but preferring the berkeley address)
Bernie Cosell
}Proposals by Noam Elkies and D. McCarthy have included the following words:
} CIGS, SEZ, VP, QS, PDQ
}None of these are listed in the Official Scrabble Players' Dictionary.
}Neither is LAISSEZ. (Sometimes having the OSPD on line comes in handy.)
}... the British rely on Chambers English
}Dictionary (or the equivalent Chambers Words, which omits the
}definitions).
Well, having a Chabers in your office comes in handy some times, too.
CIG [and so its plural, CIGS] is listed in Chambers in the entry for
CIGAR. SEZ is listed as "slang spelling of says". Almost every
dictionary (including chambers) includes an entry for each letter of
the alphabet, so I'm surprised that OSPD doesn't include the plural of
'Q' [how many Qs are in a scrabble set, anyway? :-)] As for VP and
PDQ, I couldnt find them in Chambers...
/Bernie\
Bernie Cosell
Indeed. Ashet (a large meatplate) and Redwing (a thrush with reddish sides
below the wings) are in Chambers.
/B\
Warwick Allison
> If you allow such non-words like CIGS and SEZ you would probably
>allow more-or-less foreign words as well.
Check your Scrabble box lid. It says "No foreign words", but makes no
mention of slang. So if your Last Word dictionary (how else can a game
of Scrabble be adjudicated?) has slang, then they are allowed. Gee, my
Colin's even has a "Pink Floyd" entry. Pretty cool.
Warwick
--
_-_|\ war...@cs.uq.oz.au / And now for something ruder...
/ * <-- Computer Science Department,/
\_.-._/ University of Queensland, / Derma tamper noh whoa surra thetch.
v Brisbane, Australia. /
D. J. McCarthy ~
>> If you allow such non-words like CIGS and SEZ you would probably
>> allow more-or-less foreign words as well.
> Check your Scrabble box lid. It says "No foreign words", but makes no
> mention of slang.
I don't consider "laissez" a *totally* foreign word, since you hear
it once in a while in history classs or political discussions. Actually,
my biggest problem with it is that it's almost always followed by "faire".
Another example (to get further off the subject) is HORS. Is
*this* a valid Scrabble word? Is "hors d'oeuvre" English or French?
It's *derived* from French, granted, but does that make it not an English
word? It's in my dictionary...
How about FACADE? GESTAPO? SUSHI? If SUSHI is an English
word, then how about KUSHIKATSU? You can find both on a Japanese
restaurant menu. When does a word that originated in another language
become an English word, or more properly, a word that would remain after
"all foreign words" are thrown out?
Steven Alexander
> Almost every
>dictionary (including chambers) includes an entry for each letter of
>the alphabet, so I'm surprised that OSPD doesn't include the plural of
>'Q' [how many Qs are in a scrabble set, anyway? :-)]
The OSPD has "kue n. pl. -S the letter Q". There is only one kue in
a Scrabble set.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Steven Alexander
Comp Sci grad student ste...@cs.berkeley.edu
& non-practicing lawyer extraordinaire
{I'm really wonderful at not practicing}
Temporarily in the real world at: sr...@chiron.amdahl.com
dej...@yahoo.com
Kyle Corbin of North Carolina's 1983 solution:
.J..
jUS.
.SOX
..xU
This solution fails in Global English as the word JUS can be front-extended into BAJUS, a plural of BAJU, a short jacket of Malay, or into GJUS, a plural of GJU, a type of violin of the Shetland Islands.
Alan Frank's 1983 solution:
..C..
.WUD.
CUKES
.DEY.
..S..
This solution fails in Global English as the adjective WUD can be extended into the noun WUDU, a variant of the word wudhu a ritual washing performed by Muslims before prayer. Or its may be extended into its plural, WUDUS. The crossword formed, US, is, of course, an acceptable word.
jpk, your solution:
.C...
CIGS.
.GOES
.SEZ.
..S..
Another failed solution with Global English Scrabble. The word SEZ can be front-extended into ASSEZ. ASSEZ is an adjective and loanword from French used as part of a musical direction with the meaning "fairly; rather".
Joel Elkin of California's 2005 solution:
.F..
JEU.
.UMM
..mm
This solution fails with the hooked play of BASIJ or its variant BASEEJ, a Middle Eastern voluntary paramilitary group, respectively forming the acceptable crossword IF or EF. Or, alternatively, as a front-and-back extension of UMM, the play of HUOMMOS, a variant, as is hommos, of hummos, a mixture of pureed chickpeas and tahini, could be played with the acceptable crossword JO.
A slight modification of Joel's solution, though can provide a solution to the shortest blocked game in both North American and Global English Scrabble. Replacing each of FEU and JEU with the name variant of the Hebrew letter, VAU:
.V..
VAU.
.UMM
..mm
It should be noted that the official word lists established by Hasbro and Mattel were not available to many of the former solvers, and the solutions that have been found may well have been valid with respect to what official word list existed at the time.
leflynn
> On Thursday, February 27, 1992 at 4:35:49 PM UTC-6, jpk...@tesla.njit.edu wrote:
>
> Joel Elkin of California's 2005 solution:
> .F..
> JEU.
> .UMM
> ..mm
>
> This solution fails with the hooked play of BASIJ or its variant BASEEJ, a Middle Eastern voluntary paramilitary group, respectively forming the acceptable crossword IF or EF. Or, alternatively, as a front-and-back extension of UMM, the play of HUOMMOS, a variant, as is hommos, of hummos, a mixture of pureed chickpeas and tahini, could be played with the acceptable crossword JO.
L. Flynn
Ted S.
>> A slight modification of Joel's solution, though can provide a solution to the shortest blocked game in both North American and Global English Scrabble. Replacing each of FEU and JEU with the name variant of the Hebrew letter, VAU:
>> >.V..
>> >VAU.
>> >.UMM
>> >..mm
>> >
>> >It should be noted that the official word lists established by Hasbro and Mattel were not available to many of the former solvers, and the solutions that have been found may well have been valid with respect to what official word list existed at the time.
Both Ms and both blanks have been used. How are you going to get one
more M? (I don't think it's legal to turn a W tile 180 degrees and make
it an M.)
--
Ted S.
Catskill Mtns, NY, USA
leflynn
On a different tack, is there a parallel construction to oohed and aahed or oohing and aahing that would give mmed or mming?
The kids were sitting around the campfire mm mming over the smores.
L. Flynn