Word games & puzzles thread

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by c10ck3r

Would Moore count?

Well the problem that I see with that is letter 2 and 3 are the same thus you don't form a new/different word in the last step.

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by masser

Warm-up: Find a common word that when you remove the first and last letter you obtain a new common word.

Challenge: Find a common word such that each subsequent removal of the first and last letter produces a common word.

What's the longest such word you can find? I've got a seven letter solution, but I'm sure we could find better examples.

7:
I
RIM
CRMP
SCRIMPS

[masser]

Here's my seven letter solution:


eclipse
clips
lip
I

[petrw1]

Originally Posted by masser

Here's my seven letter solution:


eclipse
clips
lip
I

Declipsed???

[Dr Sardonicus]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

I'm glad I left off the condition that the initial plural word ends in an s. I hoped someone might at least try to find a non-s plural which becomes singular by appending an s.

Alas, "peni" isn't in my old Unabridged. I reject purely slang usages out of hand. I infer from your :) that you weren't being entirely serious anyway, but -- good hustle! Makes me glad I deliberately omitted a condition from the challenge.

The closest I could find on line to "peni" being an actual English word was in Middle English, where peni is a predecessor of "penny." Alas, appending an s gives the plural. The plural was also rendered as "pens," which may be a predecessor of "pence," as in "sixpence," meaning "cents."

[snark]Alas, in modern times, we find that capitalizing "pence" names someone worth far less than a penny, who exhibits no sense whatever.[/snark]

So, now, see if you can find a plural ending in s which becomes singular by appending another s.

princes

ogres

[retina]

Originally Posted by Dr Sardonicus

princes

ogres

There is at least one more also.