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Aug. 13th, 2007

12:34 pm - Word bungee

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You've heard of word chains, right? The puzzle where you get two words, and you try to change one into the other by changing one letter at a time (such as WARM HARM HARD CARD CORD COLD)? And you try to do it in as few steps as possible (such as WARM WORM WORD CORD COLD, an improvement of one step over the previous chain)?

Trouble with that is, both words must be the same length. I decided to make it more fun, and increase the range of words you can use, by adding two rules:

At each step, you may:
- Change one letter,
- Add one letter, or
- Remove one letter.

Example: HOT COT COD COLD.

This allows me to change KINKY into TURTLE thus: KINKY KINK MINK MUNK MUSK MUST BUST BUTT BUTTE BUTTER BUTLER BUSTLER BUSTLE HUSTLE HURTLE TURTLE. That's 15 steps. Can anyone find a shorter solution?

Current Mood: creativecreative
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Comments:

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From:deckardcanine
Date:August 13th, 2007 02:01 pm (UTC)
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Since it's hard to work with "TURTLE," I worked backwards from there and did it in 14 words:

KINKY KINK KINE KITE BITE BATE BASTE BASTER BUSTER BUSTLER BUSTLE HUSTLE HURTLE TURTLE
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From:bassfingers
Date:August 13th, 2007 03:11 pm (UTC)
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Not at all what you're looking for, but this one looked interesting to me...

KINKY INKY INK IN I

another 14, all work via my spell check, but some may be proper nouns.

KINKY KINK KIN KIT KAT CAT CATY CATTY RATTY RATTLY RATTLE TATTLE TUTTLE TURTLE

might be condensed more if there were a good transition from KINK to CITY, but I'm not seeing it.
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From:shelbystripes
Date:August 13th, 2007 03:31 pm (UTC)
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Are you counting "Kit Kat" as one or two words?
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From:kinkyturtle
Date:August 13th, 2007 04:29 pm (UTC)
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Oops, no, under the current rules you can't change PINK to PITY. PINK PINY PITY would be okay, though of course it doesn't shorten Chuck's chain. (bassfingers is Chuck, a friend of mine from high school.)
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From:kinkyturtle
Date:August 13th, 2007 04:54 pm (UTC)
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Hmm, I didn't mention anything about proper names. Most word puzzles like this forbid them. I think I'll allow them, but they're not preferable. In other words, just as a shorter chain is better than a longer chain, a chain with fewer proper names is better than one of the same length with more names.
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From:mr_squiddle
Date:August 13th, 2007 04:25 pm (UTC)

12

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kinky kink kin bin bun burn burl hurl hurly hurtly hurtle turtle
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From:kinkyturtle
Date:August 13th, 2007 04:30 pm (UTC)

Re: 12

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Not bad, although it's debatable whether "hurtly" is an acceptable word.
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From:mr_squiddle
Date:August 13th, 2007 05:35 pm (UTC)

Re: 12

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"The projects committee rejected my proposal for the Adverbial Quasineologizer!" said Tom hurtly. "I should never have taken Swift Enterprises public."
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From:kinkyturtle
Date:August 13th, 2007 04:38 pm (UTC)

Re: 12

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Aha! Replace H with C and you've got:
KINKY KINK KIN BIN BUN BURN BURL CURL CURLY CURTLY CURTLE TURTLE

(I can't find any citations of "curtle" outside "curtle-ax", but I can find that cited as an unhyphenated two-word phrase, so I think I can allow "curtle".) :} 12 words, 11 steps.
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From:kinkyturtle
Date:August 13th, 2007 07:11 pm (UTC)
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Can you cite "turke"?
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From:electronin
Date:August 13th, 2007 07:33 pm (UTC)
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Checking.....
I was mistaken. No.
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From:darksasami
Date:August 13th, 2007 08:46 pm (UTC)
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If you allow "buttle", which is slang but has been in print for some 160 years or so, you get 13.

kinky kink mink munk musk must bust butt butte buttle bustle hustle hurtle turtle
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From:darksasami
Date:August 13th, 2007 09:00 pm (UTC)
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Oh, and here we go with a more elegant 12:

kinky kink kin kit bit but butt butte buttle bustle hustle hurtle turtle
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From:kinkyturtle
Date:August 13th, 2007 10:43 pm (UTC)
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Nice!

And if you allow "bink", which is either onomatopoeic or Scottish dialect for a bench, we can get it down to 11:

kinky kink bink bunk bunt butt butte buttle bustle hustle hurtle turtle
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From:toonygal
Date:August 14th, 2007 08:16 pm (UTC)
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Thanks to this post, I just spent like thirty minutes trying to turn TOONY into MOUSE. xP
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From:toonygal
Date:August 14th, 2007 08:25 pm (UTC)

8 steps

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If "toons" counts...

toony toons tons toss loss lose louse mouse

=D
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From:kinkyturtle
Date:August 14th, 2007 10:21 pm (UTC)

Re: 8 steps

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Actually, that's 7 steps. Even better!
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From:mr_squiddle
Date:August 15th, 2007 01:31 am (UTC)

five alive

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toony toon moon moos moose mouse
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