BHSNTTSPAZ

DILBTEAIRU

DSLEATIEDW

CAMUHIRLCZ

CTAMASAHLY

AWETOTNTEV

EHSSLLRAOX

DTERLEEBRW

Hint: The answer to this question is a single word.

The title gives it away -- I noticed that the first column had all letters from the beginning of the alphabet, while the last column had letters from the end. As the title suggested "order", I ordered the lines based on the first letter, and reading down the columns I found "WHAT IS THE SMALLEST NUMBER SO THAT ALL", but the rest made no sense, so I ordered the text again by the last letter, and reading (now upwards) I found "ITS LETTERS ARE IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER". Searching the web found that 40 seems to be the only such number.
Edited on March 21, 2004, 8:31 am

Posted by e.g. on 2004-03-21 08:21:01