Previous "Word Meld" puzzles consisted of a pair of words for which to find the shortest sequence of common words, each differing from the previous by only one letter, which began with one word of the pair and ended with the other.

For this problem, find the pair of words that has a shortest solution of maximum possible length.

Using a hopefully better Scrabble 3-letter word list, I would like to put forward these gems :-) I note that Ivy is still in the thick of things. Also, of the 972 words in the list, only 5 are not part of the largest graph component, meaning there is a meld between "almost" any pair of 3-letter words. There are tons of descriptive questions to be asked, but I shall ponder them after a good nights rest :-)

{CHI,PHI,PHT,PIT,PIS,AIS,ABS,ABO,AGO,EGO},
{CHI,PHI,PHT,PIT,AIT,ACT,ACE,ICE,ICY,IVY},
{CHI,PHI,POI,POW,WOW,WOO,WHO,OHO,OXO,OXY},
{CWM,CAM,CAT,OAT,ORT,ORE,IRE,ICE,ICY,IVY},
{EDH,ETH,NTH,NOH,NOO,WOO,WHO,OHO,OXO,OXY},
{EGO,AGO,AGE,AYE,PYE,PYX,POX,POI,PHI,GHI},
{GHI,PHI,PHT,PIT,AIT,ACT,ACE,ICE,ICY,IVY},
{GHI,PHI,POI,POW,WOW,WOO,WHO,OHO,OXO,OXY},
{GYM,GAM,GAT,OAT,ORT,ORE,IRE,ICE,ICY,IVY},
{IVY,ICY,ICE,ACE,ACT,AIT,PIT,PHT,PHI,KHI},
{IVY,ICY,ICE,ACE,AYE,PYE,PYX,POX,POI,KOI},
{IVY,ICY,ICE,IRE,ORE,ORS,OHS,OHO,OXO,OXY},
{IVY,ICY,ICK,INK,INN,ION,SON,SOY,SLY,PLY},
{IVY,ICY,ICK,INK,INN,ION,TON,TOY,TRY,PRY},
{IVY,ICY,ICE,ACE,ACT,AIT,PIT,PHT,PHI,PSI},
{IVY,ICY,ICE,ACE,ACT,AIT,SIT,SET,SEI,SRI},
{IVY,ICY,ICK,INK,INN,ION,FON,FOU,FLU,ULU},
{OBI,OBE,ORE,ORT,OAT,FAT,FET,FEU,FLU,ULU},
{OXY,OXO,OHO,THO,THY,TOY,FOY,FOU,FLU,ULU},
{ULU,FLU,FEU,FEH,HEH,HES,OES,OPS,UPS,UPO},
{ULU,FLU,FEU,FED,FUD,OUD,ODD,ODE,OSE,USE}

Posted by owl on 2005-01-23 04:58:13