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Smart Trams (Posted on 2012-04-26) Difficulty: 4 of 5
This is a variation of Elite Etile.

Consider all possible valid English words having at least 3 letters and at most 13 letters that satisfy the following conditions:
  • Each word ends with a letter that immediately follows the letter that the word begins with. (For example, if a word begins with c it must end in d), and:
  • Reversing the letters we obtain another valid English word, and:
  • None of the words can be proper nouns, acronyms or abbreviations, and:
  • None of the words can be hyphenated like A-bomb, X-ray etc.
What is the longest word that satisfies all the given conditions? What are the respective first word and the last word appearing alphabetically? Does there exist any valid English word having more than 13 letters that satisfies all the conditions?

No Solution Yet Submitted by K Sengupta    
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Comments: ( Back to comment list | You must be logged in to post comments.)
re: computer solution (spoilers) | Comment 4 of 10 |
(In reply to computer solution (spoilers) by Charlie)

I see I missed fifteen word pairs browsing the online dictionaries. Good job, Charlie. 

Not all these word pairs are valid solutions for (i), as a few are plurals. A few I would also delegate to the outdated, archaic, or obolete word list that had listed separately.

  • loom - a textile machine for weaving; hang over darkly or menacingly
    mool - (Scottish & Northern England) soft, crumbly soil rich in mold or humus; a grave
  • man - mankind; an adult male human; to fortify, operate or supply with men
    nam - (obsolete) nim: to take; to steal; to filch
  • mon - (Scottish) man
    nom - name; nom de guerre; nom de plume
  • redes - (archaic) advises; counsels; explains
    seder - a ceremonial Passover dinner
  • rees - (British dialect) sifts (grain, peas, beans, etc.)
    seer - an observer who perceives visually; a person with the power of foresight; a prophet
  • repots - puts (a house plant) into a new, usually larger, pot
    stoper - a machine for drilling rock from below
  • sat - seated; rested
    tas - plural of ta: (British) thanks
  • secret - information deliberately unrevealed but to a small number
    terces - plural of terce: the third canonical hour
  • sleet - a mixture of snow and rain
    teels - plural of teel: til, the sesame plant
  • slit - a long thin cut
    tils - plural of til: the sesame plant
  • snoot - informally, the nose
    toons - plural of toon: a large meliaceous tree, Cedrela toona; a cartoon character
  • snot - nasal mucus
    tons - a lot; a large number or amount
  • spirt - gush forth in a sudden stream or jet
    trips - stumbles; makes a journey for pleasure
  • sprat - small fatty European fish
    tarps - plural for tarp: tarpaulin
  • stet - (printing) to direct that a mark for omission or correction is cancelled
    tets - plural of tet: a Vietnamese New Year festival

Edited on April 27, 2012, 7:50 am
  Posted by Dej Mar on 2012-04-26 13:16:53

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