The following was originally a list of five-letter words, but in each case two consecutive letters (though never the first two) have been removed. The 26 missing letters are all different. What was the original list?

A N T
A S S
B A Y
C O Y
D I M
E E L
F A R
M A R
P I E
S E E
T I E
T O P
W I N

(In reply to Never quite there by brianjn)

My 5-letter candidate words were:

agent alant ament anent anent angst antae antas anted antes antic antis antra antre antsy avant

abyss amass amiss ascus ashes askos aspis assai assay assed asses asses asset

baddy badly baffy baggy baldy balky bally balmy bandy banty barky barmy barny bassy batty bawdy bawty bayed bayou belay byway

coaly cobby cocky colly comfy commy coney conky cooey cooky cooly corby corky corny cosey covey cowry coyed coyer coyly coyly coypu cozey

denim dimer dimes dimly

easel excel expel

facer fader faker fakir faqir farad farce farci farcy fards fared farer farer fares farle farls farms faros farts favor feuar filar friar

macer major makar makar maker malar malar manor march marcs mares marge maria marks marls marly marry marse marsh marts marvy maser mater mayor mazer molar

piece piece piers pieta piety pique piste pixie pixie pyxie

saree scree sedge seeds seedy seeks seels seely seems seeps seepy seers segue seine seise seize selle sense sente serge serve setae siree spree sycee

tawie tiers tilde tinge tithe title titre towie

topaz toped topee toper topes tophe tophi tophs topic topis topoi topos troop

widen wigan wince winch winds windy wined wines winey wings wingy winks winos winze witan wizen

BTW, I didn't filter out double-letter insertions (such as "ff") until the time came to use the words.

Edited on May 1, 2013, 10:03 am

Posted by Charlie on 2013-05-01 09:58:34