Unusual letter combinations
up vote
35
down vote
favorite
This is an entry in the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #41: Short and Sweet.
English spelling is very strange. Sometimes you encounter words with letter combinations that would seem entirely unpronounceable on their own.
I have listed a few such letter combinations below. Try to determine what word each combination is from.
- The letters may appear at the beginning, middle or end of the word, but they are all consecutive (no other letters appear in between)
- All words will be found in any reasonable dictionary. None are particularly obscure.
- In cases where there may be 2 or 3 valid answers, an additional letter has been supplied to disambiguate. The additional letter must be found somewhere in the answer word.
- Since using computers makes this challenge trivial, please try to work this one out using only your own brain (or those of your friends).
GNAG
PSTR (U)
KWH
NDTHS
GHTH (U)
CST
WKW
MBSTR (C)
CKKN (F)
RWAT (U)
NDTHR
LFTH
RTGA
XACE
APK
ESHOL
When you have all the words, their initials will spell something that English in general, or these words particularly, could use.
english no-computers spelling
add a comment |
up vote
35
down vote
favorite
This is an entry in the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #41: Short and Sweet.
English spelling is very strange. Sometimes you encounter words with letter combinations that would seem entirely unpronounceable on their own.
I have listed a few such letter combinations below. Try to determine what word each combination is from.
- The letters may appear at the beginning, middle or end of the word, but they are all consecutive (no other letters appear in between)
- All words will be found in any reasonable dictionary. None are particularly obscure.
- In cases where there may be 2 or 3 valid answers, an additional letter has been supplied to disambiguate. The additional letter must be found somewhere in the answer word.
- Since using computers makes this challenge trivial, please try to work this one out using only your own brain (or those of your friends).
GNAG
PSTR (U)
KWH
NDTHS
GHTH (U)
CST
WKW
MBSTR (C)
CKKN (F)
RWAT (U)
NDTHR
LFTH
RTGA
XACE
APK
ESHOL
When you have all the words, their initials will spell something that English in general, or these words particularly, could use.
english no-computers spelling
Nice puzzle! Might I ask: How did you come up with your words? A computer search for unique letter combinations, or something else? If you don't want to spoil the secret, you don't need to answer :)
– David Koelle
Nov 14 at 1:45
1
@DavidKoelle I thought of most of them out of my head. I then used a computer to check the combinations and ensure that they were unique or almost unique. For a few of them, I googled "unusually spelled words", and picked a few appropriate words from those lists.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
1
There were quite a few other words I came up with, which turned out not to be so unique after checking. I probably went through about 50 words, and ended up with this list.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
add a comment |
up vote
35
down vote
favorite
up vote
35
down vote
favorite
This is an entry in the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #41: Short and Sweet.
English spelling is very strange. Sometimes you encounter words with letter combinations that would seem entirely unpronounceable on their own.
I have listed a few such letter combinations below. Try to determine what word each combination is from.
- The letters may appear at the beginning, middle or end of the word, but they are all consecutive (no other letters appear in between)
- All words will be found in any reasonable dictionary. None are particularly obscure.
- In cases where there may be 2 or 3 valid answers, an additional letter has been supplied to disambiguate. The additional letter must be found somewhere in the answer word.
- Since using computers makes this challenge trivial, please try to work this one out using only your own brain (or those of your friends).
GNAG
PSTR (U)
KWH
NDTHS
GHTH (U)
CST
WKW
MBSTR (C)
CKKN (F)
RWAT (U)
NDTHR
LFTH
RTGA
XACE
APK
ESHOL
When you have all the words, their initials will spell something that English in general, or these words particularly, could use.
english no-computers spelling
This is an entry in the Fortnightly Topic Challenge #41: Short and Sweet.
English spelling is very strange. Sometimes you encounter words with letter combinations that would seem entirely unpronounceable on their own.
I have listed a few such letter combinations below. Try to determine what word each combination is from.
- The letters may appear at the beginning, middle or end of the word, but they are all consecutive (no other letters appear in between)
- All words will be found in any reasonable dictionary. None are particularly obscure.
- In cases where there may be 2 or 3 valid answers, an additional letter has been supplied to disambiguate. The additional letter must be found somewhere in the answer word.
- Since using computers makes this challenge trivial, please try to work this one out using only your own brain (or those of your friends).
GNAG
PSTR (U)
KWH
NDTHS
GHTH (U)
CST
WKW
MBSTR (C)
CKKN (F)
RWAT (U)
NDTHR
LFTH
RTGA
XACE
APK
ESHOL
When you have all the words, their initials will spell something that English in general, or these words particularly, could use.
english no-computers spelling
english no-computers spelling
asked Nov 13 at 18:42
GentlePurpleRain♦
16.6k568136
16.6k568136
Nice puzzle! Might I ask: How did you come up with your words? A computer search for unique letter combinations, or something else? If you don't want to spoil the secret, you don't need to answer :)
– David Koelle
Nov 14 at 1:45
1
@DavidKoelle I thought of most of them out of my head. I then used a computer to check the combinations and ensure that they were unique or almost unique. For a few of them, I googled "unusually spelled words", and picked a few appropriate words from those lists.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
1
There were quite a few other words I came up with, which turned out not to be so unique after checking. I probably went through about 50 words, and ended up with this list.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
add a comment |
Nice puzzle! Might I ask: How did you come up with your words? A computer search for unique letter combinations, or something else? If you don't want to spoil the secret, you don't need to answer :)
– David Koelle
Nov 14 at 1:45
1
@DavidKoelle I thought of most of them out of my head. I then used a computer to check the combinations and ensure that they were unique or almost unique. For a few of them, I googled "unusually spelled words", and picked a few appropriate words from those lists.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
1
There were quite a few other words I came up with, which turned out not to be so unique after checking. I probably went through about 50 words, and ended up with this list.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
Nice puzzle! Might I ask: How did you come up with your words? A computer search for unique letter combinations, or something else? If you don't want to spoil the secret, you don't need to answer :)
– David Koelle
Nov 14 at 1:45
Nice puzzle! Might I ask: How did you come up with your words? A computer search for unique letter combinations, or something else? If you don't want to spoil the secret, you don't need to answer :)
– David Koelle
Nov 14 at 1:45
1
1
@DavidKoelle I thought of most of them out of my head. I then used a computer to check the combinations and ensure that they were unique or almost unique. For a few of them, I googled "unusually spelled words", and picked a few appropriate words from those lists.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
@DavidKoelle I thought of most of them out of my head. I then used a computer to check the combinations and ensure that they were unique or almost unique. For a few of them, I googled "unusually spelled words", and picked a few appropriate words from those lists.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
1
1
There were quite a few other words I came up with, which turned out not to be so unique after checking. I probably went through about 50 words, and ended up with this list.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
There were quite a few other words I came up with, which turned out not to be so unique after checking. I probably went through about 50 words, and ended up with this list.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
add a comment |
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
up vote
21
down vote
accepted
The final answer is
SUBTLE ADJUSTMENT
(note that subtle contains the rather rare letter combination BTL. Not sure if that is on purpose ...)
formed by the words
- Signage (Parseltongue)
- Upstream (Parseltongue)
- Buckwheat (Parseltongue)
- Thousandths (Parseltongue)
- Lighthouse (JonMark Perry)
- Ecstatic (Parseltongue)
- Awkward (Dorrulf)
- Dumbstruck (me, kazi0)
- Jackknife (me)
- Underwater (Dorrulf)
- Spendthrift (kazi0)
- Twelfth (me, kazi0)
- Mortgage (Dorrulf)
- Exacerbate (kazi0)
- Napkin (kazi0)
- Threshold (Dorrulf)
I tried to reconstruct who came up with individual words first; which is kind of hard given the timelines and grace period edits. Apologies for any mistakes.
But if you ask me (non-native speaker here):
English spelling in general can use a not-so subtle adjustment.
I found some remaining ones:
MBSTR:
duMBSTRuCk
CKKN:
jaCKKNiFe
LFTH:
tweLFTH
2
Really nice answer :)
– ABcDexter
Nov 13 at 19:24
2
Really nice puzzle :)
– Glorfindel
Nov 13 at 19:24
But it doesn't contain an F...
– Glorfindel
2 days ago
add a comment |
up vote
8
down vote
Partial answers so far:
1. Signage
2. Upstream
3. Buckwheat
4. Thousandths
5. Eighth (not quite correct, due to disambiguation)
6. Ecstatic
7.
8.
9.
10. Overwatch (not quite correct, due to disambiguation).
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
Partial:
1.
2. UPSTREAM
3.
4. THOUSANDTHS
5.
6.
7. AWKWARD
8.
9. ___CKKNIFE
10. UNDERWATER
11.
12.
13. MORTGAGE
14.
15.
16. THRESHOLD
rot13(ahzore 9 vf cebonoyl wnpxxavsr)
– JR_M
Nov 13 at 19:11
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
Some of the words that haven't been found yet
MBSTR (C):
dumbstruck
NDTHR:
spendthrift
LFTH:
twelfth
XACE:
exacerbate
APK:
napkin
New contributor
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
5:
LIGHTHOUSE (thanks to the U)
add a comment |
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
5 Answers
5
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
active
oldest
votes
up vote
21
down vote
accepted
The final answer is
SUBTLE ADJUSTMENT
(note that subtle contains the rather rare letter combination BTL. Not sure if that is on purpose ...)
formed by the words
- Signage (Parseltongue)
- Upstream (Parseltongue)
- Buckwheat (Parseltongue)
- Thousandths (Parseltongue)
- Lighthouse (JonMark Perry)
- Ecstatic (Parseltongue)
- Awkward (Dorrulf)
- Dumbstruck (me, kazi0)
- Jackknife (me)
- Underwater (Dorrulf)
- Spendthrift (kazi0)
- Twelfth (me, kazi0)
- Mortgage (Dorrulf)
- Exacerbate (kazi0)
- Napkin (kazi0)
- Threshold (Dorrulf)
I tried to reconstruct who came up with individual words first; which is kind of hard given the timelines and grace period edits. Apologies for any mistakes.
But if you ask me (non-native speaker here):
English spelling in general can use a not-so subtle adjustment.
I found some remaining ones:
MBSTR:
duMBSTRuCk
CKKN:
jaCKKNiFe
LFTH:
tweLFTH
2
Really nice answer :)
– ABcDexter
Nov 13 at 19:24
2
Really nice puzzle :)
– Glorfindel
Nov 13 at 19:24
But it doesn't contain an F...
– Glorfindel
2 days ago
add a comment |
up vote
21
down vote
accepted
The final answer is
SUBTLE ADJUSTMENT
(note that subtle contains the rather rare letter combination BTL. Not sure if that is on purpose ...)
formed by the words
- Signage (Parseltongue)
- Upstream (Parseltongue)
- Buckwheat (Parseltongue)
- Thousandths (Parseltongue)
- Lighthouse (JonMark Perry)
- Ecstatic (Parseltongue)
- Awkward (Dorrulf)
- Dumbstruck (me, kazi0)
- Jackknife (me)
- Underwater (Dorrulf)
- Spendthrift (kazi0)
- Twelfth (me, kazi0)
- Mortgage (Dorrulf)
- Exacerbate (kazi0)
- Napkin (kazi0)
- Threshold (Dorrulf)
I tried to reconstruct who came up with individual words first; which is kind of hard given the timelines and grace period edits. Apologies for any mistakes.
But if you ask me (non-native speaker here):
English spelling in general can use a not-so subtle adjustment.
I found some remaining ones:
MBSTR:
duMBSTRuCk
CKKN:
jaCKKNiFe
LFTH:
tweLFTH
2
Really nice answer :)
– ABcDexter
Nov 13 at 19:24
2
Really nice puzzle :)
– Glorfindel
Nov 13 at 19:24
But it doesn't contain an F...
– Glorfindel
2 days ago
add a comment |
up vote
21
down vote
accepted
up vote
21
down vote
accepted
The final answer is
SUBTLE ADJUSTMENT
(note that subtle contains the rather rare letter combination BTL. Not sure if that is on purpose ...)
formed by the words
- Signage (Parseltongue)
- Upstream (Parseltongue)
- Buckwheat (Parseltongue)
- Thousandths (Parseltongue)
- Lighthouse (JonMark Perry)
- Ecstatic (Parseltongue)
- Awkward (Dorrulf)
- Dumbstruck (me, kazi0)
- Jackknife (me)
- Underwater (Dorrulf)
- Spendthrift (kazi0)
- Twelfth (me, kazi0)
- Mortgage (Dorrulf)
- Exacerbate (kazi0)
- Napkin (kazi0)
- Threshold (Dorrulf)
I tried to reconstruct who came up with individual words first; which is kind of hard given the timelines and grace period edits. Apologies for any mistakes.
But if you ask me (non-native speaker here):
English spelling in general can use a not-so subtle adjustment.
I found some remaining ones:
MBSTR:
duMBSTRuCk
CKKN:
jaCKKNiFe
LFTH:
tweLFTH
The final answer is
SUBTLE ADJUSTMENT
(note that subtle contains the rather rare letter combination BTL. Not sure if that is on purpose ...)
formed by the words
- Signage (Parseltongue)
- Upstream (Parseltongue)
- Buckwheat (Parseltongue)
- Thousandths (Parseltongue)
- Lighthouse (JonMark Perry)
- Ecstatic (Parseltongue)
- Awkward (Dorrulf)
- Dumbstruck (me, kazi0)
- Jackknife (me)
- Underwater (Dorrulf)
- Spendthrift (kazi0)
- Twelfth (me, kazi0)
- Mortgage (Dorrulf)
- Exacerbate (kazi0)
- Napkin (kazi0)
- Threshold (Dorrulf)
I tried to reconstruct who came up with individual words first; which is kind of hard given the timelines and grace period edits. Apologies for any mistakes.
But if you ask me (non-native speaker here):
English spelling in general can use a not-so subtle adjustment.
I found some remaining ones:
MBSTR:
duMBSTRuCk
CKKN:
jaCKKNiFe
LFTH:
tweLFTH
edited 2 days ago
answered Nov 13 at 19:07
Glorfindel
12.1k34576
12.1k34576
2
Really nice answer :)
– ABcDexter
Nov 13 at 19:24
2
Really nice puzzle :)
– Glorfindel
Nov 13 at 19:24
But it doesn't contain an F...
– Glorfindel
2 days ago
add a comment |
2
Really nice answer :)
– ABcDexter
Nov 13 at 19:24
2
Really nice puzzle :)
– Glorfindel
Nov 13 at 19:24
But it doesn't contain an F...
– Glorfindel
2 days ago
2
2
Really nice answer :)
– ABcDexter
Nov 13 at 19:24
Really nice answer :)
– ABcDexter
Nov 13 at 19:24
2
2
Really nice puzzle :)
– Glorfindel
Nov 13 at 19:24
Really nice puzzle :)
– Glorfindel
Nov 13 at 19:24
But it doesn't contain an F...
– Glorfindel
2 days ago
But it doesn't contain an F...
– Glorfindel
2 days ago
add a comment |
up vote
8
down vote
Partial answers so far:
1. Signage
2. Upstream
3. Buckwheat
4. Thousandths
5. Eighth (not quite correct, due to disambiguation)
6. Ecstatic
7.
8.
9.
10. Overwatch (not quite correct, due to disambiguation).
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20
add a comment |
up vote
8
down vote
Partial answers so far:
1. Signage
2. Upstream
3. Buckwheat
4. Thousandths
5. Eighth (not quite correct, due to disambiguation)
6. Ecstatic
7.
8.
9.
10. Overwatch (not quite correct, due to disambiguation).
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20
add a comment |
up vote
8
down vote
up vote
8
down vote
Partial answers so far:
1. Signage
2. Upstream
3. Buckwheat
4. Thousandths
5. Eighth (not quite correct, due to disambiguation)
6. Ecstatic
7.
8.
9.
10. Overwatch (not quite correct, due to disambiguation).
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20
Partial answers so far:
1. Signage
2. Upstream
3. Buckwheat
4. Thousandths
5. Eighth (not quite correct, due to disambiguation)
6. Ecstatic
7.
8.
9.
10. Overwatch (not quite correct, due to disambiguation).
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20
edited Nov 13 at 19:18
answered Nov 13 at 18:47
Parseltongue
43618
43618
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
Partial:
1.
2. UPSTREAM
3.
4. THOUSANDTHS
5.
6.
7. AWKWARD
8.
9. ___CKKNIFE
10. UNDERWATER
11.
12.
13. MORTGAGE
14.
15.
16. THRESHOLD
rot13(ahzore 9 vf cebonoyl wnpxxavsr)
– JR_M
Nov 13 at 19:11
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
Partial:
1.
2. UPSTREAM
3.
4. THOUSANDTHS
5.
6.
7. AWKWARD
8.
9. ___CKKNIFE
10. UNDERWATER
11.
12.
13. MORTGAGE
14.
15.
16. THRESHOLD
rot13(ahzore 9 vf cebonoyl wnpxxavsr)
– JR_M
Nov 13 at 19:11
add a comment |
up vote
7
down vote
up vote
7
down vote
Partial:
1.
2. UPSTREAM
3.
4. THOUSANDTHS
5.
6.
7. AWKWARD
8.
9. ___CKKNIFE
10. UNDERWATER
11.
12.
13. MORTGAGE
14.
15.
16. THRESHOLD
Partial:
1.
2. UPSTREAM
3.
4. THOUSANDTHS
5.
6.
7. AWKWARD
8.
9. ___CKKNIFE
10. UNDERWATER
11.
12.
13. MORTGAGE
14.
15.
16. THRESHOLD
edited Nov 13 at 19:03
answered Nov 13 at 18:54
Dorrulf
1,1627
1,1627
rot13(ahzore 9 vf cebonoyl wnpxxavsr)
– JR_M
Nov 13 at 19:11
add a comment |
rot13(ahzore 9 vf cebonoyl wnpxxavsr)
– JR_M
Nov 13 at 19:11
rot13(ahzore 9 vf cebonoyl wnpxxavsr)
– JR_M
Nov 13 at 19:11
rot13(ahzore 9 vf cebonoyl wnpxxavsr)
– JR_M
Nov 13 at 19:11
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
Some of the words that haven't been found yet
MBSTR (C):
dumbstruck
NDTHR:
spendthrift
LFTH:
twelfth
XACE:
exacerbate
APK:
napkin
New contributor
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
Some of the words that haven't been found yet
MBSTR (C):
dumbstruck
NDTHR:
spendthrift
LFTH:
twelfth
XACE:
exacerbate
APK:
napkin
New contributor
add a comment |
up vote
6
down vote
up vote
6
down vote
Some of the words that haven't been found yet
MBSTR (C):
dumbstruck
NDTHR:
spendthrift
LFTH:
twelfth
XACE:
exacerbate
APK:
napkin
New contributor
Some of the words that haven't been found yet
MBSTR (C):
dumbstruck
NDTHR:
spendthrift
LFTH:
twelfth
XACE:
exacerbate
APK:
napkin
New contributor
edited Nov 13 at 19:14
New contributor
answered Nov 13 at 19:08
kazi0
813
813
New contributor
New contributor
add a comment |
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
5:
LIGHTHOUSE (thanks to the U)
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
5:
LIGHTHOUSE (thanks to the U)
add a comment |
up vote
4
down vote
up vote
4
down vote
5:
LIGHTHOUSE (thanks to the U)
5:
LIGHTHOUSE (thanks to the U)
answered Nov 13 at 19:15
JonMark Perry
15.8k52975
15.8k52975
add a comment |
add a comment |
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Nice puzzle! Might I ask: How did you come up with your words? A computer search for unique letter combinations, or something else? If you don't want to spoil the secret, you don't need to answer :)
– David Koelle
Nov 14 at 1:45
1
@DavidKoelle I thought of most of them out of my head. I then used a computer to check the combinations and ensure that they were unique or almost unique. For a few of them, I googled "unusually spelled words", and picked a few appropriate words from those lists.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago
1
There were quite a few other words I came up with, which turned out not to be so unique after checking. I probably went through about 50 words, and ended up with this list.
– GentlePurpleRain♦
2 days ago