A Solution for the Ten Letter Acrostic Puzzle? 258
rmo101 asks: "A story in the Times reports a solution to the ten letter acrostic square puzzle that has defied solution since the ancient Greeks. An acrostic puzzle comprises a square of letters where the arrangement of letters from words written in rows result in the same words appearing vertically in the same order. The ten letter solution, however, is not accepted by all as one of the words does not appear in a dictionary. Sounds like a puzzle in search of a fiendish algorithm for interrogating a dictionary. The ancient Greeks believed that the solver of the ten letter puzzle would become immortal. Anyone fancy their chances?" Of course, the Times article doesn't report the proposed ten-letter solution (they show a five-letter one), but they do mention the controversial word: "nonesevent". Are any of you interested in trying your hand at a better solution?
Re:Lifetime of immortality? (Score:3, Insightful)
Once it fails, that's the life over, hence no guarantee...
Re:Lifetime of immortality? (Score:1, Insightful)
hm
One slight difference (Score:4, Insightful)
Language? (Score:3, Insightful)
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Article messed up the latin square (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"nonesevent" not in google (Score:2, Insightful)
From m-w.com
Main Entry: 4none
Pronunciation: 'nOn
Function: noun
Usage: often capitalized
Etymology: Late Latin nona, from Latin, 9th hour of the day from sunrise -- more at NOON
: the fifth of the canonical hours
A google define:nones query results in:
# n the old Roman calendar, the ninth day before Ides. The 7th of March, May, July and October and the 5th of other months. See Calends, Nones & Ides
www.highdown.reading.sch.uk/highdown/pupil/time/c
# the 5th or 7th day of the month, depending on the month, in Roman dating
medievalwriting.50megs.com/glossary2.htm
# ninth day before the ides (hence 5th or 7th of month, since Romans counted both ends of the number series).
www.stockton.edu/~roman/fiction/vocab3.htm
# the fifth of the seven canonical hours; about 3 p.m.
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Looks to me like this isn't a single word, rather a compound word. Perhaps it should be hyphenated, if written out...
Re:Anient Greeks? (Score:2, Insightful)
Wrong Language (Score:5, Insightful)
Clarke's Conjecture (Score:3, Insightful)