Nine-square round-up.
This article briefly surveys previous findings, then presents new quality nine-squares. Next, it presents squares with diagonal words to add to those previously published by me. Finally, it looks at the most popular top row words, and also at the the most popular words in any position.Brief History
Granted that I have found 2000 ten-squares, but 300,000 nine-squares from fewer than half the number of words, it might be concluded that finding good nine-squares is easy. Not so!
The first nine-square I am aware of was produced in 1897 by Arthur Holt. By 1965 (the date of Borgmann's Language on Vacation), hundreds of squares had been produced, including the ISOSCELAR square by Rufus Strohm, in which all words come from dictionaries, though one was a phrase. In the century since, little progress has been made, despite the widespread use of computers and the application of many well-known logological brains [including Palmer Peterson, before June 1979 (see WW81-121); Darryl Francis in WW81-121; and Jeff Grant in WW80-195 and WW89-109 (Kickshaws)]. In WW91-199, Eric Albert advanced the art by producing the NECESSISM square, which has all solid words, but one is a genus name, so has an initial capital: this square is also single-source (see main body of this article). Major efforts since include Richard Sabey in WW97-13, with NEOPLASIA (one hyphen), and DISLEAVED (obsolete and derived); and Chris Cole in WW01-271, who made an interesting attempt at using modern words (some only to be found on the Internet), but all the squares have at least one phrase. Finally, I published what I believe to be the first diagonal nine-squares.
Quality Nine-Squares
From a vocabulary of rather over 300,000 words (largely excluding place names), the formula of Chris Long (WW93-5) predicts 1.8 million squares, though his program, run against my actual list, suggested 390,000. In fact, the word list yielded rather fewer than 320,000 squares, slightly more than one nine-square per word, and among these I sought a "perfect" square. Such a square would have all solid words (no hyphens or phrases); no foreign words (unless very well-known in English); no proper nouns (ie no places, personal names, or genus names); and no words from the interior of a dictionary (ie words must appear as headwords or variants, or be regularly derivable therefrom). The rigid application of such rules is not always felicitous: for example, why ban very well-known names of religious or philosophical movements; or pharmaceuticals like Viagra, but not aspirin?
Finding squares with no blemishes turned out to be very difficult, although there were many squares with just one minor defect. In a situation where no wonderful square exists (all familiar lower-case words), it is very tricky to rank the almost-wonderfuls. However, I divide what I found into those which have no real blemishes, and those that have just one minor blemish. To save space, some alternative (sometimes blemished) words are given for blemish-free words. Where a word can be derived from a headword (eg by adding -nesse), the word is counted as blemish-free, even though it may only appear in the OED text.
Squares with no blemishes Some familiar words in ACHALASIA ACHALASIA OED CRENIDENS OED karanteen, Crenidens crenidens, or the larger bamboo-fish HEXANDRIC OED ANABOLITE Chambers, under anabolism LINOLENIN Web2 ADDLEHEAD Web2, under addle SERINETTE OED INITIATOR OED ASCENDERS OED ascender; or ASCENDERE OED ascension, Latin precursor APPETISES The Electronic Alveary, OED has appetize vb PARSONESE OED parson PRECISION OED; or PRECISION OED ESCULENTA Psoralea esculenta, Chambers bread, breadroot TOILETTES OSPD INSETTERS OED insetter SEINTEFIE OED ESOTERIZE OED SENASSEES OED senassee FOSSICEPS Aenictogiton fossiceps dilutum, ITISa OCTAGONAL OED STERNESSE OED sternness; or STURNESSE OED sternness SARKINITE OED IGNICOLOR Duellmanohyla ignicolor nuda, ITISa COENOSARE TC *,'?mis-spell of coenosarc, OED ENSILAGES OED ensilage, noun & vb PASTORESS OED SLEERESSE OED slayeress * Wordsworth word list GAMETANGE OED gametangium ANALYZORS Stedman analyser, analysor MALAROMAS OSPD (singular common in word lists) ELAEOLATE elaeotate, OED TYROCIDIN OED tyrocidine AZOLIMINE [C.sub.10][H.sub.11][N.sub.3]0, LPS, also allegedly Stedman NOMADISES The Electronic Alveary; * GRATINEES gratinees, OSPD, or OED gratine, feminine gratinee in text ESSENESSE Palindromicon II * or NOMADIZES (OED nomadize vb) LEUCAURIN hyperdictionary.com/dictionary, or Pulliam EURYCRENE Helicopsyche eurycrene hentscheli, ITISa UROCRISIS Stedman CYCLOPITE OED ACROPOLIS NB not the Acropolis, Chambers URIPOSIAS Stedman, uriposia RESILIATE OED INITIATES OED initiate vb NESESSEST W93-100, Murray Pearce MISBELEAD OED INTENABLE OED STINGBULL Chambers sting BENGUELAE Atlantocuma benguelae munroi, ITISa ENGULFING OED LABEFACTA Phryganea labefacta mucronata, ITISa EBULICION OED ebullition ALLANTOIC OED DELEGANCE concours d'elegance, Chambers concours NASSICOLA Gynaecotyla nassicola leucurus, ITISa ANTIDORON OED STAGELAND Web2 SIGNALLEE OED IDEATIONS OED COLLINGEI Xyletobius collingei suturalis, ITISa ORALOGIST Web2 oralogy LONENESSE OED loneness ANDESITES OED andesite noun NONGRADED OSPD OPERABILY in Web2 wordlist NEGATIVES OED negative, noun GRACILIMA Paraxiopsis gracilimana mucronata, ITISa RATICIDES OED ABILIMENT OED DIVIDENTE OED dividend ELEMENTAR Web1 DYSASTERS OED disaster POSTNASAL OED OOPHOROMA common on Web, oophor- in Web2 SPRINGLES OED springle, noun THIRTEENS OED thirteen NONTANNIN Web2 ARGENTITE OED SOLENITIS Web2 AMENITIES OED amenity noun LASSNESSE OED less (lass) +-nesse, or moreness 14..q 'morenesse and lassnesse of numbir' PROMISETH Shakespeare, Henry IV Part I, V-4 REVENTURE Web2 OVEREAGER Web2 MERESTEAD OED INESSENCE OED STATELETS OED statelet EUGENESIS OED TREACTISE OED HERDESSES OED herdess There are some common words in these two squares: RAITCHEVI Trichoniscus raitchevi -inversella, ITISa ANORHEPES Lepidostoma anorhepes beddeci, ITISa IODOAMINO * TROILISTS troilist, see OED troilism CHALCOTIC Stedman chalcosis HEMIOBOLE hemiobole, under OED hemi- EPISTOMAL epistom(e) OED, or Web2 VENTILATE OED; or VENTILATE OED ventilate (Latin precursor) ISOSCELES OED RECAPTORS OED recaptor EPITARSAL Stedman ([dagger]) CIGARETTE OED ATACAMITE OED PARAMETER OED TREMELINE Pulliam ([paragraph]) OSTITISES OED ostitis RATTENERS rattener, under OED ratten SLEERESSE OED, Buffy of old! * eg A micromethod for ... determination of iodoamino acids ..., Journal of Endocrinology, April 1997, Volume 153, Issue 1 ([dagger]) Implantation of a gold weight on the epitarsal surface ... of the upper eyelids ... www.southeasterneyecenter.com ([paragraph]) or Melissa Tremeline, married, alive, http:// www.geocities.com/-nancy-cyr-bush/html/dat161.htm SCULPTILE OED CURARINES OED curarine URINEMICS allegedly Stedman, or by analogy with purinemia, purinemic LANERETTE OED laner PREROSION Chambers TIMESHARE Usually hyphenated in dictionaries but mainly not in usage, esp. computer timesharing INITIATES OED initiate noun LECTORESS OED lector ESSENESSE Palindromicon II TETANICAL OED tetanic EXAMINATE OED TAXICOLOR Budorcas taxicolor, Chambers takin AMIDOXIME Stedman, amidoximes NICOTIDIN OED INOXIDIZE OED CALIDIPES Cnemidophorus calidipes ponticus,ITISa ATOMIZERS OED atomize noun LERENESSE OED leer + nesse, eg leerness, 1398q Squares with a single blemish (a selection) BRASSARTS OED brassard RECKEVERE OED ACOEMETIC Web2 SKEVINAGE OED SEMINOLES Seminole, OED AVENOLITH Web2 RETALIATE OED TRIGETTUR OED tregetour SECESHERS OED secesher CORUSCARE Chambers coruscate, Latin OMENTALIS bursa omentalis (noun) * READERESS OED reader UNDERPUKE Web2, under b STERCORIN OED CARPOGONE OED carpo- (solid) ALEURODES Aleurodes, Web2; or ALEURONES OED RISKINESS OED ESSENESSE Palindromicon II * "an isolated part of the peritoneal cavity ..." define.ansme. com/words/ DEADMARCH dead-march, Chambers dead ENNEAMERA Crematogast erenneamer amarielinum, ITISa ANACLASES plural, Stedman, anaclasis DECRETIST OED MALETOLTE OED maletolt AMATORIAL OED; or AMATORIAN OED RESILIATE OED CRESTATUS Eudyptes crestatus occidentalis, ITISa; or CRISTATUS Chambers crest, crested tit HASTELESS OED DEFORCING OED deforce vb EVITERNAL OED FILOSETTA OED OTOCONITE OED oto-, but otoconite is solid RESONATES OED resonate vb CRENATURE OED INTITULER OED intitule vb, or French, = entitle NATTERERI OED Natterer's bat, Myotis nattereri GLAESERIA Glaeseria vermiformis pacifica, ITISa FEASTINGS OED feasting under feast ECUMANIAC OED AURORALLY OED SMOKEBOAT smoke-boat, OED smoke TAREFITCH Web2 INABILITE OED NILOTICUM Monomorium niloticum niloticum, ITISa GALACTURA Cyprinella galactura espei, ITISa SCYTHEMAN OED GLASSCALM glass-calm, OED glass 16 LINTEARIA Lagetta lintearia discoideus, ITISp ANNECTANS Plagithmysus annectans hirsutus, ITISa STEALAGES OED stealage SECLAZONE * CATAZANER OED ARAGONITE OED LINENETTE OED MASSEREEN OED * Seclazone: http://dtpws4.ncifcrf.gov/FTP/CNAMES/CHNAME_77.TXT, line 294833, also allegedly Stedman One square plus five variations, and one square akin to FEASTINGS above: GLEMARECI Pseudolaophonte glemareci paraminuta, ITISa LAMINARAN OED EMANATIST Emantist, OED MINIROSEA Ocenebra minirosea atlantica, ITISa ANARCOTIN Web2 RATOONING OED ratoon ERISTICAL OED CASEINASE an exoenzyme, common on Web; or CASEINATE Web2 INTANGLED or INTANGLES or INTANGLER, OED entangle, verb IEASTINGS Shakes. Pass. Pilgr. vi ECUMANIAC OED AURORALLY OED SMOKEBOAT smoke-boat, OED smoke 11 TAREFITCH Web2 INABILITE OED NILOTICUM Monomorium niloticum biminiense, ITISa GALACTURA Cyprinella galactura espei, ITISa SCYTHEMAN Chambers, scythe IMPERSIST Stedman impersistence MARRONGIE Kupellonura marrongie beringia, ITISa PRAISINGS OED praising ERIZEPINE LPS 23.4.2001 ROSEPETAL rose-petal, OED rose 23a SNIPEBILL Web2 IGNITIBLE OED SIGNALLER OED TESELLERS OED teaseler ISMATICAL OED ism STANOLONE Stedman MARABENTA Bloomsbury Thes. (dance, Mozambique) ANABROSES pharmaol.narod.ru/EPeoplAppl.htm. Singular anabrosis is common on Internet TOBROCENE Wulfstan, Sermo Lupi ad Anglos ILEOCECAL Stedman CONSECUTE OED ANTENATUS OED esnecy (Latin) LEASELESS OED The -IZE variant of the NECESSISM square was first found by Eric Albert, who said all the words were in Web2 (as they are also in the OED). LEASTINGS OED leasting ECUMANIAC OED AURORALLY OED SMOKEBOAT smoke-boat, OED smoke 11 TAREFITCH Web2 INABILITE OED NILOTICUM Monomorium niloticum gracilicorne, ITISa GALACTURA Cyprinella galactura espei, ITISa SCYTHEMAN OED NECESSISM OED EXISTENCE OED CIRCUMFER OED ESCARPING OED escarp, vb STURNIDAE Sturnidae, OED starling SEMPITERN OED INFIDELIC OED SCENARIZE OED scenario; or -ise (Chambers) MERGENCES OED mergence Two of the OLIVIFORM squares are all-OED: NUMERATUS Chambers numerate (Latin) UNELEGANT OED MELITEMIA Web2 ELIMINANT OED RETINERVE Microcentrum retinerve thomae, ITISa AGENESIAS OED agenesis TAMARINDI OED tamarind UNINVADED OED STATESIDE OED OLIVIFORM OED LAMINARIA OED; or LUMINARIA Chambers limber (Latin) IMPOSITOR OED VIOLURATE OED INSULANTS OED insulant or INSURANTS, OED insurant FAIRATION OED ORTANIQUE OED RIOTTOURS OED rioter MARESNEST mare's-nest, OED Another square with familiar words: OPTICISTS OED opticist PERMANERE Chambers permanent (Latin) TRAILSMAN Web2 IMITATING OED CALAMINAR OED calaminary INSTIGATE OED SEMINARIE OED seminary TRANATION OED SENGREENS OED sengreen noun PECTOROSA Pteromicra pectorosa nycticorax, ITISa EXHALENTS OSPD; also OED exhalant B, 1805q CHELICERS OED chekiler TALAVERAE Palaemon talaverae mammillodactylus, ITISa OLIVENESS OED RECENTEST OSPD, also OED recent 3a 1535q ONEREELER one-reeler, OED one 35 STRASSENI Synonchus strasseni americana; or -RI Illyrionethes strasseri quarta, both ITISa ASSESTRIX OED POSTFURCA OED OPERATORS OED operator noun SERICITIC OED sericite TRIHILATE OED FACILITES OED facility UTILIDORS Utilidor OED (no initial cap in quotes) ROTATORIA Rotatoria, OED definition 3 of rotator (plant) CRITERION OED ASCESSANT Web1, ascessancy POSTREMAS postrema common on Web * OSTEOTOMY OED STETSONED Stetsoned, OED Stetson TETRAMINE Web2 ROSANILIN Stedman ETOMIDATE Stedman MONILARIS Tharyx monilaris beringia, ITISa AMENITIES OED amenity noun SYDENESSE OED side (syde) + -NESSE, also sideness 1440q * eg "The area postrema modulates hypothalamic Fos responses" RABBISSHE OED rabbish ADRENITIS Dorland adrenalitis BRITTLEST OED brittle, superlative BETNOVATE electronic Medicines Compendium INTONATOR OED SILVACOLA Beameromyia silvacola columbiani, ITISa STEATOMYS Steatomys, genus of mouse, Chambers fat HISTOLYSE OED histo- (solid) ESTERASES OED esterase RARIPILIS Meranoplus raripilis polyacantha, ITISa ALINIDINE drug, many refs on Web RIPPERMAN Web2 INPATIENT Web2 PIETRANEL OED IDRIALINE Web2 LIMENITES Venezillo limenites aestiva, ITISa INANENESS Chambers inane SENTLESSE hyphenated. sent (OED scent) + -lesse, eg scentless 1605q SENESCERE Chambers senescent (Latin) EDENTATES OED edentate noun NERTERIUS Cambarus nerterius eruca, ITISa ENTERPONE OED STERCOLIN Web2 CARPOLITE OED ETIOLIPES Camponotus etiolipes floridus, ITISa REUNITERS OED erunite ESSENESSE Palindromicon II TAPADEROS OED tapadero noun AGREEMONY OED PROGNOSED OED prognose vb AEGROTARE Chambers aegrotat (Latin) DENOMINAL OED EMOTIVITY OED emotive 2c ROSANILIN Stedman ONERATING OED onerate vb, also in Web1 under onerate SYDELYNGE OED sideling
Diagonal Squares
I have previously published nine-squares with a diagonal word in the NE-SW (= SW-NE) direction, (May 2002), with a word in the NW-SE direction (November 2002), and with a word in the remaining direction, the SE-NW diagonal (May 2003).
In just over 300,000 nine-squares in total, there was only one square with a diagonal pointing to the south-east, and only one with a diagonal pointing to the north-west. The two dozen or so squares with palindromic diagonals exaggerate their true frequency when compared with the other diagonals, because without the very broad catchment area of the Palindromicon II, I would have found perhaps three or fewer. I would say it is only a little easier to find a diagonal nine-square than an ordinary ten-square. Inclusion of foreign placenames would multiply the number of words by about 2.5, and would be expected to lead to a profusion of nine-squares, with probably many diagonal examples.
Throughout, squares made of words with a repeated letter (eg ZZZZZZZZZ) are ignored. Here are the remaining diagonal nine-squares:
Seven more with SAIASAIAS (Palindromicon II), most of quality superior to AISLELESS: ISOSERUMS "Iso|serum engl.: isoserum" from Roche Lexikon Medizin, should be in Stedman SANTAANAE Catostomus santaanae -immaculatus, ITISa ONYERBIKE on yer bike, famous advice for jobless by Norman Tebbitt STELLATED OED EARLSTARS OED overbend 1886q (Gerard Manley Hopkins) RABATINES OED rabatine, noun UNITANGLE unit-angle, OED radian 1879q MAKERELLE OED SEEDSSEED W93-100, Chris Long, eg "crop rotation, healthy seedsseed" in http://www.gtz.de/proklima/doc/pub1998/mebr-2.pdf. (Sustainable Pest Management Systems, Jordan) Half of the words in the SMOAKLESS square are familiar: SCRAPLETS OED scraplet CYANEIDAE Cyaneidae pauper hyacinthata, ITISa RAZORLIKE razor-like, OED razor 3b ANOCIATED ETERNITY by Anwar Shaikh, Chapter 13 * PERISCIAN OED LILACROSE B. W. Warhurst, Colour Dict. 1899. Lilac-rose is a dull rose (OED mauve) EDITIONES plural of editio princeps, OED TAKEASEAT take a seat, Chambers SEEDNESTS seed-nests, OED seed 9 SMOAKLESS OED smokeless, 1732q MELINIDAE Tertiary Faunas OLDREGIME old regime, OED grand 10c, 1897 P. Warung Tales Old Regime AIRHEATER air-heater, OED air II KNEESTONE Web2 LIGATURES OED EDITORESS OED under editor SAMENESSE OED sameness, 1607q SEERESSES OED seeress * "myriads of [star] clusters anociate to rank as a superstructure", also perhaps Stedman anociassociation. An unusual example: the next three squares two/three words with the others different: STROMNESS Stromness in Orkney Islands, Autostreet Lite TAENIADAE Taeniadae, OED hook 1b 1888q RETENTIFE OED cell 1, 1430q ONESEATER * MINESTONE Chambers under mine NATATORES Natatores, OED EDITORESS OED under editor SAFENESSE OED safeness, 1639q SEERESSES OED seeress STRONGERS OED TAENIADAE Taeniadae, OED hook 1b 1888q REVENGIVE OED ONESEATER * NINESPINE ninespine sticklebacks, ITIS animals GIGAPRONS gig-apron, OED gig 4 EDITIONES plural of editio princeps, OED RAVENNESE OED coupe 1834q SEERESSES OED seeress * Alfa's P3 was the first monoposto (oneseater) Grand Prix-car. www.histomobile.com/histomob/presmark.asp ?ID=2&Ian=2, OR one-sealer, OED ultralight STROWLERS OED stroller 1679q, initial cap in quote TAENIIDAE Taeniidae sepulchralis parafurciger, ITISa REUENGIUE OED revengive, 1608q (King Lear) ONESEATER see above WINESTONE wine-stone, Chambers LIGATURES OED EDITORESS OED under editor RAUENESSE OED raveness, 1623q (with initial cap) SEERESSES OED seeress TOPBLOCKS top-block, OED top 34 ORALAURAL oral-aural, OED tactile 1978q (or oral/aural) PARENTILE OED BLENDABLE OED blusher 1965q (Vogue) LANDSCRIP land-scrip, OED land 12 OUTACTIVE out-active, OED CRIBRIFER Porcellio cribrifer coronata, ITISa KALLIVERE Kallivere, Estonia, NIMA SLEEPERED OED under sleeper One with diagonal SETIFITES (Palindromicon II) CAPSOMERS Stedman capsomer ABRAVANEL Abravanel, OED 3a 1662q (family name) PREFECTLY OED SAFARIHAT safari hat, OED safari 3 OVERFLUSH OED MACILENTE OED macilent ENTHUNDER OED RELASTERS Relasters, of the House of Relaster in Onnwal, a fantasy game on the Internet SLYTHERST Slytherst, OED yeoman 2a 1455q, family name Two with SAGASAGAS, saga-sagas (Palindromicon II) INSETTERS OED insetter; or ONSETTERS, OED onsetter NOCTURNAL OED SCLAREGIA Sclaregia, OED clary 2a 1100q ETARNALLY OED eternally 2b 1664q TURNSTILE OED TREATISOR OED treatiser 1637q ENGLISSCE OED English 4a 1240q, all lower case RAILLOCKS on railcars, see www.besser.com/manuals/LSCI00_INSTALL. pdf (Transfer Cars System) SLAYERESS OED--modern Buffy! One with SEERTREES (seer-trees OED sere 1616q) INTERPASS OED NURSETREE nurse-tree, OED TRACLEERE OED treacler 1415q ESCHARNIR OED, Old French precursor of scorn RELATEING OED verderer 1710q PTEREALER ?, ptereal, Web2 below line, noun ARENILITE OED arenilitic SERINETTE OED SEERGREEN Seer Green, Bucks, England, or SeerGreen Way 95630--Folsom, Sacramento County Two with TITTITTIT, tit-tit-tit (EDD) SCHUCKERT 68113th family name in US Census, or Kap Schuckert, Greenland, 80[degrees] 49', -64[degrees] 55' CHANOINIE OED canonry, French precursor HAGBUTTTS OED hereat 2, 1557q UNBITTEST OED unbitt vb COUTIEREI Nereis coutierei acutifrons, ITISa KITTELMAN Kittelman 82899th family name in US Census; or KITTERMAN 13740th ENTERMINE OED RIISEANUS Atys riiseanus tahoensis, ITISa TESTINESS OED Four with AAAAAAAAA (Brooklyn antiques shop, Palindromicon II) First is all-OED except diagonal ABEASTOFA a beast of a, OED beast 5b BALCARRAS OED Tory 1b 1651q (Lord Balcarras) ELECTUARS OED pothecar, 1480q ACCURANCE OED SATRANGIS Satrangis, OED sitringee, 1969q (rug type) TRUANDALS OED truandal ORANGARIE OED orangery 1, 1664q FARCILITE OED ASSESSEES OED assessee CAMERIERA Pulliam AVICENNAS Avicenna's, OED fen MILLSEATS mill-seat, OED mill 12 ECLATANTE eclatante, OED preux, 1711q (French) RESTARTER Chambers INEARTHST OED inearth, vb ENANTHATE Stedman RATTESTON Suffolk, England * ASSERTENE OED ascertain * Rattest:birthplace of Ursula Scott in 1596, http:// www.csolve.net/~nikf/geneal/1842.htm = Rattlesden? HAHAMISHA Ma'aleh Hahamisha, Israel, 31[degrees] 49', 35[degrees] 07', NIMA ARAMINTAS Araminta's, OED slatternly 2, 1801q HAGISLARS Hagislars, OED hadji, 1585q AMIDWARDE OED amidward, 1400q MISWANDER Webl INLANCEST OED inlance, vb STARDELTA star-delta, OED star 20 HARDESTER US Census ASSERTARE OED assert, Latin precursor HOTCHACHA hot-cha-cha, OED hotcha OXALEMIAS oxalemia, Stedman TAGALIANS Tagalian, OED Tagalog, 1704q CLAMPARDE OED clamper, 1545q HELPABLER OED helpable, adj AMIABLEST OED amiable, superlative (also in quote) CIARLETTA Ciarletta, US Census HANDESTER OED hanaster ASSERTARE OED assert, Latin precursor Six with SASASASAS, sasa sasas (orchids, Palindromicon II) MARISSHES OED uncultured l, 1555q; OR PARISSHES OED clergy 4, 1382q AMICITIAE OED show 7c, 1681q (Latin) RIMELESSE OED timeless, 1532q; OR RITELESSE OED riteless, 1611q ICESKATER ice-skater, Chambers SILKSTARE silk stare, OED silk 10d STEATITES OED steatite HISTATUSS = ephedrine, http://www.mythos.com/pharmacy/Index GenericName.aspx?L=E&P=ITC EASERESSE OED crier, 1631q SEERESSES OED scercss RAMUSCLES OED ramuscle ARENARIAE Web2 MEANNESSE OED meanness 2, 1556q UNNEGATED Web2 SANGSTERS Sangsters, OED refained, 1969q (family name) CREATORES OED turn 22, 13..q, or Latin plural of creator; OR CREATURES OED creature LISTERISE Listerise (disinfect), Chambers EASERESSE OED easer, 1631q SEEDSSEED W93-100, eg "crop rotation, healthy seedsseed" in http://www.gtz.de/prokiima/doc/pub1998/mebr-2.pdf. Three with SATARATAS (eg Thomas SATARATA, Palindromicon II) Three familiar words or phrases: MISAWARDS misaward vb, OED ICEGATEAU ice-gateau, OED cassata SETOUTTUB set-out tub, OED set-out 4 AGONYAUNT agony aunt, OED agony la WAUYRYNGE OED sparpling, 1434q ATTAYNDER OED attainder RETUNDERE Chambers retund, Latin precursor DAUNGERES OED glove 1f, 1430q; OR DAUNGERUS OED gorge 5, 1575q; OR DAUNGERYS OED danger 5a, 1538q SUBTERESA Bolitophila subteresa distincta, ITISa One with DEEPSPEED, deep speed (American football, Palindromicon II) PRESTHOLD OED RANCHEREE OED rancheria ENGRALEST OED engrail, vb SCRIMPIER OSPD THAMSELUE tham-selue, OED thoughtful 1b, 13..q (th is a thorn) HELPEALES helpe-ales, OED ale A3, 1687q OREILLERS OED oreille, 1523q (French) LESEUERII Juncus leseuerii fonticola, ITIS plant DETRESSIT OED detressed, 1500q
Most Popular Top Row Words
The most popular top row word among the nine-squares was SHAPFACED (shap-faced, OED shap, 1882q), heading about 0.7 in every thousand squares. Some good examples of its use (including a pair of all-OED squares) are:
SHAPFACED shap-faced, OED shap, 1882q HARRISONI eg Stauroneis harrisoni gracilis, ITISp ARMORINGS OED orgone, 1949q PROLEPTIC OED FIRESHINE OED fire, 1871q ASIPHONEA Webl (mollusc) CONTINUES OED continue ENGINEERS OED engineer DISCEASSE OED decease, verb SHAPFACED shap-faced, OED shap, 1882q HYDROVAN OED ADHERENTS OED adherent PRESENTER OED FORESTORE OED fore-, 5b (solid) AVENTURLY OED adventurely CANTORIAN OED ENTERLACE OED; OR ENTERLADE OED DESREYNER OED deraign, 1292q (really French) This could alternatively end with: ENGINEERY OED DISCEASYD OED disseise 1494q The next most popular top row words were many to be found heading about 0.4 in every thousand squares: RASPISHER OED raspish adj WASPISHER OED waspish adj FLATCAPPD flat-capp'd, OED wall 16, 1821 q RESPASSES OED respass DOSPASSOS Dos Passos, 1930s author of eg Big Money, 42nd Parallel MISCHIEVD mischiev'd, OED mischeive 3, 1649q, and others HADIWISTS OED hadiwist SPISCATED OED spissated, 1779q STRABISME OED strabism, 1661q ECREVISSE OED ecrevisse FASTPACED fast-paced, OED give 37d, 1964q etc
Words most commonly found (ergo most useful?) in nine-squares
Readers may like to compare the words in the list below with the theoretically best words for each row as calculated from a particular word list by Chris Long (WW93-100).
The values represent suitability. My overall winners were: ESSENESSE Palindromicon II (Finnegan's Wake) found in 3% of squares SEERESSES OED often last line (1.4%) ENTERESSE OED interess, often last or penultimate line (1.2%) ASSESSEST OED assess verb, often last line (1.0%) SESSENEST W93-100 Murray Pearce list of words in 9-squares, often last or penultimate (1%) NESESSEST W93-100 qv (0.9%)
The plurality of the letter S in most of these is obviously helpful as a last word, allowing plurals for many words. None of the next most popular words are especially familiar, except perhaps ASSESSEES.
Towards a heterogrammatic square
As good nine-squares (though not perfect ones) are easy to find, a further challenge, after diagonal squares, might be posed by looking for squares made of words in which each letter is different. From a vocabulary largely excluding place names, the best squares contained only five heterograms: the best two of the three found were:
MULECARTS mule-cart, OED mule UNIPOLARE OED glioblastoma 1926q LIPIDURIA Medical, occurs many times on Web, allegedly in Stedman EPIDEMICS OED epidemic CODELIGHT Web2 below line ALUMINEOR Old French precursor of alluminor RARIGENDE OED roar la, 1000q TRICHODEA Usnea trichodea rubiginea, ITIS fungi SEASTREAM sea-stream, OED RHODESITE OED HAMULUSES OED hamulus OMINALEST superlative of OED ominal DUNESCITY Dunes City, 43[degrees] 54'N 124[degrees]05'W, West Oregon ELASTICUM OED pseudo-, many quotes near end SULCINODA Leptogenys sulcinoda piceatus, ITISa ISEICONIC Dorland Medical Dict, same as isoiconic TESTUDINO OED, vault 2, 1440q ESTYMACON OED estimation
An extended vocabulary (with placenames) of 750,000 words produces almost 69,000 heterograms, which compares to a support level of 62,000 from Chris Long's formula. Unfortunately, his program raises the support level to 139,000, and it does transpire that the closest to a heterogrammatic square are the following, which use heterograms for all bar the last row (which is not a word):
BLOWREACH blow-reach, OED blow 1871q LATRONCHE Latronche, France, 45[degrees]18', 2[degrees] 14' OTMICGRAD Otmic Grad, Croatia, 45[degrees]13 ', 15[degrees] 39' WRINKLEDY Web2 ROCKNAMES rock-names, OED oceanite 1923q ENGLAMORS Americanisation of englamours in OED en-, 1864q ACREMONTS Bois des Acremonts, Belgium, 50[degrees] 24', 4[degrees] 54' CHADERTON Chaderton (place)* * or 86881th family name in US Census EASTBUNGO East Bungo, Thailand, 7[degrees] 45', 98[degrees] 37' ARKHINGOL Arkhin Gol, Mongolia, 50[degrees] 11', 102[degrees] 10' SKOUNDERI Skounderi, Greece, 38[degrees] 32', 23[degrees] 49' THUNDERAX thunder as, Web2 BINDERUPA Binderup A, Denmark, 57[degrees] 01', 9[degrees] 40' (water) UNDERTWIG Web2 undertwig, see "under" NGERUWIKL Ngeruwikl, Palau, 7[degrees] 28, 134[degrees] 36' GORAPIKET Gora Piket, Russia, 44[degrees] 20', 38[degrees] 55' ([dagger]) ([dagger]) OR GORAPIKUY Gora Pikuy, Ukraine, 48[degrees] 50', 23 [degrees] 00'
The following abbreviations are used throughout the article: ITIS = Integrated Taxonomic Information System of the USDA; ITISa = ITIS animal; ITISp = ITIS plant; LPS = Lists of Pharmaceutical Substances which qualify for Duty-free Treatment, Official Journal of the European Communities; NIMA = (US) National Imagery and Mapping Agency; WWyy-pag = Word Ways year and page.
REX GOOCH
Letchworth Garden City, Herts, England
rexgooch@ntlworld.com
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| Author: | Gooch, Rex |
|---|---|
| Publication: | Word Ways |
| Date: | Aug 1, 2003 |
| Words: | 3852 |
| Previous Article: | The HeptCat's other trick. |
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