The Puzzle Podcast introduced (in episodes 5 and 6) a puzzle called, unaccountably, "GO Mental." Four words are given; three of them follow an unstated rule and one does not. For example:
twin triplet king queen
Which one doesn't fit? The puzzles provide a few seconds of wonderment and a pleasant little flash of recognition.
It occured to me that a good challenge would be to come up with a quartet of words based on four rules, such that each word obeys three rules and violates one. After a year, I came up with this set:
charger colt dolphin mustang
Instead of stating the rules, the solver is encouraged to provide a word that satisfies all four rules. And then to come up with a new quartet in under a year.
4 comments:
I'll venture "bronco" as a fit for all four categories. I think there are a couple others that more or less fit too. One of the categories I came up with is a little weak - overly specific in a moderately awkward way.
That's the word I had in mind. I didn't notice any other candidates.
"Colt" is the member that violates the weak, arbitrary rule.
Actually, no - "charger". "Colt" violates a rule that's markedly different from the other rules, but not weak and arbitrary, IMO.
One of the alternatives to "bronco" I was thinking of violates a rule for some people and not for others (this statement intentionally left vague). The other only fulfills one of the rules only in an obscure way.
I see what you mean.
Maybe I should have taken a hint from the answer to the sample question and set the bar a little lower. How about three words, each of which breaks exactly one of three rules?
Should be a little easier to construct, but maybe harder to solve, with only two exemplars of each rule.
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