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This is in the spirit of the What is a Word/Phrase™ series started by JLee with a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.

If a word conforms to a special rule, I call it a Keyboard Word™.
Use the following examples below to find the rule.

Keyboard Words™ Not Keyboard Words™
PASSED FAILED
TILL UNTIL
ONES TWOS
FAST SLOW
HOOK CLAW
GRASP GRIP
FAX PHONE
FRUITS MEATS
YOLK EGGWHITE
CHEESED TIRED

And, if you want to analyze, here is a CSV version:

Keyboard Words™,Not Keyboard Words™
PASSED,FAILED
TILL,UNTIL
ONES,TWOS
FAST,SLOW
HOOK,CLAW
GRASP,GRIP
FAX,PHONE
FRUITS,MEATS
YOLK,EGGWHITE
CHEESED,TIRED

Hint 1:

enter image description here

Hint 2:

Some common prefix like un- or dis- and postfix like -er or -ing can't compose to Keyboard Word.

Hint 3:

Why always focus on the left main keypad? :P

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5
  • $\begingroup$ I had a pattern that worked up until FAX/PHONE. :( $\endgroup$
    – shoover
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 0:25
  • $\begingroup$ @shoover Keep trying~ :P $\endgroup$
    – Conifers
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 10:47
  • $\begingroup$ I have the beginnings of an idea but I can't make it work as a rule yet. $\endgroup$
    – John Clifford
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 11:24
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ My idea was that rot13(n Xrlobneq Jbeq vf bar gung pna or fcryyrq ol glcvat jvgu nyy yrsg unaq, be nyy evtug unaq, be nyy yrsg gura nyy evtug, be nyy evtug gura nyy yrsg, ohg abg yrsg-evtug-yrsg be evtug-yrsg-evtug. Ohg va gung pnfr CUBAR jbhyq or n Xrlobneq Jbeq, nygubhtu GRYRCUBAR jbhyq abg or.) $\endgroup$
    – shoover
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 15:06
  • $\begingroup$ @shoover nice try~ I'll post another hint later :P $\endgroup$
    – Conifers
    Commented Aug 8, 2019 at 16:04

1 Answer 1

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I think a Keyboard Word™ is one where:

When the numbers indicating the column of the letter on the left-hand keypad are typed out on the right-hand keypad, each number is adjacent to the next one in the series.

For example:

1 = Q, A, Z
2 = W, S, X
3 = E, D, C
4 = R, F, V
5 = T, G, B
6 = Y, H, N
7 = U, J, M
8 = I, K
9 = O, L
0 = P

$PASSED \rightarrow 012233$
All the numbers are adjacent to each other on the left-hand keypad.

$FAILED \rightarrow 418933$
Numbers 1 and 8 are not adjacent on the left-hand keypad.

$TILL \rightarrow 5899$
All the numbers are adjacent.

$UNTIL \rightarrow 76589$
Numbers 7 and 6 are not adjacent.

$ONES \rightarrow 9632$
All the numbers are adjacent.

$TWOS \rightarrow 5292$
Numbers 9 and 2 are not adjacent.

This holds true for all the Keyboard Words™ and does not work for all the Not Keyboard Words™ so I believe it is what defines a Keyboard Word™.

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3
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Nice work~~~ :P $\endgroup$
    – Conifers
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 12:43
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ What's a rot13(yrsg-unaq xrlcnq)? $\endgroup$
    – Mohirl
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 14:07
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    $\begingroup$ rot13(V pnyyrq gur "znva" frpgvba jvgu yrggref gur yrsg-unaq xrlcnq naq gur ahzore cnq (0-9) gur evtug-unaq xrlcnq). $\endgroup$
    – user61820
    Commented Aug 9, 2019 at 14:27

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