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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 has a certain property, I call it a Narcissistic Word™. If it definitively does not have that property, I call it an Echoing Word™.

You can use the examples below to find the property:

Narcissistic™ Echoing™
RUDDY HEALTHY
CHAOTIC DEVILISH
COMPOSED DECOMPOSED
COMPOSITE VERSATILE
MOSTLY SURPASSING
VETERAN BANDIT
UPTIGHT SHY
NARCISSISTIC VAIN
ISOLATED RETILEABLE
EXPLAIN SCIENTIFIC
REFRESHING ROTTEN
DISTASTEFUL VENOMOUS
UNCOPYRIGHTABLE ANNAGRAMMABLE
VIRIDESCENT FANTASTICAL

And a CSV version:

RUDDY, HEALTHY
CHAOTIC, DEVILISH
COMPOSED, DECOMPOSED
COMPOSITE, VERSATILE
MOSTLY, SURPASSING
VETERAN, BANDIT
UPTIGHT, SHY
NARCISSISTIC, VAIN
ISOLATED, RETILEABLE
EXPLAIN, SCIENTIFIC
REFRESHING, ROTTEN
DISTASTEFUL, VENOMOUS
UNCOPYRIGHTABLE, ANNAGRAMMABLE
VIRIDESCENT, FANTASTICAL
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  • $\begingroup$ Did you make a mistake with UPTIGHT? $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 17:15
  • $\begingroup$ Oops, yes I did, looks like my notes parsed G as 3, rather than 2. Thanks. $\endgroup$
    – Sconibulus
    Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 17:25
  • $\begingroup$ ANNAGRAMMABLE or ANAGRAMMABLE? $\endgroup$
    – Rosie F
    Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 19:27

1 Answer 1

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All the words which appear in the table in the question

have appeared in the title of one of these Word™ puzzles!

For the left-hand column, a word X is a Narcissistic Word™ if

X is itself an X word, according to the puzzle with that name.

Thanks to @Ankoganit for helping me realise this! See the following list:

- What is a Mostly Ruddy Word™? (Ruddy is a Ruddy Word™)

- What is a Chaotic Word™? (Chaotic is a Chaotic Word™)

- What is an Uptight™ Word? (Composed is a Composed Word™)

- What is a Composite Word™? (Composite is a Composite Word™)

- What is a Mostly Ruddy Word™? (Mostly is a Mostly Word™)

- What is a Veteran Word™? (Veteran is a Veteran Word™)

- What is an Uptight™ Word? (Uptight is an Uptight Word™!)

- What is a Narcissistic Word™? (Narcissistic is a Narcissistic Word™, although putting it in the right-hand column would also work equally well).

- What is an Isolated Word™? (Isolated is an Isolated Word™)

- What Is An Explain Word? (Explain is an Explain Word)

- What is a Refreshing Word™?

- What is a Distasteful Word™?

- What is an Uncopyrightable Word?™

- What is a Viridescent Word™?

For the right-hand column, a word X is an Echoing Word™ if

X is not an X word, according to the puzzle with that title.

See the following list:

- What is a Healthy Word™? (Healthy is not a Healthy Word™)

- What is a Devilish Phrase™/Word™? (Devilish is not a Devilish Word™)

- What is a Decomposed Word™? (Decomposed is not a Decomposed Word™)

- What is a Versatile Word™? (Versatile is not a Versatile Word™)

- What is a Surpassing Phrase™? (Surpassing is not a Surpassing Word™)

- What is a Bandit Word™? (Bandit is not a Bandit Word™)

- What is a Shy Word™? (Shy is not a Shy Word™)

- What is a Vain Word™? (Vain is not a Vain Word™)

- What is a Re-Tileable Word™?

- What is a Scientific Word™

- What is a Rotten Word™?

- What is a Venomous Word™?

- What is an Anagrammable Word™?

- What is a Fantastical Word™?

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  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Healthy has as well. $\endgroup$
    – gtwebb
    Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 15:24
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Devilish and Vain have indeed been Word™/Phrase™ puzzles. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 15:24
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ So has rotten and venomous $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 15:25
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Did all the words come from the other Word™/Phrase™ puzzles? That would be interesting but not good as the rule for this puzzle. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 15:27
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ This solution makes me realize the puzzle is much better than I first thought. The fun bit is that NARCISSISTIC could have gone either way and still been right. It's the same self-referential paradox that applies to autological words. $\endgroup$ Commented Sep 26, 2016 at 16:23

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