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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 Riven Word™ or Phrase™.

Use the examples below to find the rule.

RIVEN™ UN-RIVEN™
ROBE COAT
AMZN MSFT
GNAT WASP
THUG RUFFIAN
RAVINE CREVICE
ANGER TAN RAGE BURN
LIAR ENVY TRUE LOVE
RINSER FAVE AERIE CHURN
GENTRY LEG ART COMMON ARM TAT
RAVER TANGERINE RESERVED ORANGE

CSV version:

RIVEN™,UN-RIVEN™
ROBE,COAT
AMZN,MSFT
GNAT,WASP
THUG,RUFFIAN
RAVINE,CREVICE
ANGER TAN,RAGE BURN
LIAR ENVY,TRUE LOVE
RINSER FAVE, AERIE CHURN
GENTRY LEG ART,COMMON ARM TAT
RAVER TANGERINE,RESERVED ORANGE
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    $\begingroup$ I smell anagrams ... $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 18:53
  • $\begingroup$ Tangerine Argentine $\endgroup$
    – greenturtle3141
    Commented Sep 27, 2016 at 19:28

3 Answers 3

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First off, if you're reading this, please upvote TwoBitOperation's answer - he did a lot of legwork on this one that made me see the answer.

A Riven word can be defined as:

Any word or phrase which, when ROT13'ed, the result is the same word or phrase, but backwards

Examples:

ROBE = EBOR
... but COAT = PBNG

AMZN = NZMA
... but MSFT = ZFSG

RINSER FAVE = EVAFRE SNIR
... but AERIE CHURN = NREVR PUHEA

RAVER TANGERINE = ENIRE GNATREVAR
... but RESERVED ORANGE = ERFREIRQ BENATR

The reason that each of these words is called a Riven word/phrase is

That "A RIVEN" itself is a Riven phrase:
A RIVEN = N EVIRA

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  • $\begingroup$ Hooray! For imaginary bonus points, can you explain the title? $\endgroup$
    – user812786
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 15:39
  • $\begingroup$ @whrrgarbl Just got it and updated the answer :) $\endgroup$
    – Joe
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 15:50
  • $\begingroup$ Correct again :) The meaning of "split apart" was just a side effect, it was hard enough already to find sensible words / phrases. $\endgroup$
    – user812786
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 16:17
  • $\begingroup$ Ah, this IS a lot more elegant than what I came up with. I needed to keep working inwards from the ends of the word. $\endgroup$
    – TwoBitOperation
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 17:04
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For Riven words:

The first pair of letters are the same distance apart in the alphabet as the last pair

EXAMPLES:


ROBE:
RO -> O(PQ)R = 2
BE -> B(CD)E = 2

AMZN:
AM -> A(BCDEFGHIJKL)M = 11
ZN -> N(OPQRSTUVWXY)Z = 11

GNAT:
GN -> G(HIJKLM)N = 6
AT -> T(UVWXYZ)A = 6

THUG:
TH -> H(IJKLMNOPQRS)T= 11
UG -> G(HIJKLMNOPQR)S = 11

RAVINE:
RA: R(STUVWXYZ)A = 8
NE: E(FGHIJKLM)N = 8

LIAR ENVY:
LI: I(JK)L = 2
VY: V(WX)Y = 2

COUNTER-EXAMPLE:


COAT:
CO -> C(DEFGHIJKLMN)O = 11
AT -> T(UVWXYZ)A = 6 or
AT -> A(BCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRS)18

"COAT" is Un-Riven

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    $\begingroup$ I bet you found this via AMZN. $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 14:58
  • $\begingroup$ Yes, that was the key. $\endgroup$
    – TwoBitOperation
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 15:02
  • $\begingroup$ So close! You are thinking along the right lines, but there is a simpler (and stricter) explanation. $\endgroup$
    – user812786
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 15:15
  • $\begingroup$ @Joe exactly it! I will add a counterexample to show that vs. this $\endgroup$
    – user812786
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 15:23
  • $\begingroup$ Honestly that probably should have been an answer, not a comment. Fixing that. Anyone reading this, upvote this answer too :) $\endgroup$
    – Joe
    Commented Sep 29, 2016 at 15:24
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Not a complete answer, but something I've noticed that might be significant:

We can change the last letter of RIVEN to get RIVER. We can change the other RIVEN™ words and phrases in various ways to get river-related terms:

An anagram of ROBE is BORE, which is a kind of wave that travels upriver

A RAVINE is produced by a river (but a CREVICE is not)

Insert A and O in AMZN and you get AMAZON, which is a river

RAVER can also be transformed into RIVER by changing one letter. As greenturtle3141 has pointed out, TANGERINE is an anagram of ARGENTINE, but none of the major Argentinian rivers seem to fit anything here.

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  • $\begingroup$ Liar Envy - swap L to R and anagram to Yin River, in Myanmar $\endgroup$
    – Joe
    Commented Sep 28, 2016 at 15:41
  • $\begingroup$ MSFT (non-Riven) appears to be MISFIT, and the others are just synonyms/antonyms of the Riven word/phrase on the same row (eg. a ruffian is a thug, anger/rage and tan/burn) $\endgroup$
    – Joe
    Commented Sep 28, 2016 at 15:47
  • $\begingroup$ Joe: the synonyms/antonyms thing is typical for this kind of puzzle. Good catch for LIAR ENVY, but it also requires the A to be changed to an I. $\endgroup$
    – paolo
    Commented Sep 28, 2016 at 17:19
  • $\begingroup$ Wow, I'm impressed! ... but you are barking up the wrong tree here. @Joe, the synonym/antonym thing was just a way to think of example non-riven words to put in the chart, and isn't actually relevant to the rule. As a small hint - it was a lot harder to make A Riven Word/Phrase than a non-riven one. $\endgroup$
    – user812786
    Commented Sep 28, 2016 at 21:50

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