7
$\begingroup$

NYT does a word hive in every Sunday edition, and I quite enjoy it, so I decided to make my own, using the same rules. Check it out: n-o-l-u-y-r-S

If you're unfamiliar, here are the rules.

  • You may only use the letters in the hive to create your words, and you must use the center letter "S" in each qualifying word.
  • Words must be 5+ letters long. And they can't be proper names, non-English words, etc. Rule of thumb, if it's not in the OxEn dictionary, it doesn't count.
  • There's at least one word, which uses all the letters – that word is worth 2 points
  • Every other word (that doesn't use all the letters) is worth 1 point • • •
  • Hint: you can reuse letters, as long as they're in the hive

I created the hive, so obviously have an advantage, but I found 17 points worth of words, and friends/family gave me 2 more words, for a total of 19. Can you beat my score?

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
8
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Just to make sure, the position of the letters in the hive (adjacent or not) does not impose a restriction on the order of the letters in the word, does it? $\endgroup$
    – Weijun Zhou
    Jan 17, 2018 at 6:12
  • 5
    $\begingroup$ You might want to add a no-computers tags to this question, because boy is it tempting to write a script for this $\endgroup$
    – votbear
    Jan 17, 2018 at 6:12
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ Thank you for the "no computers" note @VotBear. That's amazingly cool though. Wish I had those skills. And no, the position of the letters doesn't matter, except for the center letter, which is special, and which you must use in every qualifying word, as mentioned. $\endgroup$
    – Beechwood Review
    Jan 17, 2018 at 6:24
  • $\begingroup$ @BeechwoodReview Oh sorry, I was wrong. I just want to say, that no-computer tag can not be placed in this kind of puzzle. $\endgroup$
    – Jamal Senjaya
    Jan 17, 2018 at 7:14
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ huh – why can't that tag be places in this kind of puzzle? @JamalSenjaya it's possible, even reasonable to assume that humans have enough knowledge to find a bunch of words. I'm somewhat new here, so let me know! Thanks. $\endgroup$
    – Beechwood Review
    Jan 17, 2018 at 7:16

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
2
$\begingroup$

I've come up with 21, including the 2 point answer.

In alphabetical order:

lolls
loons
lossy
lousy
lulls
nulls
rolls
slurs
slurry
sonny
sonorous
sonorously
sorry
souls
sours
sully
sunny
surly
unrolls

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
4
  • $\begingroup$ Wow! Impressive. Also: lours (variant spelling), shyly, slyly, sonly, sourly, yours. $\endgroup$
    – Beechwood Review
    Jan 17, 2018 at 6:39
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @BeechwoodReview there's no 'h', so shyly isn't possible. $\endgroup$
    – Herb
    Jan 17, 2018 at 12:09
  • $\begingroup$ true! stupid me $\endgroup$
    – Beechwood Review
    Jan 17, 2018 at 15:58
  • $\begingroup$ Change it to 'slyly' ...er.. oops you have it already $\endgroup$
    – theonetruepath
    Jan 18, 2018 at 5:13
2
$\begingroup$

I found

16 so far.

Words:

LOUSY
LOSSY
LULLS
NOUNS
NOONS
NYLONS
ROLLS
SLURRY
SLURS
SOURS
SOULS
SORRY
SUNNY
UNROLLS
YOURS
YOYOS (?)

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
1
  • $\begingroup$ Awesome job in quick time. Also just found another one. "Solos". So we're at 31 total points. $\endgroup$
    – Beechwood Review
    Jan 17, 2018 at 6:54
1
$\begingroup$

Here's the running list, including the two community submitted answers so far, which have added more words to the total. Hats off to Herb Wolfe! wowza

lolls
loons
lossy
lours
lousy
lulls
noons
nouns
nulls
nylons
rolls
slurry
slurs
slyly
snool
solos
sonly
sonny
sonorous
sonorously
sorry
souls
sourly
sours
sully
sunny
surly
unrolls
yours
yoyos (?)

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ Maybe this should be community wiki? I'm pretty sure there's an option in edit for that. $\endgroup$
    – boboquack
    Jan 17, 2018 at 11:12
  • $\begingroup$ what about lorry? $\endgroup$
    – AcK
    Mar 30 at 19:15

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.