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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 Monolithic Word™.
Use the following examples below to find the rule.

Monolithic Words™ Not Monolithic Words™
ALCHEMY ACCUSE
BURNING BIZARRE
CUIRASS DUSTY
EXPIRY EXCUSE
HOCUS HIDEOUS
JIGGLE ILLEGAL
OXIDE STARK
VICTORY WINCE
ZODIAC ZIGZAG

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

Monolithic Words™,Not Monolithic Words™
ALCHEMY,ACCUSE
BURNING,BIZARRE
CUIRASS,DUSTY
EXPIRY,EXCUSE
HOCUS,HIDEOUS
JIGGLE,ILLEGAL
OXIDE,STARK
VICTORY,WINCE
ZODIAC,ZIGZAG

The puzzle satisfies the series' inbuilt assumption, that each word can be tested for whether it is a Monolithic Word™ without relying on the other words. These are not the only examples of Monolithic Words™; many more exist.

What is the special rule these words conform to?

Hint 1:

What is the main property of a monolith?

Hint 2:

The Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything is not really 42, it's $\textbf{*}$ as the wildcard symbolizes everything... and possibly some other reason too ;)

Hint 3: (an extension of Hint 2)

What is the relation between $\textbf*$ and 42?

Good luck!

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3 Answers 3

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My guess:

A monolithic word is a word that, when turning every (upper case) letter into ASCII code and concatenate them, it becomes a prime.
eg ALCHEMY. A->$65$, L->$76$ etc. So ALCHEMY -> $65766772697789$ is a prime.
eg ACCUSE -> $656767858369=7\times 7\times 239\times 56081279$ is not a prime.
The last hint is a big giveaway: the ASCII code for $*$ is $42$ :)

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  • $\begingroup$ @r_64 Good job! :) I think I made this harder than required. :) $\endgroup$
    – user47134
    Sep 5, 2019 at 16:40
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First attempt (wrong):

My first guess (but based on the example is wrong ) is that a Monolithic Word...

...does not contain other words (as a monolith is a single piece element), but this is not the case for BURNING or CUIRASS
For the Non-Monolithic words
- ACCUSE
- BIZARRE
- DUSTY
- EXCUSE
- HIDEOUS
- ILLEGAL
- STARK
- WINCE
- ZIGZAG

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  • $\begingroup$ Unfortunately, that's not the correct path :( Nice spotting though, and strange that it is accurate to this degree even though I didn't intend it :) $\endgroup$
    – user47134
    Sep 3, 2019 at 16:32
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    $\begingroup$ Also, jiggle contains jig and oxide contains ox. $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    Sep 3, 2019 at 16:38
  • $\begingroup$ Thanks for the clarification... I will try another approach then $\endgroup$
    – gustavovelascoh
    Sep 3, 2019 at 16:46
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    $\begingroup$ Moreover, 'victory' contains 'victor' $\endgroup$
    – Quark-epoch
    Sep 4, 2019 at 13:22
  • $\begingroup$ I noticed this, with three-letter words only. USE, BIZ<sub>questionable</sub>, STY, USE, HID, ILL, TAR, WIN, ZIG<sub>questionable</sub>. Problem is, you end up with HEM, URN, ASS, and JIG on the wrong side. $\endgroup$
    – Khuldraeseth na'Barya
    Sep 5, 2019 at 14:27
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I think I may be wrong but

A monolith is a monument carved out of a single stone .
The Monolithic Words ™ can be derived by starting with a single letter.

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  • $\begingroup$ Can you please clarify what you mean by "derived"? :) $\endgroup$
    – user47134
    Sep 4, 2019 at 13:16
  • $\begingroup$ So you start with one letter, then add another to form a meaningful word. This goes on and on till you get the target word. $\endgroup$
    – Quark-epoch
    Sep 4, 2019 at 13:20
  • $\begingroup$ Sorry, but not the correct path :( I'm adding the next hint now, good luck with the puzzle! :D $\endgroup$
    – user47134
    Sep 4, 2019 at 13:23

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