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In the spirit of the What is a Word™/Phrase™ series started by JLee, a special brand of Phrase™ and Word™ puzzles.
Template taken from Rubio.


If a word conforms to a specific pattern, I call it a Scooby Word™. Use the words below to figure it out!

$$ % set Title text. (spaces around the text ARE important; do not remove.) % increase Pad value only if your entries are longer than the title bar. % \def\Pad{\P{0.0}} \def\Title{\textbf{ Scooby }} % \def\S#1#2{\Space{#1}{20px}{#2px}}\def\P#1{\V{#1em}}\def\V#1{\S{#1}{9}} \def\T{\Title\textbf{Words}^{\;\!™}\Pad}\def\NT{\Pad\textbf{Not}\T\ }\displaystyle \smash{\lower{29px}\bbox[yellow]{\phantom{\rlap{rubio.2019.05.15}\S{6px}{0} \begin{array}{cc}\Pad\T&\NT\\\end{array}}}}\atop\def\V#1{\S{#1}{5}} \begin{array}{|c|c|}\hline\Pad\T&\NT\\\hline % \text{boyos}&\text{captain}\\ \hline \text{aggressor}&\text{panacean}\\ \hline \text{endorse}&\text{impanate}\\ \hline \text{medievally}&\text{paceman}\\ \hline \text{kneadable}&\text{vaccinate}\\ \hline \text{docos}&\text{animate}\\ \hline \text{groggery}&\text{captive}\\ \hline \text{fenders}&\text{pacamac}\\ \hline \text{venially}&\text{ancient}\\ \hline \text{beakhead}&\text{caveman}\\ \hline \end{array}$$

Find and explain the pattern in all of the words and explain the title as well. There is also a pattern to find for the non-Scooby words. Don't forget to have fun!

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2 Answers 2

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I believe a Scooby Word is one which:

Can be made using some of the letters in the full name of one of the five main characters of the various Scooby Doo series by Hanna-Barbera. Namely:

SCOOBY DOO, SHAGGY ROGERS, FRED JONES, VELMA DINKLEY and DAPHNE BLAKE.

Like so:

BOYOS from ScOOBY DOO
AGGRESSOR from ShAGGy ROgERS
ENDORSE from fRED jONES
MEDIEVALLY from VELMA DInkLEY
KNEADABLE from DAphNE BLAKE
DOCOS from SCOOby Doo
GROGGERY from shaGGY ROGERs
FENDERS from FRED joNES
VENIALLY from VELmA dINkLeY
BEAKHEAD from DApHnE BlAKE

Meanwhile the 'Not Scooby' words can all:

Be made from the letters of another cartoon character in a different series by Hanna-Barbera: CAPTAIN CAVEMAN! (Most notably the first and last words in the list, which actually are CAPTAIN and CAVEMAN!)

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  • $\begingroup$ Well he can’t necessarily be in a different franchise if he’s in the same movie with them. ;) Also, did you find the giant hint that I left for the “Not Scooby” words? Feel free to mention it. $\endgroup$ May 24, 2020 at 16:43
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    $\begingroup$ @RewanDemontay Indeed! It was those two words (and then BOYOS) that put me onto it... $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    May 24, 2020 at 16:53
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    $\begingroup$ Ah, okay, I was close, if only I knew the character surnames. $\endgroup$
    – hexomino
    May 24, 2020 at 20:11
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    $\begingroup$ @hexomino You definitely had the start of something there. Maybe you'd looked at it too long and were just too close to see it! Happens to me all the time... :) $\endgroup$
    – Stiv
    May 24, 2020 at 20:24
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Partial answer

First of all, notice that the Not Scooby Words

All contain letters from a small subset of the alphabet: {A,C,E,I,M,N,P,T,V}.
Now consider the set of odd-positioned letters from the first half of the alphabet and even-positioned letters from the second half: {A,C,E,G,I,K,M,N,P,R,T,V,X,Z}.
We notice that this contains the set above. Therefore, I propose that Not Scooby words are precisely those which consist only of odd-positioned letters from the first half of the alphabet and even-positioned letters from the second half.

Scooby Words

It seems too easy to suggest that Scooby Words are precisely those which are not Not Scooby Words (though this is true for the exmples given). However, we notice that we can be more specific. It seems that each Scooby Word contains at least one of the letters {B,O,Y,S} that is, all the letters of SCOOBY not including C.
I think C is discounted here because it is in the Not Scooby letter set while the others are not but I'm not certain.
Also, notice that at least two of the Scooby Words contain Scooby character names (medievally contains VELMA, fenders contains FRED) so there might be more to it but I think this is at least on the right track.

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