Lattices

Cerebral distractions of every kind, mostly but not exclusively Countdown-related.

Moderator: Michael Wallace

Post Reply
User avatar
Charlie Reams
Site Admin
Posts: 9494
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: Cambridge
Contact:

Lattices

Post by Charlie Reams »

Image

BRAINS + U = BANSURI
BRAINS + M = MINBARS

BANSURI + M = MINBARS + U = URBANISM. Which is pretty neat.

But also, BANSURI + E = URBANISE, and URBANISE+M = URBANISM+E = SUBMARINE!

Cool, a lattice! You can recognise a lattice as a pattern that fits together with a start (BRAINS), an end (SUBMARINE) and has no other dead ends.

Obvious question: what's the biggest lattice? You're entitled to use solvers or any other tricks you like in this game.

Obviously David O'Donnell can't find lattices so he's not allowed to enter this game.
User avatar
Jon Corby
Moral Hero
Posts: 8021
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:36 am

Re: Lattices

Post by Jon Corby »

That's pretty cool. Bastard hard work to find one manually though.

Do you know the answer?
User avatar
Charlie Reams
Site Admin
Posts: 9494
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: Cambridge
Contact:

Re: Lattices

Post by Charlie Reams »

Jon Corby wrote:Do you know the answer?
Nope. I found the initial one manually by messing about with the Stemmer, and I noticed you could add SUBMARINE when I was sitting back smuggly with URBANISE/URBANISM and Innis hit me with SUBMARINE :(
Paul Howe
Kiloposter
Posts: 1070
Joined: Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:25 pm

Re: Lattices

Post by Paul Howe »

Interesting. Are we only considering complete lattices (every possible link exists) or are we allowed to leave links out as long as what's left is still a lattice?
User avatar
Michael Wallace
Racoonteur
Posts: 5458
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 5:01 am
Location: London

Re: Lattices

Post by Michael Wallace »

Clearly we need a reverse stemmer - although maybe that takes the fun out of it (these are quite neat, although I'm still debating strategies).
User avatar
Kai Laddiman
Fanatic
Posts: 2314
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:37 pm
Location: My bedroom

Re: Lattices

Post by Kai Laddiman »

Michael Wallace wrote:Clearly we need a reverse stemmer
There we go, at least someone agrees with me, even if it's Raccoon Boy.
16/10/2007 - Episode 4460
Dinos Sfyris 76 - 78 Dorian Lidell
Proof that even idiots can get well and truly mainwheeled.
User avatar
Jon Corby
Moral Hero
Posts: 8021
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 8:36 am

Re: Lattices

Post by Jon Corby »

Kai Laddiman wrote:There we go, at least someone agrees with me, even if it's Raccoon Boy.
Raccoon Boy?
User avatar
Joseph Bolas
Fanatic
Posts: 2446
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:19 am
Location: Liverpool, UK

Re: Lattices

Post by Joseph Bolas »

I don't know if this counts because at least one of the words (AMOSITE) has alternative anagrams (ATOMIES and ATOMISE):

Image
Last edited by Joseph Bolas on Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
Charlie Reams
Site Admin
Posts: 9494
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: Cambridge
Contact:

Re: Lattices

Post by Charlie Reams »

That's pretty good.
User avatar
Joseph Bolas
Fanatic
Posts: 2446
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:19 am
Location: Liverpool, UK

Re: Lattices

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Charlie Reams wrote:That's pretty good.
Thank you :)

There's got be at least one lattice for a 4-letter word and even a 3-letter word, but haven't found one yet.
User avatar
Charlie Reams
Site Admin
Posts: 9494
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: Cambridge
Contact:

Re: Lattices

Post by Charlie Reams »

Joseph Bolas wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:That's pretty good.
Thank you :)

There's got be at least one lattice for a 4-letter word and even a 3-letter word, but haven't found one yet.
Srsly? Took me about 5 seconds to come up with DOG -> DONG/DOGS -> DONGS. And mine even has a synonym for penis.
User avatar
Phil Reynolds
Postmaster General
Posts: 3329
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 3:43 pm
Location: Leamington Spa, UK

Re: Lattices

Post by Phil Reynolds »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Joseph Bolas wrote:There's got be at least one lattice for a 4-letter word and even a 3-letter word, but haven't found one yet.
Srsly? Took me about 5 seconds to come up with DOG -> DONG/DOGS -> DONGS. And mine even has a synonym for penis.
Or even SIN -> SINE/PINS -> PENIS. No synonym required.
David Williams
Kiloposter
Posts: 1270
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:57 pm

Re: Lattices

Post by David Williams »

A AS/AT SAT SEAT/STAR STARE ASTERN/SATIRE RETSINA PAINTERS/ANGRIEST TRAPESING

Just read this properly. Thought it was too easy! Back to the drawing board!
Last edited by David Williams on Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Joseph Bolas
Fanatic
Posts: 2446
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:19 am
Location: Liverpool, UK

Re: Lattices

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Charlie Reams wrote:
Joseph Bolas wrote:
Charlie Reams wrote:That's pretty good.
Thank you :)

There's got be at least one lattice for a 4-letter word and even a 3-letter word, but haven't found one yet.
Srsly? Took me about 5 seconds to come up with DOG -> DONG/DOGS -> DONGS. And mine even has a synonym for penis.
I always start with a 9-letter word and see how far back I can get the lattice to :D (it makes it more challenging :))

What I actually meant was that there has to be at least one 3 to 9-letter word lattice and one 4 to 9-letter word lattice :D
User avatar
Charlie Reams
Site Admin
Posts: 9494
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: Cambridge
Contact:

Re: Lattices

Post by Charlie Reams »

David Williams wrote:A AS/AT SAT SEAT/STAR STARE ASTERN/SATIRE RETSINA PAINTERS/ANGRIEST TRAPESING

Just read this properly. Thought it was too easy! Back to the drawing board!
Works for me. It's pretty easy to come up with long ones, it's the wide ones that are harder.

*eagerly awaits reply from Phil Reynolds*
David O'Donnell
Series 58 Champion
Posts: 2010
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 2:27 pm
Location: Cardiff

Re: Lattices

Post by David O'Donnell »

Charlie Reams wrote: Obviously David O'Donnell can't find lattices so he's not allowed to enter this game.
You bastard, you're never going to let that lie ... are you?
User avatar
Phil Reynolds
Postmaster General
Posts: 3329
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 3:43 pm
Location: Leamington Spa, UK

Re: Lattices

Post by Phil Reynolds »

David Williams wrote:A AS/AT SAT SEAT/STAR STARE ASTERN/SATIRE RETSINA PAINTERS/ANGRIEST TRAPESING

Just read this properly. Thought it was too easy! Back to the drawing board!
This doesn't break the rules; I thought TRAPESING might be a misspelling but it turns out it's an acceptable alternative.
User avatar
Phil Reynolds
Postmaster General
Posts: 3329
Joined: Fri Oct 31, 2008 3:43 pm
Location: Leamington Spa, UK

Re: Lattices

Post by Phil Reynolds »

Charlie Reams wrote:Works for me. It's pretty easy to come up with long ones, it's the wide ones that are harder.

*eagerly awaits reply from Phil Reynolds*
Credit me with some sophistication, please.
User avatar
Charlie Reams
Site Admin
Posts: 9494
Joined: Fri Jan 11, 2008 2:33 pm
Location: Cambridge
Contact:

Re: Lattices

Post by Charlie Reams »

This is my my best effort. Entirely hand-constructed, although working through a lattice of that size gave me some ideas on how it could be done automatically with some efficiency. I think the most satisfying bit was finding the line A/AN/SAN/ANUS/MANUS/ANIMUS/SURAMIN/URBANISM, because it looked for a while like I wouldn't be able to hook all that back into the main lattice.

Notice that I didn't bother to pursue the other four branches from A because my paper was running out and my brain was about to explode, but there's no doubt some other good stuff to be found in those regions if anyone else cares to explore. Oh, and if you're willing to go up to 10 then adding SUBMARINES to the end probably introduces a lot more possibilities too.
Dinos Sfyris
Series 80 Champion
Posts: 2707
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 10:07 am
Location: Sheffield

Re: Lattices

Post by Dinos Sfyris »

Wow Charlie exploded

*awaits response from Phil Reynolds
User avatar
Joseph Bolas
Fanatic
Posts: 2446
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:19 am
Location: Liverpool, UK

Re: Lattices

Post by Joseph Bolas »

How about this (although I have probably made a mistake somewhere :lol:):

Image
Last edited by Joseph Bolas on Thu Jan 22, 2009 9:32 pm, edited 3 times in total.
User avatar
Kai Laddiman
Fanatic
Posts: 2314
Joined: Wed Oct 15, 2008 3:37 pm
Location: My bedroom

Re: Lattices

Post by Kai Laddiman »

Joseph Bolas wrote:How about this (although I have porbably made a mistake somewhere :lol:):

There.
Last edited by Kai Laddiman on Thu Jan 22, 2009 8:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
16/10/2007 - Episode 4460
Dinos Sfyris 76 - 78 Dorian Lidell
Proof that even idiots can get well and truly mainwheeled.
User avatar
Joseph Bolas
Fanatic
Posts: 2446
Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 9:19 am
Location: Liverpool, UK

Re: Lattices

Post by Joseph Bolas »

Kai Laddiman wrote:
Joseph Bolas wrote:How about this (although I have porbably made a mistake somewhere :lol:):
There.
I did mean the (now redesigned) lattice :lol:
David Williams
Kiloposter
Posts: 1270
Joined: Wed Jan 30, 2008 9:57 pm

Re: Lattices

Post by David Williams »

A
AS AT
SEA SAT ANT
SEAR SEAT ANTS ANTI
RAGES STARE ANTES STAIN PAINT
GRATES ASTERN TISANE PAINTS
STRANGE RETSINA PANTIES
ANGRIEST PAINTERS
TRAPESING

Quite poetic!
User avatar
Joseph Krol
Kiloposter
Posts: 1063
Joined: Wed Jun 23, 2010 6:47 pm

Re: Lattices

Post by Joseph Krol »

Code: Select all

     TRAIN
        RATION STRAIN
RATIONS TARNISH RETAINS
    NOTARISE HAIRNETS
         HORTENSIA
Damn. That doesn't work.

(tries again)

Code: Select all

     ANTES
        ASTERN STAMEN
 RETAINS SMARTEN MAGNETS
    MINARETS  GARMENTS
         MASTERING
I think that one works.
Image
Post Reply