8s which are always winners

[Clare Sudbery]

Someone linked to this handy page on countdown wiki a while ago, which lists 7-letter words which are never the max (because each one only contains 2 vowels and the addition of any vowel will give you an 8-letter word).

But according to Mark Tournoff's book, there is also an "8s which are always winners" list... and I wondered if anyone could find a link for me (I've tried, but failed)?

[Jon Corby]

By "8s which are always winners", do you just mean 8s to which you can't add any letter to make a 9? There'll be literally thousands of them surely?

[Clare Sudbery]

Yeah, good point.

[Martin Gardner]

Someone linked to this handy page on countdown wiki a while ago, which lists 7-letter words which are never the max (because each one only contains 2 vowels and the addition of any vowel will give you an 8-letter word).

But according to Mark Tournoff's book, there is also an "8s which are always winners" list... and I wondered if anyone could find a link for me (I've tried, but failed)?

I'd interpret that to mean an eight letter word that doesn't give a nine or any other eight, therefore it's a darren. Or possibly an eight that never gives a nine, no matter what the other letter is. Yes, that makes more sense.