Unalike Words

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

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Martin Hurst
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Unalike Words

Post by Martin Hurst »

I've seen the following puzzle:

Unalike words are pairs of words which have no repeated letters either within them or between them (e.g UNALIKE and WORDS). Find the unalike words which maximise the products of their lengths (UNALIKE =7, WORDS = 5: product is 35)

The answer given to the riddle is one pair of words which scores 90, however I have found a few 90s, and I'm not sure how old the puzzle is or what dictionary is used.

Can anyone beat 90 using current Apterous-valid words? I reckon it must be possible......

Also, how many 90s can you find?
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Adam Gillard
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Re: Unalike Words

Post by Adam Gillard »

So far I've uncovered the rather pleasing "goldfish bankruptcy", which only scores 80 but doesn't use an 'e'. Must be scope to improve on that.
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C1: SIGNATURE (18) ["9; not written down"]
C2: SEATING (7)
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Unalike Words

Post by Mark Deeks »

Sounds like something Vorderman might do an advert for.
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Elliott Mellor
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Re: Unalike Words

Post by Elliott Mellor »

I think SEAWORTHY DUCKLING deserves a mention for pleasingness, despite only scoring 72.
Robert Foster
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Re: Unalike Words

Post by Robert Foster »

Using a script to check apterous-valid words only,

There are 42 pairs of words scoring 90, among the most pleasing:
TAXIDERMY PUNCHBOWLS
LUMBERJACK DOWNSHIFT
VIBRANTLY SHOWJUMPED
CHIPMUNKY AFTERGLOWS
SKYFIGHTER CLAMPDOWN
JURYWOMEN FIGHTBACKS
THWACKING PROFUSEDLY
SCHVITZED UNWORKABLY

99 seems to be the top score. There are two pairs:
PATCHWORKED FUMBLINGS
KVETCHING MOULDYWARPS

DERMATOGLYPHICS is the longest word with no repeated letters (15)
Last edited by Robert Foster on Sun Jun 19, 2022 9:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Matt Morrison
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Re: Unalike Words

Post by Matt Morrison »

A couple of those really are most pleasing Rob.
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Mark Deeks
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Re: Unalike Words

Post by Mark Deeks »

Kinda killed the game, though.
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