IBM Ponder This #296 · December 2022

This puzzle was suggested by Victor Chang.

The New York Times' "Letter Boxed" puzzle consists of a square with three letters on each side - a total of 12 unique letters. In the puzzle, you write down a sequence of words while following these rules:

1. All words must be accepted words in English.
2. No two consecutive letters in a word can be from the same side of the square.
3. The last letter of a given word becomes the first letter of the subsequent word.
4. All the letters in the square must appear in the sequence of words in the solution.

For example, if the box consists of the following letters, three on each side: 'hou wcr tka nbl', a valid solution would be ['burnt', 'throw', 'warlock']. There is also a two-word solution, ['unclot', 'throwback'] if one accepts esoteric words (which is not necessarily the case for the NYT).

We are interested in finding puzzles with unique two-word solutions, even when the allowed dictionary is large. For this puzzle, we used the word list located here

Your goal: Find a box that has only a single two-word solution. Submit the box as a string, e.g., 'hou wcr tka nbl', with the two-word solution as well.

A bonus "*" will be given to those who find a sequence of at least 15 letters that also has a unique solution. This can be achieved by either adding more sides to the polygon (e.g., a pentagon with three letters on each side instead of a square) or by adding more letters to each side (e.g., 4 letters on each side of the square). Submit your solution in the same format as shown above.

Solution

Best opened after a real attempt

To be added.