[net.puzzle] abcde and zyxwv

jim@randvax.UUCP (Jim Gillogly) (05/04/85)

>> Here's a slight improvement on the first:
>>    ambuscade fighting jackal menopause quarks turvy waxy zebra
>>    ^ ^  ^ ^^ ^ ^^ ^   ^  ^ ^ ^ ^^^     ^  ^ ^ ^^ ^  ^ ^^ ^
>> which does it in 8.  I got this one using egrep on /usr/dict/words,
>> and believe it is optimal.
>> 
>> David Albert
>
>Don't look now, but you can replace the last four words by
>
>					queerest purview oxygenize
>					^   ^ ^^  ^ ^  ^  ^^    ^
>Col. G. L. Sicherman

Several of the words can now be shortened, if we want to optimize it further.
"Afghani" is shorter than "fighting" for fghi, and "maintop" beats
"menopause".

I didn't keep track of the record for reverse order.  Here's a sample with
eight words:
	zymotoxic waverous tsar equipotent milk jinshang foredescribe a
	^^    ^   ^ ^   ^  ^^ ^  ^  ^^  ^  ^ ^^ ^^  ^  ^ ^  ^^  ^  ^  ^
Love that web2.
-- 
	Jim Gillogly
	{decvax, vortex}!randvax!jim
	jim@rand-unix.arpa