[LL] “I figured out the first word ladder; wasn’t too hard”, Leroy the Lion claimed.
FOLD TOLD TOLL TALL CALL
[RR] “Good. You can also use BOLD, BOLL, and BALL or MOLD, MOLL, and MALL. Depending on what dictionary you use, you can even do one better with COLD and COLL, an obscure word meaning embrace.
What about the other two?” Roderick the Rock inquired.
[LL] “Just too long. I didn’t even know what direction I was heading halfway through.”
[RR] “Oh well. Here’s one answer for each:”
TWO TOO TOP TIP DIP DIM AIM ARM ARE ACE
and
PAIRS HAIRS HEIRS HEARS HEATS SEATS SPATS SPITS SUITS QUITS QUIDS QUADS
Or using uncommon words:
TWO TWA1 AWA2 AWE ACE
and
PAIRS MAIRS3 MAIDS QAIDS QUIDS QUADS
The final puzzle was a word search. But unlike most of these types of puzzles, this one had no word list, just the instructions, ‘Find as many poker words as you can in this grid of letters in ten minutes.’
E E R H T B E D M A N I A C U C Y Z R P O H C S B N S U I T N H B V D R A O B H V P I P E B N S J V S P A F R H S J W A L K U E P O A I C U O E K F E L F F U H S U F F O T U C D L P H N Y T V Q C O Z K T R W S P L H G I H K Y F R C A I T E G S U C T I G H T A B F E V I F L A E R L N U N I U A L V N E M W I C T R A E H I S V A A H B K E T T E I Z Q W J N D G N P V N H V O I B T U T S Q R S E M N O I T I S O P B A Y F E S O O L D U C U E H N I O K D P T E O R G S R R E Z I R P O P U I R O W T L A Y C W K M A J B E J T K S B H Q T U T T T E D P U E M N E E U Q L O E C E E S P T E D Y A E J E M L K N B B L B O K V A K T L R S S L K C P D T S I W N B L U I O E I J A E I U P P O L S R B H S O L L O S U E C R T I R I X N L I F Y E L O L D W E R T D D F C E C H O G P N A R P K E V O W J B E G S A R L F K A E W H R E S T O C E W O W O E F E F T W H E E L Y J T E R H P A I P H L R R K R L S T R A I G H T B C B L I N D L S X P F O O I A O M T A E S Y B I I U O M N A B A N K R O L L C I A Q G D M O N E Y Y N U Y E I O K N A L B L L K L T Q M D A N T E R I N G A T E Y Y E R T A B L E S B T I L P S D P A S S I V E N U T K N A V E H R H E R O E E C
And this scoring chart:
- 30 words or fewer: Donkey
- 31 to 55 words: Regular
- 56 to 80 words: Shark
- 81+ words: Pro”
{Complete list of words can be found in this footnote4.}
Footnotes:
- Twa is Scottish for two.
- Awa is Scottish for away.
- Mairs is Scottish for more. Just a coincidence that all three of these obscure words are Scottish!
- The 122 poker words that were intentionally hidden in the grid were: ace active ante balance bankroll beat bet blank blind bluff board boat bubble burn bust button buyin call cash check chip chop club cooler cutoff deuce donkey draw edge eight equity fade five flip float flop flush fold four freeroll gutshot hand heart hero high hijack hole house isolate jack jam joker kicker king knave lead leak limit limp loose luck maniac money muck nine nit nut open overpair paint pair passive poker position post pot prize probe quad queen rag rail rainbow raise rake read rebuy ring river runner seat set seven shark shove showdown shuffle slowplay slowroll spade splash split squeeze stack steal straddle straight suit table tell ten three tight tilt trey trips turn two value walk weak wheel.