The World\u27s Worst Dictionary

From any standard dictionary, we minimally expect the complete inclusion of basic words, consistency in choice of further entries, and evidence of general care in proofreading. To appreciate these qualities\u27 importance, consider a small dictionary notable for their prodigious absence. I refer to Webster\u27s Dictionary of the English Language: Handy School and Office Edition (HSOE). My copy is a red paperback volume, a revised edition published in 1979 by Book-Craft Guild, Inc., New York. A nearly-identical hardback edition bears a 1976 publishing date

A Word-Watcher\u27s Abecedary

We folk etymologists have a cardinal rule: never look up unfamiliar words in the dictionary! One can invariably guess their meaning by context and syllabic division alone. Besides, only by this method could anyone intuit the nature of eponymous creatures such as the following

The Name\u27s the Game

An earlier set of solitaire puzzles based on word charades appeared as Musical Wordboxes in the August 1990 Word Ways. The Present article is a sequel with a new theme. The aim of each puzzle below is to arrange the boxes into a square or rectangle in such a way that every horizontal and vertical join forms a common English word. In Figure 1, for example, one vertical join already forms the word LAUGH, and a horizontal join forms ORE

Why Can\u27t Doctors Spell?

The illegibility of doctors\u27 handwriting has spawned innumerable jokes. Jottings that seem illegible and unintelligible may actually be technical terms that mimic commoner words. A cursory scan of Stedman\u27s Medical Dictionary (1976) uncovered scores of seemingly-misspelled words. An abridged collection of these is given below, where each scientific term is followed by a brief definition, with its common look-alike in parentheses

Titles To Trace

We are proud of our unparalleled collection of specialized encyclopedias. We are now trying to trace the whereabouts of the following lost volumes. Can you help complete our sets

Word Squares? No, oblongs!

The Holy Grail of word grids is the elusive ten-square. Squares as a class are the overwhelming focus of word grid study. But squares are only a special case of the generalized word grid universe

Goose Thighs Rehashed

One day during his last illness, my father suddenly remembered a car trick from his boyhood. The trick involved the Latin mnemonic MUTUS NOMEN DEDIT COCIS. Everyone was astonished that a nonesense phrase had lain dormant in his mind\u27s deepest recesses for more than sixty years, then sprung serendipitously to his weakened senses

Halfway Words

Letters and numerals stand as atoms and opposing symbols of basic dichotomy: literature versus science, intuition versus logic, creativity versus automation. Since the gematria of Biblical times, mankind has delighted to marry the two elements by forms of letter arithmetic

Lattice Play

At first glance, lattices seem to offer few attractions as a wordplay form. They are far more abundant than word squares and easier to construct. Although long neglected, lattices yield a previously unknown but elegant pangrammatic set, one involving only 33 total letters and words from a single dictionary

Eckler Sudoku

The following sudoku puzzle honors Ross and Faith Eckler. It contains each of their names twice. Curiously, it also contains the name of a Word Ways contributor, (Will) Shortz