Ponder This - December 2022

tgan · 2022-12-05, 09:26

https://research.ibm.com/haifa/ponde...ember2022.html

uau · 2022-12-05, 21:05

The problem statement is missing a condition that all the letters in the words must be from the given 12.

Dieter · 2022-12-06, 13:49

„Find a box that has only a single two-word solution.“

Does that mean: „ There is no other two- word solution“

or

„There are no other solutions at all, for example such with 5 words with three letters or so“

dg211 · 2022-12-07, 15:57

I also wasn't sure if it was supposed to mean "there is exactly one solution, and it is exactly two words long" or "the number of two-word solutions is one, but there may be solutions of other lengths".

I don't see a minimum word length in the puzzle description either (but the NYT puzzle seems to have minimum length 3). All the single letters are considered valid words in the provided dictionary, so I think technically you could just do the same letter repeated a bunch of times. For example, I think ['u', 'u', 'u', ... 'unclot', 'throwback'] would technically be valid for the example given. (In my reading of the rules that doesn't violate the rule about consecutive letters coming from different sides, because they are separate words, and the first letter of one word is the same as the previous word).

dg211 · 2022-12-07, 16:03

Given the number of 2 letter words in the dictionary which would allow you to create an unlimited number of solutions of the form 'ab', 'ba', 'ab' ... I'm leaning towards it being necessary to interpret the question as "there is only one 2-word solution, but there may be solutions of other lengths".

petrw1 · 2022-12-07, 16:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg211

Given the number of 2 letter words in the dictionary which would allow you to create an unlimited number of solutions of the form 'ab', 'ba', 'ab' ... I'm leaning towards it being necessary to interpret the question as "there is only one 2-word solution, but there may be solutions of other lengths".

Rule #4 covers that; unless you can find a solution with one 2-letter word and one 12 letter word.
4. All the letters in the square must appear in the sequence of words in the solution.

Dieter · 2022-12-07, 17:45

But we have to know, if the 3-letter-rule of the NYT is valid for us, because we could find a box with exactly one two-word solution, if a word must have at least 3 letters, but more such solutions, if words with two letters are allowed.
Formulated otherwise: if we find a box with two two-word solutions, the first one with two words à 8 letters and the second one with one 2-letter word and one 12 letter word: is that a solution?

dg211 · 2022-12-07, 18:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by petrw1

Rule #4 covers that; unless you can find a solution with one 2-letter word and one 12 letter word.
4. All the letters in the square must appear in the sequence of words in the solution.

I just meant that you could always pad your solution with extra 2 letter words e.g. ['unclot', 'throwback'] couldn't be the only solution of any length, because 'un' and 'nu' are both in the dictionary, so you could do ['un', 'nu', 'unclot', 'throwback']. There are so many 2 letter words in that dictionary that my gut instinct is that it would be extremely hard to find a solution with the interpretation that there can be no solutions other than the single, length 2 solution.

dg211 · 2022-12-07, 18:10

The fact that the question asks you to "Find a box that has only a single two-word solution." with no comma between "single" and "two-word" also suggests to me that it's reasonable to take it as meaning there can be multiple solutions, but only one that is 2 words long.

Dieter · 2022-12-07, 19:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by dg211

The fact that the question asks you to "Find a box that has only a single two-word solution." with no comma between "single" and "two-word" also suggests to me that it's reasonable to take it as meaning there can be multiple solutions, but only one that is 2 words long.

Ok, but what is a word? Can 2 letters be a word? See #7.

raresaturn · 2022-12-16, 01:03

Somewhat similar to the 'Song In A Box' puzzle I created

2022-12-05, 09:26	#1
tgan Jul 2015 2B₁₆ Posts	Ponder This - December 2022 https://research.ibm.com/haifa/ponde...ember2022.html

2022-12-06, 13:49	#3
Dieter Oct 2017 2·3·5² Posts	DEC 2022 „Find a box that has only a single two-word solution.“ Does that mean: „ There is no other two- word solution“ or „There are no other solutions at all, for example such with 5 words with three letters or so“

2022-12-16, 01:03	#11
raresaturn Jul 2021 2⁴×3 Posts	Somewhat similar to the 'Song In A Box' puzzle I created Attached Thumbnails

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2022-12-05, 21:05	#2
uau Jan 2017 2·3·29 Posts	The problem statement is missing a condition that all the letters in the words must be from the given 12.

2022-12-07, 15:57	#4
dg211 Jun 2016 20₁₆ Posts	I also wasn't sure if it was supposed to mean "there is exactly one solution, and it is exactly two words long" or "the number of two-word solutions is one, but there may be solutions of other lengths". I don't see a minimum word length in the puzzle description either (but the NYT puzzle seems to have minimum length 3). All the single letters are considered valid words in the provided dictionary, so I think technically you could just do the same letter repeated a bunch of times. For example, I think ['u', 'u', 'u', ... 'unclot', 'throwback'] would technically be valid for the example given. (In my reading of the rules that doesn't violate the rule about consecutive letters coming from different sides, because they are separate words, and the first letter of one word is the same as the previous word).

2022-12-07, 16:03	#5
dg211 Jun 2016 2⁵ Posts	Given the number of 2 letter words in the dictionary which would allow you to create an unlimited number of solutions of the form 'ab', 'ba', 'ab' ... I'm leaning towards it being necessary to interpret the question as "there is only one 2-word solution, but there may be solutions of other lengths".

2022-12-07, 17:45	#7
Dieter Oct 2017 2·3·5² Posts	December Ponder This But we have to know, if the 3-letter-rule of the NYT is valid for us, because we could find a box with exactly one two-word solution, if a word must have at least 3 letters, but more such solutions, if words with two letters are allowed. Formulated otherwise: if we find a box with two two-word solutions, the first one with two words à 8 letters and the second one with one 2-letter word and one 12 letter word: is that a solution?

2022-12-07, 18:10	#9
dg211 Jun 2016 2⁵ Posts	The fact that the question asks you to "Find a box that has only a single two-word solution." with no comma between "single" and "two-word" also suggests to me that it's reasonable to take it as meaning there can be multiple solutions, but only one that is 2 words long.