[unreality]

Start with one letter that is a word, and keep adding letters, one at a time, inserting them at any point in the word. After each iteration, your word must still be a word!

Like so:

a

as

ask

mask

or

i

is

ins

tins

tines

[etc]

Obviously those aren't the longest words you can make starting with 'a' and 'i'. What are?

And as there aren't any other legal one-letter words, what if you could start off with any letter and then every letter after that had to be a word?

[bonanova]

O is a one-letter word.

As in the recently seasonal O little town of Bethlehem....

[unreality]

oh yeah, nice I think that's archaic spelling, but we'll go with it ;D

[Guest]

also x, y and z - unknown quantities

btw are all letters of the alphabet nouns of themselves ?

oh - and dressed to a T

[unreality]

these are some of my records so far:

a

an

ran

rant

grant

granet

giver

give

I've

i.e. or IV

i

a

at

sat

stat

stats

status

stratus

Not the largest possible I'm sure This is more of a community effort than a puzzle ;D

[Guest]

o

on

ton

tons

tones

stones

stonies??

stoniest

[Guest]

i

in

sin

sing

sting

string

staring

starving

i

in

sin

sing

sting

string

storing

storming

[Guest]

trying some consonants as starting letters:

b

ab

tab

stab

stabs

c

CD?

cod

code

coder

colder

scolder

scolders

d

do

doe

dope

doper

dopper (it's a word)

dropper

droppers

f

of

oft

loft

lofty

g

ag

tag

stag

stage

staged

h

hi

hit

sh*t

shift

shifts

I'll be back with some more, ttfn.

[unreality]

nice

I've found two different routes to 'balast':

a

at

bat

bast (meaning 1, meaning 2)

blast

balast

a

as

aas (could be "aa's" or Aas or...? lol)

alas

balas (a ruby spinel)

balast

route 2.1

a

as

las???

blas (as in, multiple "bla"s)

balas

balast

unfortunately all of that was for "balast", which I've realized isn't an actual word It's ballast

[Guest]

Edit: Ignore, please <_<

Edited January 6, 2009 by woon

[Guest]

i

in

sin

sing

sting

string

staring

starving

i

in

sin

sing

sting

string

storing

storming

i

in

sin

sing

sting

string

staring

starving

starling

startling

[Guest]

b

be

bet

best

beast

breast

abreast

Edited January 6, 2009 by sudheeran

[unreality]

nice ;D I had a good one in the back of mind, but forgot it I'll think of it later

[Guest]

[Izzy]

a

ah

hat

hate

hater

haters

heaters

cheaters (hehe, or teachers)

detachers

despatcher

despatchers

*edit* w00t, winning so far!

Edited January 6, 2009 by Izzy

[unreality]

izzy: you're good until you start scrambling the word Yours ends at 'cheaters' or 'teachers' ;D

I thought of one recently:

a

at

art

cart

caret

carets

carnets

and if only I could add two letters at once:

clarinets

hehe ;D

[Izzy]

They're totally words. Just.. not quite in the dictionary? 'Detachers' works with spell check. If I type in 'despatch' in the dictionary on my MacBook, 'dispatch' comes up with 'also despatch' written next to it.

[unreality]

They're totally words. Just.. not quite in the dictionary? 'Detachers' works with spell check. If I type in 'despatch' in the dictionary on my MacBook, 'dispatch' comes up with 'also despatch' written next to it.

No, I meant you 'scrambled' the words, ie, changed around the order of the letters. You can only insert new letters

also ignore that I said cheaters OR teachers, it ends at cheaters only

Edited January 6, 2009 by unreality

[Guest]

They're totally words. Just.. not quite in the dictionary? 'Detachers' works with spell check. If I type in 'despatch' in the dictionary on my MacBook, 'dispatch' comes up with 'also despatch' written next to it.

Izzy, I don't think the criticism was with whether they're words, but that you didn't keep the same order of the letters. You can insert the new letter anywhere, but you can't mess with the ones that are already there (it's "letter chains", not "anagram letter chains")

edit: oops, sorry, I missed unreality's post. didn't mean to be over-correcting

(@unreality: one distinct advantage of the current incog site)

Edited January 6, 2009 by Cherry Lane

[Guest]

[Izzy]

Ah, sorry, missed that bit. Sudheeran, yours is wrong as well then.

[Guest]

I know we get the idea, but technically Izzy's ended at "ah" because his next word was "hat" which required scrambling. Sorry Izzy.

[Guest]

trying some consonants as starting letters:

f

of

oft

loft

lofty

I'll be back with some more, ttfn.

f

of

oft

soft

softy?

softly

[Guest]

i

in

sin

sing

singe

singer

singers

[Guest]

i

in

sin

sing

singe

singer

singers

stingers

[Guest]

stingers

add "stringers" as well