Scrabble Ascendant

According to the New York Times, the proliferation of word games on Facebook and mobile platforms is driving a new renaissance for Scrabble-style gaming. The prime movers are Words With Friends (now owned by the demonstrably evil Zynga) and various adaptations of Scrabble itself.

More interesting is the information that digital sales are driving conventional sales, with 4 million Scrabble sets sold in 2010 alone. According to Hasbro, this represents a 100% increase over a five-year period. And, yes, it's because of apps.

h/t: Erik Arneson

PUZZLE: Musical Letters

It's been a while since I posted a puzzle, so let's try some word playing.

Using just the musical notes--C D E F G A B--what is the longest word you can "play" on the piano? You can play the notes as many times as you like, but they have to a) make a single word and b) not require any letters but these seven.

There are multiple solutions.

Logogriphs (ANSWER)

I didn't post yesterday's piece on Logogriphs as a "puzzle" because it was just too obscure for modern readers, but I did hold back the answers in case anyone wanted to take a stab at it. Here is the poem again, with the answers at the end of each line. The Master word is LARGE.

What to the king alone pertains; [REGAL]
And what respect in gen'ral gains; [AGE]
A title English nobles bear; [EARL]
And what a farmer's horses wear; [GEAR]
What fictituious ne'er can be; [REAL]
With what betokens poverty; [RAG]
A word that has an angry cast; [RAGE]
Another, that we use for last; [LAG]
What in a dish of souse is good; [EAR]
A limb, when lost, supply'd with wood; [LEG]
A wind, of brisk yet gentle fame; [GALE]
A Yorkshire river's ancient name; [ARE]
And 'last, not least,' the spacious whole
Will lead you to the wish'd-for-goal. [LARGE]

Logogriphs

A logogriph is a kind of anagram puzzle. Clues are given to words that can be made from the letters of a single master word. The goal is to uncover that master word.

Here's a simple example to illustrate the concept. Both the clues, their answer, and the master word are provided:

• anger (IRE)
• personal pronoun (ME)
• desperately urgent (DIRE)
• hitchhiker's goal (RIDE)

The master word for this would be MIRED. (RIMED is also possible.)

A masterpiece of this form appeared in The Masquerade, A Collection of New Enigmas. Logogriphs, Charades. Rebusses, Queries, and Transpositions, a popular book of puzzles published in 1797. I did not solve this one (my version had all the answers embedded in the lines), and I believe some of the references are archaic or obscure enough to make solving a long shot for any modern puzzler. There are at least two lines in this which I know I would not have figured out unaided.

I considered giving the answers outright, but I thought ambitious readers might just want to take a stab at it first. I'll post the whole solution tomorrow if no one gets it.

Remember, each line is a clue to a word, and all the answer words are made from the letters of one other word. The last two lines function as a couplet, and provide a clue to the whole puzzle.

What to the king alone pertains;
And what respect in gen'ral gains;
A title English nobles bear;
And what a farmer's horses wear;
What fictituious ne'er can be;
With what betokens poverty;
A word that has an angry cast;
Another, that we use for last;
What in a dish of souse is good;
A limb, when lost, supply'd with wood;
A wind, of brisk yet gentle fame;
A Yorkshire river's ancient name;
And 'last, not least,' the spacious whole
Will lead you to the wish'd-for-goal.