Here's a game that may appeal to all you fans of Scrabble, Boggle, Perquackey, and those "Jumble" puzzles that appear in the newspapers. It's called Cephword!

How does it work? Very simple, gang: I or one of the other players posts ANY long ceph-related word. Then everyone tries to find as many words (3 letters and up) which can be made from it. To make things more of a challenge, and to avoid duplication, for each given puzzle a player may post no more than ten words in each of the following categories:

- 3 letters
- 4 letters
- 5 letters
- 6 letters or more

None of the words may duplicate entries previously posted for a given puzzle. Both singular and plural forms of a word may be used. For words with two possible spellings (e.g., "favor" or "favour"), you may use whichever one is most familiar to you, but not both. You may not use proper names, capitalized place names, scientific genus or species names as answers (though you may use them as puzzle starter words).

All entries may be challenged by other players, but s/he must present proof using either a dictionary or an online reference. Any challenger or challengee who is proven incorrect, gets only half a bucket of krill at feeding time for a week. Submitting blatantly misspelled or obviously made-up words (e.g., "oktopuss" or "gringendoodleplatz") is punishable by gang tomato'ing.

If there are any rules I haven't covered here, I invite my fellow TONMOers to add their own or amend the existing ones.

Ready to play? Here's the first puzzle, and my words (remember, only ten words per word-length per player):

ARCHITEUTHIS

art
rat
tar
sit
his
car
tic
hit
hat
cat

arts
rats
tars
sits
scar
tics
hits
hats
cats
star

carts
start
tarts
chits
chats
chart
teach
cheat
crest
tears

stitch
arches
atheist
starch
stretch
charts
cheats
treats
earths
traces

OK, who's next? Wanted: More takers for ARCHITEUTHIS!

The Tanster

Sweet looks like fun but I got to go to sleep now.







Jesse

Hmm, I wonder who'll bite...

ARCHITEUTHIS

arc her hut tie she the ute sue tea rut

cash such cite cart stir thus hart shah tire rite

reach chair tithe hutch crate tacit races retch scare tract

astute hirsute static chutes chaste cutter rhachis shutter curate thatch


:wink:

"this" :)

thats all i can think of

Heheh -- somehow I knew Kat would be the first to show up :wink:

While we're at it, here are a couple of ADDENDA TO THE RULES which just occurred to me:

(a) More than one puzzle may be active on thread at the same time (as with "Six Degrees to a Ceph"). Players, just be sure to place puzzle-starter word at the beginning of your answers so we'll know which one you are playing.

(b) Come to think of it, two-word puzzle-starters can be acceptable as well (e.g., MESONYCHOTEUTHIS HAMILTONI or JACQUES COUSTEAU). *
* Dammit, why didn't I start with ARCHITEUTHIS DUX? Dumb Tani! Dumb! Dumb!

:bonk:

Ummmm, eat, hate, rice, tart, cares, s#!%, rest, site, tire, tech, tires, teacher, sitter, hitter, tetra, heart, and, ummmmmmmmmmm rash.

I love this kind of word game!!

itch
rich
char
chat
chit

suite

ratchet

errrrrr hatch

Haven't had enough caffiene yet to do any better (why isn't there a coffee mug icon when you need one!)


J

Forgot a few, chatter, shatter, chatters, and rashes.



:usa: :

Haven't had enough caffiene yet to do any better (why isn't there a coffee mug icon when you need one!)

For you:

:coffee:

Yay!! More smilies!:coffee:

:coffee:

Shouldn't that smiley-face be shaped like a donut :?:

BTW, we're on a roll here with those puzzle answers! How about trying this variant (while continuing the original game, of course):

ARCHITEUTHIS DUX

But, due to the three additional letters, only words containing the letter D, X, or two U's are acceptable.

I'll kick it off with just three of each length. Anyone want to try for ten?

tax - six - sex
exit - dues - axis
duets - chide - darts
starched - tithed - dearth

Keep on keepin' on, gang!

:)
Me

Taxi, taxes. Thats all I got.

I'm gonna give it a go,

dude - dirt - dart - dice - die - diet - direct - disc - discuss - discrete

whew, this is not easy.

Ex-cel-lent, Joel! However, I must challenge "discrete" because there is only one E in the phrase, and "dude" because there's only one D. Otherwise, great work. Any other takers? (Yes, this is a tricky one.)

Fine :? i'll change those to dire and district

Better now? :mrgreen:

Approved! :sun:

How about my favorite ceph, Vampyroteuthis infernalis ?

Vampyroteuthis infernalis

amp, tin, rot, fin, lip, ran, for, not, mop, tan

ramp, lamp, pyre, vote, tote, fern, this, spot, rest, test

learn, tramp, route, theme, their, sharp, strap, strip, stern, final

protein

infernal, internal

improvise

Agggh! too many letters to choose from! :bugout:

Here's a few more:

Vampyroteuthis infernalis

art
ear
fan
hit
oil
pan
roe
rot
sue
tar

airy
fair
lisp
mire
pale
rate
rule
seer
tire
torn

avail
feral
raise
rinse
stale
steam
stint
style
taint
trial

siphon
autopsy
aperitif
paralysis
parsimony
reptilian
infiltrate
misanthropy
portmanteau
intransitive


What a great species to use!

Neil

Your good Tony, but how bout something with a little less words, makes it even harder. HISTIOTEUTHIS lets give this a try, but now its time for bed :sleeping:

Oops. Shoulda read the rules. :oops:

Neil

Ok Joel... the real challenage is doing this in a family-friendly way... :wink:

HISTIOTEUTHIS

tot, his, toe, hoe, sit, sot, hit, hot, hut, the

this, shot, shoe, tote, hose, toes, site, shut, hues, thou

those, south, shout

thesis

Histioteuthis

sue

sets
suet
thus
ties
toss
suit

house
ousts
shies
sties
stout
suite
tests
tithe

tissue
hittite

Neil

Drats all the obvious ones are taken :? I'm gonna have to think harder.

How about:

Tetracheledone

Neil

Tetra, cat, drat, chat, done, teeth, ummmmmm, letter, cheater, chatter, I have to go find something else to do now.

Tetracheledone

rat tar one her led nod tee end and eat
rate tear tare char tent tech deal done node dean
teach chart reach cheat trade rated delta chant chore toted
teacher chelae treacle rachet needle treadle cartel cloned canter cantor

Fighting boredom at work:

Tetracheledone

art hat eon red eel ace den car ode net
deer acre race rend cede tone heed lend leer tart
drone erode crate react trace adore elder cheer enact erect
endear redact create lecher crater leader drench chattel theatre threatened

Neil

Dot, Cot, Hot, Tot, Ton,
Real, Reel, Dace, Lean, Heal, Dean, Dear, Rear, lead, Herd, Toad, Reed,
Clear, Reach, Clone, Crate
Antler,




...............ahhh............... :bugout: :bonk:

Based upon no particular rating system, so far um... is the TONMOer to beat when it comes to the longer words (despite that little faux pas with the proper noun "Hittite")! Everyone else, of course, is doing a great job as well. How about this next challenge (remember, a proper noun as a puzzle starter word is OK):

JACQUES COUSTEAU

I'll begin with....

sea - set - sat - cat - jet - cut - sue - cot - sac - eat
seat - suet - jute - cute - case - cast - cats - cots - sacs -sate
sates - asset - caste - costs - casts - seats - queue - scout - squat - scats
cosset - squats - castes - scouts - causes - coasts - queues - jousts - ceases - quests

Next taker?

Based upon no particular rating system, so far um... is the TONMOer to beat when it comes to the longer words (despite that little faux pas with the proper noun "Hittite")!

I wasn't sure whether we were considering languages to be banned under the 'no proper names' rule. Won't let it happen again, ma'am.

Neil

JACQUES COUSTEAU

jot act ate ute use cue see ass suq qat
oust outs aqua jest just coat taco east teas aces
quest coast cause cease tease sauce ascot setae quote oases
stucco cactus coquet accuse caucus access sautee accost equate quotes

extra points for au jus? :)

Just so nobody can use this later:

JACQUES COUSTEAU

cetaceous

Neil

How about some anatomical ceph words? Here's one that's been on my mind recently:

CHROMATOPHORES

This should take more than two people to exhaust.

Neil

Is this thread dead?

[a tumbleweed drifts past, mocking the stillness with its capricious bounce]

Neil

OK, I'll just play with myself.

CHROMATOPHORES

act ate ear her hot ore pea sea she tar
ache atom hear mote pore ream seat soap taro tear
chore horse metro perch react smear sperm storm teach tromp
hearth morose pathos presto search stroma throes sharper stomach trochophores

Neil

Ok here goes :

Chromatophores

Pat, mat, toe, poo, moo, top, hat
More, core, rate, rear, pear, mare, hare, rest, crop, chat
Pores, mocha, porch
Spores, chrome, porche

OK, I'll just play with myself.


You know, if you keep doing that you will end up with spermatophores all stuck to your feeding tentacles, and the teuthologists are gonna laugh at you just like they did with the others. When will you Archis ever learn?


CHROMATOPHORES


poem, strop, poems, photo, photos, parrot, parrots, strophe

OK, I'll just play with myself.

You know, if you keep doing that you will end up with spermatophores all stuck to your feeding tentacles, and the teuthologists are gonna laugh at you just like they did with the others. When will you Archis ever learn?

:lol:
That's disgusting.

OK, I'll just play with myself.


You know, if you keep doing that you will end up with spermatophores all stuck to your feeding tentacles, and the teuthologists are gonna laugh at you just like they did with the others. When will you Archis ever learn?



I'm so glad that someone took the bait. I'm especially glad that it was someone who could so ably drag it down to abyssal depths...

Missed ya fer a couple days there.

:heee:

Neil

I'm so glad that someone took the bait. I'm especially glad that it was someone who could so ably drag it down to abyssal depths...


How could I resist a bait so odiferous? I caught the scent and just had to surface for a bite.


Missed ya fer a couple days there.

:heee:

'Tis heartwarming to be thus missed. I had this disgusting complication from a tooth extraction -- believe me, you don't wanna know.

Anyway, I'm much better now. Mu-u-u-u-u-ch better....

MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAA!

:twisted:

I had this disgusting complication from a tooth extraction -- believe me, you don't wanna know.

I do wanna know :heee:
Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine :D

I had this disgusting complication from a tooth extraction -- believe me, you don't wanna know.

I do wanna know :heee:
Tell me yours and I'll tell you mine :D

OK, you asked for it:

Ever hear of "dry socket"? (a.k.a. alveolar osteitis, a.k.a. I Wish Osama Bin Laden Had This Right Now) It's a charming condition where the blood clot at the extraction site fails to form properly, falls out, and leaves a gaping hole with exposed bone at the bottom. It is painful as hell and requires treatment with repeated applications of medicated "socket packs" by the oral surgeon -- I went through five of them -- as well as home treatment with painkillers, Rx antiseptic mouth rinse, and warm-water irrigation of the opening with a syringe after every meal. So far I've been told that I can stop the Rx rinses by Tuesday, but I'll have to keep irrigating the opening until it closes completely -- which could be up to two months.

So, is that sufficiently detailed for you? :yuck:

Your turn, joel.... let's hear all the gory details as you promised!

:shock:

That's awful.

:cry:

Neil

:periscop:

Foo recently trod on a dog turd ... took ages to clean the muck from between the toes ... with my fingers :yuck:

:shock:

That's awful.

:cry:

Neil

Tani, Dr. :heart: ALAN :heart: pus and I wish you as comfortable a recovery as possible. (I hope Dr. Painkillers is already doing all he can to help :wink: )

Neil

Um..., I am still laughing! Tani, I'm so sorry. We can trade dental war stories over congee or paella when you recover. I'll tell you about removing the French dentist's hand from my mouth. The dentist won this tug of war: my tooth was in his hand! I have now have a titanium replacement, with the world's tiniest hexnut visible.

Melissa, TONMO's Champeen Dentist-Biter

Tani, Dr. :heart: ALAN :heart: pus and I wish you as comfortable a recovery as possible.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks, um..., I needed that! But what I really want to know is -- does he make housecalls? :wink:

Melissa, you're on for that congee or paella. I can't wait to hear the story about the French dentist! (BTW, after removing his hand from your mouth, were they able to surgically reattach it to his arm?)

:mrgreen:
Moi

lets see if we can reorient this thread....

Megalocranchia

Good timing, and at the top of a new page, too!

Megalocranchia

age, gem, lag, cog, leg, can, ran, log, hog, rag

rage, gale, male, hail, rail, calm, harm, clam, chin, rain

learn, ranch, charm, alarm, chime, glean, claim

chrome,

charming, alarming

MEGALOCRANCHIA

air, arc, chi, her, ice, ire, lie, nil, oar, roe

cage, germ, goal, hair, lace, loam, lime, mace, mile, rile

aroma, chair, chore, conch, coral, grace, magic, march, moral, reach

aching, gaoler, mailer, milage, orange, chalice, laminar, regalia, roaming, chimaera

Neil

Sorry I took so long to reply :roll: , Well, here's my story, I went for a tooth extraction sometime in June, How ever, on the first try, she only pulled out half the tooth (the other half was in my gum.). She then used sall kinds of stuff to get it out, half way through, the anesthetic started wearing out and it hurt like mad :bugout: .
She got the needle and wanted to inject another dose, I guess the gum was pretty soft after this so the needle went all the way through the other side :bonk: . She thankfully managed to finish the job after this. It took about 2 hrs and she had to change her gloves thrice because of all the blood.

For whenever we're done with MEGALOCRANCHIA (there's a few good words left):

METASEPIA TULLBERGI

Neil

METASEPIA TULLBERGI

Heres a few I can think of. Well at least right now anyway

Met Set Pet Pat Bat Tap Mat Rug Gull Map

Tame Berg Beep Beat Mate Tube Lube

Blurt Great

a couple off the top of my head

laser, pie, pile, least, tease, taste, gerbil, libel

METASEPIA TULLBERGI

ape ate tea pea ale lea lie bee bug but
blue sate step pest bull gill grit gilt spat bile
bilge bulge bugle spate paste stale brute spare parse bleat
rebuilt butter bitter batter latter glitter bullet ampule limpet plagiarise

METASEPIA TULLBERGI

ape ate tea pea ale lea lie bee bug but
blue sate step pest bull gill grit gilt spat bile
bilge bulge bugle spate paste stale brute spare parse bleat
rebuilt butter bitter batter latter glitter bullet ampule limpet plagiarise

:shock: She is good!!

:wink:

She is good!!

Yes she is.
But still :twisted: .
Don't forget about the :twisted: .

:wink:

Neil

I cannot help myself:

MEGALOCRANCHIA

anemic, chiral, genial, chorale, achromia, cornmeal, encroach, anchorage, carcinoma, archangelic...

Neil

MEGALOCRANCHIA


120 sec answer:

ranch
loch
leg
lag
lame
china
roam
hang
cringe

METASEPIA TULLBERGI

ail, bat, big, eel, gab, gut, lit, peg, pet, pig
able, alee, gear, gull, lump, maul, meat, pall, tall, time
agile, guile, guilt, later, prism, reset, sleep, sleet, trail, trial
simple, tempest, umbrage, imperial, legalise, simulate, suitable, telegram, temperate, pragmatist

Neil

Octopus Bimaculoides

Octopus Bimaculoides

ail bud cup die elm ice mad out sip top
bust cusp dole duel loom mile oust pool taco tile
amble cable clade limit moist mould pesto plied tempo tepid
simile stucco codicil costume elastic misstep opossum pustule domicile impossible

Neil

Octopus Bimaculoides

sup sot mob duo old lei lie tub tab cut
lieu limb bile beta post calm clam maul molt slid
pouts smelt boots stoop camel clime bidet blade spume climb
idolise camisole occult cactus caucus mobile biscuit iambic pumice stumble

Set, Sit, Cud, Met,
Lode, Dome, Loss, Lose, Dual, Cult, Mold, Tide, Moat, Melt
Close, Mould,
October,

how about STEVE O'SHEA?

STEVE O'SHEA

ate eat eve hoe hot oat ova tea toe vet
have heat host hove shoe shot toss vase vest vote
eaves haste heave sates setae shove stave stove these those
sheave sheets steeve vetoes

Neil

Hapalochlaena Lunulata

Hapalochlaena lunulata

ale apt cat eon lap let nap opt pun tun
ache cant echo lope neap opal pate peon teal tone
annul atone cello chant enact leach ounce petal taupe tuple
anneal cantle chelae phenol chateau phaeton cutaneal neonatal penchant punctual

Neil

How about:

Taningia danae or TaningiaDanae

Take your Pick :)

Taningia danae or TaningiaDanae
and
ant
eat
end
ent (stupid walking trees, slowing down the movie and interrupting battles)
gin
git
tad
tan
tin

dang
dean
dint
egad
gait
gent
gnat
nine
tang
tine

:bugout:

Clem

ent (stupid walking trees, slowing down the movie and interrupting battles)
Seriously.

ent (stupid walking trees, slowing down the movie and interrupting battles)

BLASPHEMY!!!! before the second movie, i was worried about how theyd do the Ents (a personal fav, that ended up coming out nice) when i shouldve worried about Jarjar v2.0 (aka Gollum :x ) The ents go primate fecal matter on a wizard and a wannabe politician, that wins point in my book.... maybe Jackson couldve shot/edited it better, but the fact that he never shot the scouring of the shire shows he's a hack riding the tails of a great story to prominence....

anyways, my initial list:

tin, tan, nit, tad, tag, ten, net, get, gin, gat, tie, den
tine, tint, gang, gait, need, neat, gain, Dane, deadn, nine, Geat (read your Beowulf)
tanning

Taningia danae

aged dent dine edit idea
agent deign gated inane
ending gannet innate tiding tinning indignant
:(

While it was indeed rewarding to see the Ents "go to town", for the most part, the Ent scenes slowed down the movie. This becomes especially apparent when watching it over and over and over. The movie has massive replay appeal... but the scenes with them trudging through the woods are quite fast-forwardable.

I think the Gollum actor should have been nomiated for supporting actor, myself! Lucas has to be kicking himself daily. In terms of appeal and seamless integration with a movie, Gollum is what he must have had in mind when green-lighting Jar-Jar Binks.

Hmm... one entry to at least stay on topic... :feet:

Taningia danae

giant, as in tree

Dig and tanning is all I can come up with.

Quote from MAD -"Gollum is actually the b****** love child of Calista Flockhart and David Hyde Pierce" or "David Spade without his makeup."

Taningia danae

again digit
angina indent tanned

Eledone cirrhosa

Eledone cirrhosa

eel doe has car led cod ire hie red rid
dire dole cone cede hair arch rice dice dish shod
niche chore scorn chide shoal coral ochre riled shire hoser ;)
echidna chained corned sacred ashore corral chloride horrid chandler scoria

Eledone cirrhosa

aid ash die don eon lee nee nod sad sod
done heel held hero hind lore node rash sire soar
clade erode heard ichor laden leach roach scene shorn shred
chiral cinder deacon hoarse schöne :wink: (yeah, yeah... 'dish' was used already) second crinose decanol necrose rehearsed rhinoceros

Eledone cirrhosa

ode old end ere sir had ore roe den din
ease seal oars iron shoe eros ache orca acid arid
easel lease elder olden child scion clone crone rinse dance
heraldic nordic cradle heroic choral endear diocese candle orchid

Good one. :)

Note to self: Never play Scrabble with :twisted:.

At least, never play for money.

Lol!

Yall are so good at this! Makes me feel unwordy. :(

Note to self: Never play Scrabble with :twisted:.

[Sigh] ... And the number of people on the planet willing to play Scrabble with me remains at a steady three... one if you only count people in the same hemisphere. :cry:

Don't cry. I just said that I shouldn't play for money, Honey. I figger I can deal with utter humiliation, since I've an endless reservoir of shame to draw from. I'm just a bit lack-lucre. If you ever want to make the stakes firstborn children or indentured servitude, then count me in.

:heee:

:?


:twocents: = :thumbsup:

:baby: = :thumbsdo:


:canada: = :bonk:


:cthulhu:

Its been quite awhile since I played cephword. Also never play Upwords with TTF :wink:

Eledone cirrhosa

Nod, Old, One, Nil,

Dead, Hose, Clad, Cold, Lead, Eden, Hone, Corn, Horn, Hide

Drone, Adorn,

Aw crap, all the easy ones are gone :(

Nonsense. Tintenfisch has left at least half a dozen fairly easy words for others to discover.

you mean like horse?

Yeah.

Also:

Eledone cirrhosa

adore ardor cnida creed crier dolor dinar drain scone snide
careen inroad nereid raider clarion ordinal escarole reindeer sardonic serenade

Fine, you guys have pretty good vocabulary's/ries?

Led, Rod,
Heal, Heel, Neil?,
Elder,

Half a dozen down, anymore? :mrgreen:

Fine, you guys have pretty good vocabulary's/ries?

English is really my second language. 'Grunting, hooting, and pointing' is my native tongue.