January 11 2012
Hamming Around
RobT and I have been playing a game of our own, over in Salon 10. And perhaps the time is right to share the distraction. The quest is to find two opposites that share their alternate letters (odds or evens), with at least two letters enlisted.
Seems this syndrome has a name too, as I discovered by fluke. The notion is called the Hamming Distance, named after American maths whiz, Richard Hamming, who explored stats and codes in terms of their minor variations.
Anyhow, the game emerged thanks to yesterday’s Times, where my stab for TWIT, the answer, ended up being the loose antonym of SWOT. A neat example of our challenge, since two letters are shared in the same slots, and the other letters are different.
Don’t expect we’ll find a glut of these babies, but there must be an elite club we can formulate. Might be fun to present our findings in puzzle form too, such as:
Assist/block [HELP/HALT]
Zero/larger amount = [NONE (or LOVE)/MORE]
Fast/slow one (5)
Passé/newbie (5)
Come forth/recoil (6)
Too hard? Too flaky? Let’s see what we find.
Comments
RobT — 11 January at 11:55AM
6. Halt/go (4)
One Wheel — 11 January at 12:04PM
5. Nice one
Two vague attempts:
7. Boost/fade
8. Nick/lent
One Wheel — 11 January at 12:06PM
6. Stop/shot
DA — 11 January at 12:19PM
Word lengths make life fairer, One Wheel. And feel free to spoil all answers. Otherwise we'll create one of those Mobius loops again.
I take it your (7) is not PUSH/HUSH..?
RobT — 11 January at 12:35PM
6. was STOP/STEP
Mauve — 11 January at 01:18PM
9. placid/extreme (6)
10. relaxed/urgent (8)
DA — 11 January at 01:36PM
9 serene/severe
10 ?
11 Undecided/decided (4)
JD — 11 January at 02:05PM
5/ Spring, Shrink
12/ Full/less full (7)
RobT — 11 January at 02:06PM
13 Reluctant/keen (5)
ML — 11 January at 03:56PM
Smart / Less Smart [6]
ML — 11 January at 04:00PM
Winner / Loser [6]
Lucasta — 11 January at 05:24PM
4. Faded/Cadet
An alternative solution to 9: Serene/Strong
16. Alert/Idle [4]
DA — 11 January at 05:32PM
Welcome Lucasta - my own (4) was DATED/CADET, but both work well.
Like your 16 - WARY/LAZY
17 Generous soul/ungenerous soul (5)
18 Sad/happy (6)
One Wheel — 11 January at 05:43PM
7. Boost/fade (4)
8. Nick/lent (4)
RK — 11 January at 09:26PM
Some answers:
3. QUICK/DUNCE
7. ?
8. ?
10. PLEASANT/PRESSING
11. ?
12. ?
13. ?
14. ?
15. VICTOR/DIETER
17. GIVER/MISER
18. WOEFUL/JOYFUL
RK — 11 January at 09:28PM
11. OPEN/OVER
RK — 11 January at 09:38PM
It would seem that some of the pairs of clues are opposites, but not necessarily their answers. Not sure if that's what you intended, DA, but clever all the same.
This is a bit of a wild stab, RobT, but is 13 SORRY/MOURN?
Lucasta — 11 January at 10:52PM
8. Take/Gave
19. Lively/Dull [5]
20. Germinate/Eradicate [6]
RobT — 12 January at 06:27AM
RK: 13= CHARY/CRAZY
JPR — 12 January at 09:14AM
This thread does raise what one might call an aesthetic question; when the answer has all its checked letters revealed, and there are alternative words that fit, is there not a kind of ennui that sets in as one flips from solver's mind to setter's mind, that is to say "it could be this, it could be that ... and in a way it therefore doesn't matter..." spooky! Some might call this an aporia. (Perhaps).
DA — 12 January at 09:32AM
Fair call, JPR. This is an iffy exercise. For example, my sad/happy solution is MOROSE/JOCOSE (vs the suggested WOEFUL/JOYFUL).
But that's no bad thing. In fact the notion of multiple solutions I find very appealing, just as I love your word APORIA: a philosophical impasse. ['lacking a doorway' in the purer sense]
Or here, have several doorways -
@RK, goes to reason that most clues will be opposites, as they signal antonyms in their own right. But that won't always happen. Just as some answers won't be guaranteed to own different letters in their 'unshared' slots. Though the litter's pick will, I reckon.
DA — 12 January at 09:34AM
Eureka, Lucasta - just unravelled your 20 - SPROUT/UPROOT. A gem.
ToboboT — 12 January at 09:43AM
19 - VIVID/TIMID.
ToboboT — 12 January at 10:01AM
21. Secured/violated (6)
One Wheel — 12 January at 12:09PM
22. Gods/pests (7)
23. Numerous/less (7)
24. Cancelled/restored (7)
25. Baby/warrior (7)
ML — 12 January at 02:53PM
26. Winner / Loser [6]
27. Smart / Less Smart [6]
DA — 12 January at 04:42PM
ML, your fine 26 [victor/dieter] has been solved already, leaving us with:
27 DAPPER/DUMBER
Re One Wheel's batch:
22 DEITIES/NETTLES
23 - several/general?
24 DELETED/RENEWED - neat one
25 TODDLER/SOLDIER [2 Ages of Man - nice]
And a variation, latching into an expression:
28 Hot/and bothered (6)
One Wheel — 12 January at 05:04PM
Not quite there on 23, DA. I had BEETLES as the second answer for 22, but your NETTLES works fine. And your answer for 27 doesn't quite work.
Lucasta — 12 January at 05:31PM
Nice solution to 19, Tobobot, though not the one I had in mind.