Super Silver Haze
02-18-2008, 09:18 AM
The picture below depicts a tournament among 64 words. Each word-versus-word matchup is decided as follows:
Compare the first three letters in the two words until you get to a point where one word has a vowel in the same position that the other word has a consonant (Y is treated as a vowel wherever it appears). If the total number of letters in both words is even, the word with the letter in that position that appears earlier in the alphabet wins. If it's odd, the word with the later letter wins.
If the vowel-consonant pattern is the same through the first three letters of both words, compare their lengths. If the total number of letters in both words is even, the longer word wins. If it's odd, the shorter word wins.
The word in the top left-hand corner of the brackets, which is not shown, ends up winning the whole thing (the blue rectangles trace its progress through the tournament). That word is the solution.
http://xs224.xs.to/xs224/08076/13-jrkfndigjflg660.jpg
Link to next puzzle (http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/showthread.php?p=2676230)
Compare the first three letters in the two words until you get to a point where one word has a vowel in the same position that the other word has a consonant (Y is treated as a vowel wherever it appears). If the total number of letters in both words is even, the word with the letter in that position that appears earlier in the alphabet wins. If it's odd, the word with the later letter wins.
If the vowel-consonant pattern is the same through the first three letters of both words, compare their lengths. If the total number of letters in both words is even, the longer word wins. If it's odd, the shorter word wins.
The word in the top left-hand corner of the brackets, which is not shown, ends up winning the whole thing (the blue rectangles trace its progress through the tournament). That word is the solution.
http://xs224.xs.to/xs224/08076/13-jrkfndigjflg660.jpg
Link to next puzzle (http://www.actuarialoutpost.com/actuarial_discussion_forum/showthread.php?p=2676230)