20 NEUSTRIA ae AE ai AI an AN ar AR as AS

aei AIE DA RRYL FRANCIS aen EAI\ London, England aer ARE aes EAS If one selects eight different letters from the alphabet, they can be aet EAT a r ranged in 8! = 40320 di ffc rent ways. rr one allows any subset of let­ aeu EAU ters from 1 through 8 to be chosen, the number of arrangements in­ aln AIN cr('!ases to 8! + (R)7! + (8'7/2) 6! + ... + 8 = 109600. Obviously, no air AIR more than a tiny fraction of these arrangements is likely to form words, ais AIS and choosing a set of eight letters and seeking to verify as many as pos­ a it AIT sible as real words would be a lifetime 1 s work. aiu UIA ' anr RAN 8 However, there are only 2 - 1 = 255 different ways in which subsets of J to R letters can be chosen if the arrangement of the letters within aein AIN: the' subset is immaterial. For this article, I chose letters formin\5 the aeir AIR) word NEUSTRIA, with four consonants and four vowels. What is NEUS­ aeis SAlE TRIA? It is the name of the western part or the dominions of the aeit ITEl Franks arter a conquest in 51 I AD, comprising then the north-western aeiu part or modern France between the Meuse and Loire rivers and the At­ aenr NEA lantic Ocean. aens SAN) aent NEA Webste r I s Thi rd does not give NEUST RIA as a main entry, re fe r ring aenu AUN to it only in the definition and etymology of the related adjective and noun aers SEAl NEUSTRIAN. Webster l s Second includes NEUSTRIA in its Gazetteer sec­ aert TEA tion and in the definition of NEUSTRIAN in the main part of the dictionary. aeru URE, Both the Random House Dictionary and Funk & Wagnalls New S~andard ae st SEA1 Dictionary include both NEUSTRIA and NEUSTRIAN. The Oxford Eng_ aesu ESAt 1ish Dictiona ry conta ins ne ithe r NEUSTRIA no r NEUST RIA N, but the H- N aetu AUT} s<'ction of the Supplement does give NEUSTRIAN, with NEUSTRIA \5iven ainr RAIN in the de finition and illustrative quotations. ains NAIS aint ANTI In the lists given below, I have chosen as many words as possible from W<, bste r I s Second 0 r Thi rd editions; items from othe r dictionarie s aeinr REIl (as well as items from the Second or Third which are out-of~the-ordi­ aeins ANIE na ry) are numbe red and given explanatory footnote s at the end of the aeint ENT article. The lower-case letters are the letter combinations arranged in aeinu UEN alphabetical order J and' the upper-case letters are words or names that aeir s RAIE can be created from the combinations concerned. aeirt IRA1 aeiru URAl Since dictionaries tend to list all 26 lette rs as words in their own right, it is not necessary to show the one-letter word list explicitly. aeist SAlT: One should also note that Webste r 1 s Thi rd specifically lists the cor re s­ aeisu ponding plural forms created by the simple addition of an -S to each alpha­ aeitu betic letter. aenrs SNAf aenrt ANTI aenru UREJ 21

ae AE at AT es ES is IS nt NIT st TS ai AI au AU 1 et TE it IT nu NU su US an AN ei IE eu EU iu IU 2 rs RS tu UT ar AR en EN in IN nr RN 3 rt I RT as AS er ER ir RI ns NS ru UR

aei AlE ans SAN eis IES esu SUE itu TUI aen EAN ant TAN eit TIE etu UTE nrs aer ARE anu ANU eiu IUE 5 inr RIN nrt aes EAS ars ARS enr ERN ins SIN nru RUN they can be aet EAT art RAT ens ENS int TIN nst aeu EAU aru ARU ent TEN inu UNI nsu SUN lbset of let­ II nents in- ain AIN ast SAT enu UNE irs SIR ntu NUT iously, no air AIR asu AUS ers ERS irt TRI r st form words, ais AIS atu TAU e rt RET iru URI rsu SUR nany as pos­ a it AIT ein NIE eru RUE ist SIT rtu RUT aiu UlA 4 eir IRE est SET isu IUS stu UTS anr RAN '1hich subsets ers within II aein AINE 6 ainu AINU eins SINE ertu TRUE fo rminl5 the aeir AIRE airs AIRS eint TINE estu . SUET 1.at is NEUS­ aeis SAlE airt AIRT einu NIUE 8 inrs RINS )f the aeit ITEA airu ARUI eir s SIRE inrt TRIN th-weste rn aeiu aist AITS eirt TIRE inru RUIN and the At­ aenr NEAR aisu SUAI? bru RIUE 9 inst TINS aens SANE aitu AITU eist SITE insu SUNI aent NEAT anrs RANS eisu SlUE 10 ir st STIR ry, referring aenu AUNE anrt RANT eitu ETUI ir su URIS 11 :tive and noun aers SEAR anru RAUN enrs ERNS irtu TURI Gazetteer sec­ ae rt TEAR anst TANS enrt RENT istu SUIT the dictionary. aeru UREA ansu ANUS enru RUNE nrst , Standard aest SEAT antu TUNA enst SENT nrsu RUNS Ixford Eng­ aesu ESAU arst .'3TA R ensu SUNE nrtu TURN " but the H-N aetu AUTE arsu SURA entu TUNE nstu STUN ,TRIA J:;iven ainr RAIN artu RUTA er st REST rstu RUST ains NAIS astu SAUT ersu SURE intu UNIT aint ANTI einr REIN I possible dictionarie s aeinr REINA aenst ANTES air st ASTIR einsu INSUE f-the-ordi- I aeins ANISE aensu USNEA airsu ASURI eintu UNTIE nd of the aeint ENTIA aentu ATUNE airtu TAURI ei rst TRIES ar ranged in aeinu UENAI 12 aerst STARE aistu AlTUS eirsu R lUES 13 names that aeir s RAISE aersu SERAU anrst RANTS eirtu URITE aeirt IRATE aertu URATE anrsu RAUNS eistu ETUIS aeiru URAEI aestu SAUTE anrtu ATURN enrst STERN their own aeist SAITE ainrs RAINS anstu AUNTS enrsu NURSE cplic itly . enrtu TUNER the corres­ aeisu ainrt TRAIN arstu ASTUR ; to each alpha­ aeitu ainru AURIN einrs SIREN enstu TUNES aenrs SNARE ainst STAIN einrt INERT erstu SERUT aenrt ANTRE ainsu AINUS einru URINE inrst SNIRT aenru URENA aintu UINTA einst INSET inrsu RUINS 22

inrtu TURIN instu UI\J1TS irstu SRUTI nrstu TURNS URINA'I

ae inr s ARISEN aenrst ASTERN airstu AURIST So, 2 ae inrt RETAIN aenrsu URENAS anr stu SATURN 8 missil aeinru A URINE aenrtu NATURE einrst SINTER and AEI ae inst SATINE aenstu UNSEAT einrsu INSURE aeinsu UNEAIS 14 aer stu URATES einrtu TRIUNE Ast aeintu AUNTIE ainr st STRAIN einstu UNITES part anc aeirsu SAUIRIE 15 ainr su AURINS e irstu URITES the 26 11 aeirtu IURATE 16 ainrtu NUTRIA enrstu UNREST 26 lette] ae istu SATIUE 17 ainstu AUSTIN inrstu STURIN ate a ge aeirst SATIRE cessfull 20 out 01 ae inr st STAINER ae instu SINUATE a inr stu NUTRIAS cases? aeinr su ANURIES ae ir stu AURITES e inrstu UNITERS aeinrtu URINATE aenr stu SAUNTER a ESl bUR] Of course, at the eight-letter level, there is only one combination of c TRl the letters, AEINRSTU itself. NEUSTRIA or any transposal of it is suf­ d IND ficient to I solve 1 this I5rouP of letters. However, in a display of virtuos­ e ES'I ity, I offer 16 alternative s to NEUSTRIA, all genuine tr anspos als of f UNl AEINRSTU. I offer them mainly because the re are very few eight-letter g SIGJ groups which have so many genuine transposals. h ERl

A RETINUS an Italian historian and philosopher (A Dictionary of Univer­ sal Biography, by Albert Hyamson) Final ASTURINE a bird of the group Asturinae, a group of raptorial birds, of NEUS~ variously ranked and limited, but always including the placed b) goshawks (FW) words or AURIENTS the plural of AURIENT, an obsolete spelling of 1 0rient' placing t] (OED) with a C A USTRINE an obsolete word meaning southerlY ( W2) lows INT INSTA URE an ob solete spelling of I instore I , to renew to furnish, to same str; establish ( W2) My list g ITUREANS natives or inhabitants of Iturea, an Arab kingdom in ancient if you cm: Pale stine south of Damascus (W3) anyone pI NATURISE the - ise spellinl5 of 1 naturize I , to endow with a specific nature; the -ize spelling is in (W2) , but the -ise spelling is -a not specifically listed in any dictionary NEUTRIAS coypus (W2) +a NEl RUINATES reduces to poverty or wretchedness (W3) +b TU1 SAUTRIEN an obsolete word meaning to play on the psaltery, a type of +c NU' ancient zither (W2) +d INT SERIAUNT an obsolete spelling of 1 sergeant I (W2) +e ESt T AURINES example s of a crystalline compound that occurs in the mus­ +f FRl cles of invertebrates (W3) +g SIG TURSENIA a genus of plants (A Dictionary of the Flowering Plants and Ferns, by J.C. Willis, 7th edition) +h UNSATIRE an undefined word, presumably meaning to remove the sati­ + i NEl rical nature from something ( W2) +j JIT URA NITES various mine rals, including lime uranite and coppe r uranite +k UN~ ( OED) +1 INS 23 rstu TURNS URINATES discharges urine (W3)

So, 247 of the 255 letter cOITlbinations are represented above. The N 8 ITlissing groups are: NRS, NRT, NST, RST, AEIU, NRST, AEISU t and AEITU. Can anyone find words for any of these groups?

~ E As the letters of NEUSTRIA seeITled so extreITlely transposable J in 3 part and in total, I wondered how well the letters would cOITlbine with S the 26 letters of the alphabet. Would it be possible to take each of the :T 26 letters, add it to NEUSTRIA, and rearrange the nine letters to cre­ 'l" ate a genuine nine-letter word or naITle? The list below shows that suc­ cessful transaddition (that is, transposal after addition) is possible in 20 out of the 26 cases. Can anyone find transadditions for the ITlissing ~S cases? lS a ESTUARIAN j s SUSTAINER b URBANITES .k t TURANITES rnbination of c TRUANCIES 1 ULSTERlAN u 1 of it is suf­ d INDURATES ITl RUMINATES v VA UT- RlENS 20 >lay of virtuo s­ e ESTUARINE n SATURNINE w UNWARIEST 21 posals of f UNFAIREST 18 0 E ROTIA NUS 19 x weight-letter g SIGNATURE p PAINTURES y h ERIANTHUS q ANTIQUERS z SATURNIZE r ETRURIANS try of Univer­ Finally, I investigated the substitute letter transposal possibilities rial birds J of NEUSTRIA. In other words, if each of the letters of NEUSTRIA is re­ ling the placed by each of the other 25 letters of the alphabet in turn, can real words or naITles be found for each of the 8x25 cases? For exaITlple, re­ 1 orient I placing the A with a B allows TURBINES to be ITlade; replacing the A with a C allows NUTRICES to be ITlade; and replac ing the A with a D al­ lows INTRUDES to be ITlade. After substituting all 25 letter s for A, the furnish, to saITle strategy can be repeated by replac ing the E, then the I, and so on. My list gives 129 of the 200 possibilities (or 137 of the 208 possibilities, .ITl in ancient if you count the 8 tiITles which I have included NEUSTRIA itself). Can anyone plug ITly gaps and perhaps increase the total to 150 or ITlore? spec Hie 3e spelling IS -a -e -1 -n

+a NEUSTRIA AUSTRIAN URANATES SATUREIA +b TURBINES URBANIST UNBREAST AUBRITES 'y, a type of +c NUTRICES CURTAINS ETRUSCAN SURICATE +d INTRUDES RUDISTAN TRANSUDE REAUDITS +e ESURIENT NEUSTRIA SAUTERNE SATUREIE 26 in the ITlUS­ +f FRUITENS FURIANTS U NFASTER25 +g SIGNETUR 22 UNGRATES STRIEGAU 27 g Plants and +h HA UNTERS THESAURI .ove the sati­ + i NEURlTIS NEUSTRIA +j JITNEURS )pper uranite +k UNSTRlKE +1 INSULTER LUNARIST NEUTRALS URALITES 24

4m TERMINUS NATURISM ANESTRUM MURIATES 9 RIUE a +n RUNNIEST INSURANT NEUSTRIA 10 SlUE a +0 ROUTINES STAURION TDRANOSE II URIS a +p UNPRIEST PURITANS 12 UENAI +q SOUINTER OUATRINS QUATERNS ARTIQUES 28 13 RIUES +r +s STURlNES URANISTS SAUNTERS SAUTRIES +t RUNTIEST NATURIST TAUNTERS TAURITES 14 UNEAI~ +u 15 SAU· RI +v UNRIVETS VAUTRIN'S 23 VAUNTERS 16 IURATI +-w UNWRITES UNIWRAST 24 UNWATERS 17 SATIUE +x +y 18 UNFAIf +z AZURITES

-r - s -t -u 19 EROTV

+a ITURAEAN EURASIAN ARTESIAN 20 VAUT-I +b BRAUNITE BANISTER +c ANURETIC CANISTER 21 UNWAR +d SINUATED URlNATED DENARIUS STRAINED +e UNEASIER 35 ARSENITE +f FAINTERS 22 SIGNET +g SAUTEING'" GAUNTIER URGINEAS ASTRINGE 23 VA UTRJ +h HAUTEINS 29 HAUNTIER HAIRNETS 24 UNIWR} +i INERTIAS +j JA UNTIES JAUNTIER 25 UNFAS1 +k KUTENAIS KAUERSIN 36 KERATINS 26 SATURE +1 INSULATE RETINULA LUNARlES LATRlNES 27 STRIEG. 4m MINUATES30 RUMINATE ANEURlSM RAIMENTS +n INNUATES INAUNTER ANEURINS ENTRAINS 28 ARTIOU +0 TOURAINE 34 SENORlTA 29 HAUTEI +p PETUNIAS PAINTURE UNPRAISE PAINTERS 30 MlNUAT +q ANTIQUES QUAINTER 31 SAUNTI' +r NEUSTRIA ETRURIAN STRAINER 32 VAUNTI +s SINUATES NEUSTRIA SENARIUS ARTINESS 33 WAUNTI +t SAUNTITE 31 TURANITE NEUSTRIA NITRATES 34 TOURAI +u NEUSTRIA +v VAUNTISE 32 VENTURIA VAURIENS 35 UNEAsn -tw WAUNTIES 33 UNIWARES 37 WASTRINE 38 +x NEURAXIS SENAT RlX +y SATYRINE 36 KAUERS +z NATURIZE SUZERAIN 37 UNIWAR 38 WASTRI: I AU an obsolete form of lowe' (OED) 2 IU an obsolete form of 'Jew' (OED) 3 RN the symbol for the element radon ( W3) 4 UIA a town in New Zealand (Times Index Gazetteer) 5 IUE an obsolete form of I ivy' and I Jew' (OED) 6 AINE an elder (OED) , though A1Nt is in Webster's Second edition 7 SUAI a town in T imo r and a town in Sarawak ( Time s Index Gazetteer) 8 NIUE an island in the South Pacific ( Random Hous e Dictionary) 25

TES 9 RIUE an obsolete foun of 1 rife r and I rive J (OED) RIA 10 SlUE an obsolete forrn of Tsieve I (OED) 11 URIS an obsolete forrn of Tours J (OED) 12 UENAI a town in Japan (Times Index Gazetteer) UES 28 13 RIUES plural of RIUE, an obsolete fo rm of ' rive'; RIUES appear s in an illustrative Quotation dated 1533- 4 at the second noun :lES 1 rive 1 in (OE D) TES 14 UNEAIS an obsolete form of ' uneaths 1 (OED) 15 SAU' RIE an obsolete form of I savoury' (OED) 16 IURATE an obsolete form of 'jurat' (OED) 17 SATIUE an obsolete form of 1 sative I appearing only in a 1599 quo­ tation in (OED) 18 UNFAIREST the assumed superlative of UNFAIR in (W3) ; the super­ TES lative is shown in full in The Official Scrabble Players Dictionar y J published by Me r r iam- Webste r 19 EROTIANUS an author (A Dictionary of Universal BiographYJ by Al­ bert Hyamson) :IAN 20 VAUT-RIENS plural of VAUT-RIEN, another form of VAURIEN ['ER (OED) ['ER 21 UNWARlEST the assumed superlative of UNWARY in (W3); the su­ \fED perlative is shown in full in The Offic ia1 Scrabble ITE Players Dictionary ~RS 22 SIGNETUR let it be written, in Latin (Random House Dictionary) ~GE 23 VAUTRIN' S the possessive form of a proper name from (W2) ~TS 24 UNIWRAST a Middle Eng;lish form of ' unwrast' , shown only at the AS entry UN- on pa~e 28, column 3, of (OED) 25 UNFASTER the assumed comparative form of lunfast' , in (W2) INS 26 SATUREIE the plant savory (OED) ~ES 27 STRIEGAU a town in Lower Silesia J Prussia (Funk & Wagnalls New NTS Standard Dictionary) INS 28 A RTIOUES olural of A R TIOUE, an obsolete fo rm of ' ar ctic' (OED) lTA 29 HAUTEINS olura1 of HA UTEIN, an obsolete form of I hautain' (OED) ~RS 30 MlNUATES "diminishes (OED) 31 SAUNTITE an obsolete form of I sanctity' (OE D) rER 32 VAUNTISE a boast (OED) :SS 33 WA UNTIES plural of WA UNTY, an obsolete form of ' wanty' (OED) ~ES 34 TOURAINE a former orovince of western France (Random House UA Dictionary) 35 UNEASIER the assumed comparative form of UNEASY, which is in [NE 38 (W3) ; the comoarative is actually shown in the Random RIX Hous e Dictionary [NE 36 KAUERSIN a variant form of ' caorsin' (OED) 37 UNIWARES unawares (OED) 38 WASTRlNE an obsolete form of 'western' (OED)

)nd edition ~x Gazettee r) ionary)