Words & Stuff

B: Draws Cab (Reader Comments)

(1 September 1997)

Arthur supplies this switchback ladder:

MIRED
DENIM
LINED
DEVIL
LIVER
REVEL
LEVEL
LEVER
BEVEL

There are several other places you can go from LEVER, such as REBEL or RAVEL, but none of them seem to lead anywhere useful. I thought it would be really cool to mirror the ladder through the palindrome -- that is, to go from LEVEL back to LEVER, back to REVIL and so on through reversals of the first several steps. Unfortunately, most of those reversals (like REVIL) aren't actually words. Anyone want to produce a palindromic switchback ladder of this sort?

Dominus did a computerized search (using a program of his own devising) and came up with some very cool long switchback pairs, including three seven-letter ones:

animate <--> stamina
diurnal <--> languid
nemesis <--> sidemen

Here are the six-letter switchbacks on his list (arbitrarily leaving out proper names (except Brazil, which I liked too much to drop) and words I've never heard of):

bettor <--> rotten
biceps <--> specie
Brazil <--> lizard
crater <--> retard <--> grater
debtor <--> hotbed
digram <--> margin
dollop <--> polloi
elicit <--> tickle
latter <--> rental
lessee <--> vessel <--> lessen
neater <--> retain
neuter <--> return
nimbus <--> submit
oodles <--> seldom
pellet <--> teller
plover <--> revolt
proper <--> report
revile <--> sliver
rufous <--> sulfur
secret <--> tercel
signet <--> tennis <--> sonnet
spirit <--> thrips (I don't know what "thrips" are, but I like the word)
surety <--> uterus
volley <--> yellow

Dominus' list inspired me to do some searching with my own program (which does work, but it slow and clunky and should not be used on a system with other users, since it hogs resources). With its help, I found two switchback loops (the second derived loosely from Arthur's ladder above):

later <--> fetal <--> latex <--> metal/petal <--> later

revel <--> leper <--> rebel <--> lever <--> bevel <--> levee <--> level <--> revel

The program also helped me find two long ladders, related to the loops. The first matches Arthur's nine-step ladder:

sepal
lapel
legal
lager
renal
later
fetal
latex
metal

The second extends Arthur's ladder to twelve steps:

mired
denim
lined
devil
liver
revel
leper
rebel
lever
bevel
levee
level

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Jed Hartman <logophilia@kith.org>