Puzzles with words and things

[elvaago]

Round 23, I believe.

Who can make the longest chain of snooker players' last names where the last letter of the first last name is the first letter of the next last name? Names cannot be used twice, letters can be used twice, if you are that good.

I.e. Parrot - Trump - Parrot - Trump etc. = Not legal!
I.e. Parrot - Trump - Price = Legal, chain of 3.

Solutions can be posted here. Longest chain by Sunday 9 AM CET wins. Anyone who uses 25 or more different letters of the alphabet gets 2 points.

Game on!

[elvaago]

My first attempt:
Parrot - Trump - Price - Ebdon - Norman - Norbury = 6

Who is going to beat me?

[davis_greatest]

Do we need some rule on what makes a snooker player eligible?

I assume by the inclusion of Trump, for instance, that we are not restricting to Crucible players.

[elvaago]

OK, let's say, to qualify for this list the player has to have played in at least one qualifying or regular round of a ranking tournament. That should give us a nice, big list to work with.

[davis_greatest]

I've only spent 4 minutes on this, so my quick list below could be beaten significantly (especially if a vulture wants to come and stick names in the middle!), but as no one else has had a go yet, I'll submit a quick entry to get things moving. I hope at least I get a point for effort! I'm only going to include Crucible players otherwise I think the list of possible names would be enormous and we could go on for (almost) ever (and it might be hard to check if the names are valid)!

Dodd - Dunning - Graham - Mifsud - Drago - O'Kane - Edmonds - Spencer - Reynolds - Sinclair - Read - Davis - Stevens - Stevens (am I allowed a 2nd Stevens? - one is Matthew and one is Kirk) - Small - Longworth - Hull - Lee - Ebdon - Norman - Norbury

I think that's 21. I would guess that that could be doubled among Crucible players, and using a wider list of players I'm sure there could be an enormous list.

[davis_greatest]

Here is an example of adding names in the middle!

Dodd - Dunning - Graham - Mifsud - Drago - O'Kane - Edmonds - Spencer - Reynolds - Sinclair - Read - Davis - Stevens - Stevens (am I allowed a 2nd Stevens? - one is Matthew and one is Kirk) - Small - Lines - Swail - Longworth - Hull - Lee - Ebdon - Norman - Norbury

[davis_greatest]

And an example of replacing one name by more than one...

Dodd - Dunning - Graham - Mellish - Harold - Drago - O'Kane - Edmonds - Spencer - Reynolds - Sinclair - Read - Davis - Stevens - Stevens (am I allowed a 2nd Stevens? - one is Matthew and one is Kirk) - Small - Lines - Swail - Longworth - Hull - Lee - Ebdon - Norman - Norbury

[davis_greatest]

My last tweak today!...

Dodd - Dunning - Graham - Mellish - Harold - Drago - O'Kane - Edmonds - Spencer - Reynolds - Sinclair - Read - Davis - Stevens - Stevens (am I allowed a 2nd Stevens? - one is Matthew and one is Kirk) - Small - Lines - Swail - Longworth - Hull - Lawler - Roe - Ebdon - Norman - Norbury

[chasmmi]

ok just to start this off i will bid 40 players:

werbenuik - kawaithong - graham - macleod - dodd - davis (S)- stevens - stevens - spencer - reynolds - swail - longworth - harold - davis (F) - small - long - gilbert - trump - ponting - griffiths - smith (W)- holt - taylor (Den)- rowing - grech - hull - lindrum - miles - spick - king - gilbert - taylor (Dav) - roe - edmonds - smith (S) - hughes - smith (J) - hallett - thorne - ebdon

[davis_greatest]

It would be unsporting to say

werbenuik - kawaithong - graham - macleod - dodd - davis (S)- stevens - stevens - spencer - reynolds - swail - longworth - harold - davis (F) - small - long - gilbert - trump - ponting - griffiths - smith (W)- holt - taylor (Den)- rowing - grech - hull - lindrum - miles - spick - king - gilbert - taylor (Dav) - roe - edmonds - smith (S) - hughes - smith (J) - hallett - thorne - ebdon- - Norman - Norbury

so I won't.

[Snooker Rocks!]

you just did

[chasmmi]

51?

misfud - drago - o'boye - edwards - subah - hunter - read - ding - gill - long - graham - macleod - dodd - davis (S)- stevens - stevens - spencer - reynolds - swail - longworth - harold - davis (F) - small - long - gilbert - trump - ponting - griffiths - smith (W)- holt - taylor (Den)- rowing - grech - hull - lindrum - miles - spick - king - gilbert - taylor (Dav) - roe - edmonds - smith (S) - hughes - smith (J) - hallett - tarrant - thorne - ebdon- Norman - Norbury

[chasmmi]

I would also hazzard that 25 different letters is a pipe dream unless someone can name:

a player whose surname ends in a: B, C, F, J, P, Q, V, W,

and a player whose surname starts with a: I, Q, U, X, Y, Z

a imagine some of those exist but I still wager that maximum number of different letters which can be used is 14 or 15.

[davis_greatest]

Round 24

As elvaago's Sunday 9am CET deadline has now expired for round 23, I'll leave him to decide on the points to award, and I'll proceed to the next round...

This same puzzle is also available on our excellent sister thread, Puzzles with numbers and things, (shameless advertisement attached): http://www.thesnookerforum.com/showt...ed=1#post32884

As a special promotion, its solver will be awarded a point on this Puzzles with words and things thread right here and also a point on the Puzzles with numbers and things thread! So that's 2 points up for grabs!



Across
1 You'll get this if you strike bottom
8 Play on this baize
9 Don't do this to 8 Across or it will end in tears
10 Applaud this break
11 This Dubliner won UK Championship (2 words)
13 Did he go slowly to Dubai?
16 Get your safety behind this half of 17 Across (2 words)
17 Let's 30 Down from here!
18 Made a skeleton from mixing 13 Across
19 Three for this, so is 8 Across
20 Win this if you want to 30 Down!
21 Worth taking on, it's 12 Down if it doesn't pay off (3 words)
24 Useful for resting 41 Down on! (2 words)
29 Be sure to hit this thin!
32 15 Down carried this air in the '80s
33 Is Williams or Robertson the better one? (2 words)
35 This finish when 6 Down goes 3 Down
36 Challenging pot
38 Romford man wears his crown
39 Get yours in before the tournament!
40 Before 31 Down means 6 Down comes back up!
42 Can this curve result from lifting the 35 Across of the 41 Down?
43 Won a frame against Hendry after losing the first nine, when Hendry won 3rd world title
44 Theatre hosted Grand Prix with 15 Down's world titles' sides

Down
1 Does Alfie have to carry this?
2 Lost 10-6 in Crucible first round to the 15 down, sleeping in his Mondeo? (2 words)
3 Where it is when it enters the pocket
4 This pot from distance can be a 36 Across!
5 Does Ding play this to leave it awkward? (2 words)
6 18.5 million watched 14 Down and the final one well after midnight
7 Playing 15 Down gives you practice in playing from this feather-filled resting place
10 preposition sandwiched in 21 Across
12 No charge for this ball when snookered
14 Does this Irishman come dancing?
15 Is this golden one the greatest ever?
17 This miner used to dig till he won the Masters
18 Willie felt this after missing that easy one
22 his whispers were low
23 Pot a red for this after 28 Down (2 words)
25 Doing this to words in the town with 43 Across
26 Whingeing dynamo champ
27 This commentator wasn't the master from 7 up
28 After the 12th 6 Down when on for the max! (2 words)
30 Get underway (2 words)
31 The 18 Down one is in the centre of 8 Across
34 Sandwiched between Clive and 10 Across for always
37 Is Jimmy good with this X break?
41 No matter how many pieces, must have at least 1 more foot than its wielder!

[elvaago]

Since I personally have no way of checking every single name I am going to assume chasmmi hasn't cheated and therefore wins with a very impressive 51. :-)