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Puzzles Archives - Futility Closet · Oct 5, 2026

In 1882, Lewis Carroll invented a game he called MischMash:

The essence of this game consists in one player proposing a ‘nucleus’ (i.e., a set of two or more letters, such as GP, EMO, IMSE), and in the other trying to find a ‘lawful word’ (i.e., a word known in ordinary society and not a proper name), containing it. Thus, ‘maGPie,’ ‘lEMOn,’ and ‘hIMSElf’ are lawful words containing the nuclei GP, EMO, and IMSE.

He sent these nuclei to his godson. What English words contain these fragments?

OLS

VY

NGU

EWH

STEN

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