MISCHMASCH
GAMES Magazine
May, 1985
Lewis Carroll/Will Shortz

Lewis Carroll, revered today for his Alice books, was renowned in his own day as a mathematician, and for his paradoxes, puzzles, and games involving logic and wordplay. MISCHMASCH is a game for two players he invented and published in 1862.

Each player writes a "nucleus" - a group of two or more letters that consecutively form an internal part of an English word. (Proper nouns and hyphenated words are not allowed.) For example, a player might write GP or EMO, which form a part of MAGPIE and LEMON respectively. A player need not have a word in mind when choosing his nucleus, but if he doesn't he may be challenged. In the puzzle below, all the "nuclei" can be found in familiar words, with the exception of #11 - which is part of a rarely used word.

Note from JA: I found this puzzle very difficult. As hints, I have spelled out the answers with blanks for the missing letters, and, as a further hint, given the first letters of the answer words.

Think of an English word that contains each of the following nuclei (uninterrupted groups of letters).

1. INDM
2. BMA
3. PRECH
4. ROH
5. CHNO
6. GERN
7. THT
8. TENUS
9. XOPH
10. YDRE
11. HPU

HINTS:

1. _ IND_ _ _ _
2. _ _ BMA _ _ _ _
3. _ _ PRECH _ _ _
4. _ ROH _ _ _ _
5. _ _ CHNO _ _ _ _
6. _ _ _ GERN _ _ _
7. _ _ THT _ _
8. _ _ _ _ TENUS _
9. _ _ XOPH _ _ _
10. _ _ YDRE _ _
11. _ _ _ HPU _ _

EXTRA HINTS:
First letters:
1. W
2. S
3. L
4. P
5. T
6. F
7. B
8. H
9. S
10. D
11. J

Answers:

1. WINDMILL
2. SUBMARINE
3. LEPRECHAUN
4. PROHIBIT
5. TECHNOLOGY
6. FINGERNAIL
7. BATHTUB
8. HYPOTENUSE
9. SAXOPHONE
10. DAYDREAM
11. JODHPURS (horseback riding trousers)