Kate’s right. I tried to be careful by saying “sets of consecutively-repeating letters” instead of “consecutive sets of repeating letters.”
The sets can be anywhere in the word as long as those sets contain repeating letters (AA, BB, CC, and so on).
And, as always, the Brain Game is about thinking, not rules. If you put some thought into your answer, that’s what matters.
I see more and more studies about how important this type of problem-solving is to brain health. Seeing my mother’s mind decay from Lewy’s Body dementia over the last several years has taught me that mental exercise is just as important – and more important in many cases – as the physical stuff.
This question was totally the solution to an Encyclopedia Brown story. One of two I remember. The other one had to do with someone filing their nails while pretending to have just taken a bath.
Which, when you think about it, is also the solution to Legally Blonde.
Jacquilynne, I was trying to remember that Encyclopedia Brown story for other words! I also remember the nail filing one, and one where Bugs Meany confuses the usage of Us and We as the subject in a sentence. I loved those books growing up!
Not so much words as names, but Tennessee and Mississippi
posted by Travis on 9-16-2009 at 7:54 am
bookkeeper :-)
successfully
posted by JH on 9-16-2009 at 8:16 am
Assessee!
Proof: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/assessee
posted by Mike on 9-16-2009 at 8:57 am
To continue with the proper names: Tallahassee.
posted by Bill on 9-16-2009 at 9:03 am
But none of the proposed solutions have consecutive repeating letters… so they’re not really solutions…
posted by Jim on 9-16-2009 at 9:12 am
Jim
The have consecutively repeating letters but not consecutively repeating PAIRS of letters.
It kind of takes the fun out the the whole “Bookkeeper” solution.
posted by Kate on 9-16-2009 at 10:01 am
Tennessee
posted by Melissa on 9-16-2009 at 10:16 am
Kate’s right. I tried to be careful by saying “sets of consecutively-repeating letters” instead of “consecutive sets of repeating letters.”
The sets can be anywhere in the word as long as those sets contain repeating letters (AA, BB, CC, and so on).
And, as always, the Brain Game is about thinking, not rules. If you put some thought into your answer, that’s what matters.
I see more and more studies about how important this type of problem-solving is to brain health. Seeing my mother’s mind decay from Lewy’s Body dementia over the last several years has taught me that mental exercise is just as important – and more important in many cases – as the physical stuff.
So think up!
posted by Sandy Wood on 9-16-2009 at 10:21 am
allottee
appellee
assessee
heelless
keelless
keenness
toolless
posted by Ehren on 9-16-2009 at 11:24 am
This one I heard somewhere before: an apprentice to an incompetent bookkeeper is a subboobbookkeeper.
posted by Dan on 9-16-2009 at 12:25 pm
I can’t help but notice that many of the proposed answers in the comments have more than the required 8 letters.
posted by Dinosaur on 9-16-2009 at 1:36 pm
This question was totally the solution to an Encyclopedia Brown story. One of two I remember. The other one had to do with someone filing their nails while pretending to have just taken a bath.
Which, when you think about it, is also the solution to Legally Blonde.
posted by Jacquilynne on 9-16-2009 at 2:12 pm
committee
posted by Gretchen on 9-16-2009 at 3:47 pm
teenness
eelless
posted by Jeffrey on 9-16-2009 at 4:54 pm
Jacquilynne, I was trying to remember that Encyclopedia Brown story for other words! I also remember the nail filing one, and one where Bugs Meany confuses the usage of Us and We as the subject in a sentence. I loved those books growing up!
posted by Kate on 9-16-2009 at 6:38 pm
I love these word puzzles.
If you allow overlapping pairs, then you can also use “wallless”, which is a very funny looking word.
posted by Seth on 9-16-2009 at 8:05 pm