ENHANCED VERSION
INTRODUCTION:
Note: To each of the exercises given below you need to be acquainted with the
following rules with which the original MUTATIS rules were augmented.
Given a word comprising an even number of eight or more letters, solve each
exercise in two stages as follows:
STAGE 1
Rearrange all the letters in the given word into two words with length equal
to half of the length of the given word. Note that the words you use must be
standard American English words or loan word (words "borrowed" from other
languages that have become standard usage).
Example 1:
For simplicity let's start with the eight-letter word "plethora".
Possible solutions include the words "role" and "path".
For this particular example, I easily found three more solutions. Try to do so too.
STAGE 2
Use the two words that you have found as head and tail words to a MUTATIS
word-chain exercise or to a pair of two-directional chains (as specified in the exercises)
according to the following rules.
Note: You may skip these rules if you are already familiar with them from preceding
MUTATIS challenges.
Mutatis is a word-chain exercise game. Given the first and last word in the chain, you are
challenged to fill in "mutant" words according to the following rules:
From the second word on, each word comprises the letters of the word that precedes it except
for one letter that is changed. The order of the letters may also be rearranged.
You may fill in only standard English words and loanwords (words "borrowed" from other
languages that have become standard usage). Slang or colloquial words as well as proper nouns
and adjectives derived from them (that require capitalization) are not allowed.
Example 2:
Given the words start and begin, the following chain demonstrates a possible solution to
the exercise:
start>trait>train>grain>reign>begin
NOW FOR YOUR WEEKLY EXERCISES
Rearrange the letters of each word of the following into a pair of words according to STAGE 1 of the rules rules specified above. Then fill in the missing words to obtain appropriate Mutatis word-chains according to the rest of the rules in the introduction.
plethora.
Find at least one pair of words other than "role" and "path" or their anagrams.
Fill in mutant words according to the rules.
Interchange the head and tail words and fill in with out any words used in ex. b.
porcelains. Rearrange the letters into two equal-length words, fill in mutant words, interchange end-words and fill again according to the rules.
Note that all exercises were checked to make sure that they can be solved in standard American
vocabulary and spelling according to the Merriam Webster online dictionary.
SOLUTION OF LAST WEEK'S CHALLENGE
Answer to ex. 1: lady>deal>dear>ride>sire.
Answer to ex. 2: sire>side>said>lads>lady.
Answer to ex. 3: right>thing>sting>kings>slink>liken>ankle>flank.
Answer to ex. 4: flank>flake>flare>flier>flirt>grift>right.
Answer to ex. 5:domino>mooned>modern>mentor>meteor>meters>master>traces>facets>affect>
effect.
Answer to ex. 6: effect>coffee>coffer>forced>deform>farmed>remand>moaned>domain>domino.