The winner of the summer contest is Dan Landes, who submitted a total of 326 words. (The contest, as outlined in the June 16 installment of this column, was to come up with as many words as possible that can each be used as a noun, a verb, and an adjective without a change in spelling.) Two of Landes's 326 submitted words appeared twice on his list, and five of his words were disqualified by contest judges. Pursuant to contest rules, those five words were counted against him, putting Landes's total score at 314.
It's worth mentioning that Karyna McGlynn came in second place with 243 submitted words (although McGlynn's list wasn't vetted by judges, due to Landes's significant lead). Also interesting: more than 50 of McGlynn's words were not on Landes's list, including bootleg, bullshit, diet, end, fringe, iron, lime, poison, scotch, star, and vogue. (Nice work, McGlynn.)
As promised, here is Landes's winning list, excluding disqualified words. He wins a $50 gift card to University Book Store.
Abstract, ace, advance, aggregate, alert, alien, alternate, antique, arc, arch, associate, average, baby, back, bankrupt, base, bay, beat, beetle, bent, bereaved, best, better, birch, bitter, black, blank, blanket, blind, blue, bluff, boss, bottom, bound, brave, brief, bronze, brood, brown, buck, buff, bull, bum, calm, clear, close, clutch, conjugate, contact, content, converse, convict, cool, counter, crack, crank, crap, crash, cream, crisp, cross, cuckoo, cutting, damn, damp, darn, discontent, disquiet, distress, divine, double, down, draft, dread, dress, drunk, dry, duplicate, dwarf, elect, empty, equal, escape, express, fair, fake, fancy, farewell, fast, feeling, fell, felt, field, filling, fine, firm, fit, fitting, flash, flat, fleet, flip, flush, fly, forward, foul, frame, frank, front, full, game, go, graduate, grave, gray, green, gross, ground, hack, halt, ham, handicapped, hanging, happening, head, hollow, home, hurt, ingrain, initial, intended, intimate, invalid, joint, jury, key, knit, lame, last, lay, lean, left, level, light, like, limp, living, long, low, lump, major, manifest, manifold, maroon, mass, master, mean, meet, minor, mint, minute, model, moderate, mute, name, narrow, negative, net, neuter, offset, open, orient, out, pale, paper, par, parallel, parting, pat, patent, perfect, pet, pilot, pinch, pink, pivot, plane, plumb, plump, pocket, pop, port, precipitate, premier, present, prime, prize, proof, quack, quadruple, quadruplicate, quarter, queer, quiet, quintuple, quintuplicate, radio, rank, ready, rear, rebel, reflex, retail, return, reverse, right, rival, roast, rock, rose, rough, round, rush, salt, savage, scratch, second, select, separate, set, shadow, sham, sharp, short, shot, side, signal, silver, single, slack, slant, slave, slick, slight, smart, smash, snap, sole, solo, sound, spare, spiral, splay, split, sport, spot, spruce, square, squat, stable, standing, staple, steel, steep, stiff, still, stock, stone, stray, stretch, subject, subordinate, substitute, suspect, swell, swing, taking, tan, team, tender, tense, thin, tidy, time, tiptoe, tired, top, total, toy, traverse, treble, trick, trim, triple, triplicate, true, twin, understanding, uniform, up, upset, upstart, vet, void, wanton, wash, waste, weather, welcome, well, wet, wholesale, winter, wood, work, worst, wrong, yellow, zero.
Thanks to everyone who entered. ■
