apterous.org

Adam Gillard I think we could see the day in the not too distant future when all the English 7s have been pencilled (although there are fewer 4s left to be pencilled, it's easier to pencil 7s with Touch Jr, Goat Jr, Goat etc.). It all depends if there are 7s that have never / hardly ever come up because of awkward letters.

Mark D BHIKKUS has never cropped up yet.

Charlie Reams There are 25 ODE sevens that have never come up, and a few of those are quite new in the dictionary.

Adam Gillard Thanks, Mark! http://www.apterous.org/lexplorer.php?g=1&word=BHIKKUS&dic=0

Mark D Since this worked so well last time, Adam, here's another 7 that's never cropped up: MARTYRY.

Adam Gillard Hmm, one vowel, will be tricky :)

(Y doesn't count)

Adam Gillard Sticking with the two Ks or two Ys theme, I came up with CHAKKAS, FLYWAYS, KNUCKLY and SKYWAYS that have never come up (as a max).

Mark D Eh, I'm a purist. I prefer words that have never come up ever, even as a declaration. Here's another one - MUMMERY.

Adam Gillard OK then, SHAYKHS fits the bill.

Mark D Of the 755 unpencilled ODE sevens, obsessive Lexplorering has helped me track down 509 of them. The vast majority of that 509 have a Y or a C in, and many have only one vowel. This might take a while.

Mark D Make that 510. Just found SCHMUCK.

Mark D Make that 521. Turns out the SCH- prefix was fruitful. (I realise a database query would be a much more efficient method of finding them, but it's more fun the organic way.)

Mark D Make that 605. The new limit function on the Lexplorer fields is proving bloody helpful :D

Mark D Down to 682 now. Managed to pencil 73 sevens in less than two weeks. Good work, team. Could have this done by Christmas.

Mark D Now down to 550, with words with only 21 misses in five years now sneaking onto the list. More good work, team.

Mark D Now 501, if you include ones that have been penclled in games that haven't yet been finished (MENSHES and SCHMOES). Home stretch, boys and girls, home stretch. It's the toughest stretch, but, still.

David Barnard I fancy joining the pencil parade now

Jen Steadman I check this page so often that I probably need rehab. PENCIL ALL THE 7S

Mark D Alright, I will.

Adam Gillard There are 338 4s remaining to be pencilled. Next target is to get the number of 7s left below the 4s!

Mark D Next target to get is that bloody RELEVES. THEN we'll worry about the 4's,

Adam Gillard Unpencilled anagrams (RUBBLED and BLURBED) have appeared! Not seen that on this page for some time.

Mark D Aaaaaaand they've gone again.

Mark D WE DID IT. WE GOT DOWN TO SINGLE FIGURE MISSES.

Mark D It's kind of spectacular and frustrating that there's both treble and single figure misses on the list.

Jen Steadman RELEVES IS GONE!!! 26 to go before there's fewer 7s than 4s.

David Barnard woo hoo, I'm gonna have a bash at some 7's now, seriously wd to whoever pencilled releves

Adam Gillard Fewer 7s left to be pencilled than 4s!

David Barnard woo hoo!!

Mark D Back up to 327 :(.

Adam Gillard What will probably happen now is that the ripest 4s / 5s / 6s / 7s will each get down to double figures and then the change of dictionary to ODO will take it all back to square one!

Jen Steadman Only one above 50 chances now :D

Jen Steadman UNDER 200!

Adam Gillard I think Kirk is best qualified to announce how many unpencilled 7s currently remain.

Mark D Clearly you weren't at Co:Lin. JR, do your thing......

Jen Steadman Sigh. Back over 200.

Adam Finlay UNDER 200! ;)

Simpatico Jones UNDER 4000! ;)

Simpatico Jones UNDER 3000! ;)

Bradley Horrocks UNDER 2000! ;)

Joseph H UNDER 2000! :)

Eoin Jackson And thus ends the 4 and a bit year reign of the winky face. ;)

<sad face>

Stu Harkness UNDER 1500! ;)

Chris Hare UNDER 1000! ;)

Chris Hare UNDER 1000! ;)

(For context, the September dictionary update pushed this number up to about 1078.)

Chris Hare UNDER 750! ;)

Andres S. Wonder what happens when we run out...

Chris Hare UNDER 500! ;)

Chris Hare UNDER 250! ;)

Chris Hare EXACTLY 100! ;)

Stu Harkness You could've waited one more Chris !

Stu Harkness UNDER 100! ;)

Adam Latchford i had no idea this page existed this is great

Fraser Allatt We're in the home stretch. 99 to go. It's now just a race against the next dictionary update.

Chris Hare UNDER 50! ;)

Fraser Allatt Race against the dictionary update was lost with around 34 to go. Back to work.

Fraser Allatt UNDER 100! ;)

Perry Sarb UNDER 50! ;)

Fraser Allatt UNDER 100! ;)

(For context, the January dictionary update pushed this number up from 33 to 201.)

Sam Cappleman-Lynes By extrapolation, you'll be finished just before 33 more dictionary updates have happened, only for that 33rd update to add several hundred new words.

Fraser Allatt UNDER 50! ;)

Chris Hare From 26 to 41.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes ALTCOIN didn't last long though :)

Chris Hare Some bloke with a rubbish moustache probably snaffled it.

Sam Cappleman-Lynes Of the 35 pencils remaining, I believe only the following are still valid in the current version of ODP:

REETEST
BRUBRUS
BEYONDS (questionable application of rules)
KNOBBLY
SCHTUCK
BRUZZES
INKINGS
THRUMMY