OT: Google word grid puzzle
 

Yet another word grid puzzle...

The rules:

1. Your job is to fill a 3x3 grid with nine letters, while making as many three-letter "words" as possible. You can make a maximum of eight words: three going left to right, three going down, and two going diagonally left to right. No backwards words in this contest.

2. A "word" in this case is any three letter combination. This includes english words, abbreviations, acronyms, names, or even random groups of letters. However, you'll want to have as many "real" words as possible, because...

3. Your score for each word is based on the number of Google results for that word. One point for every million results, rounded down.

So, for example, typing "NFL" into Google produces 6,080,000 results, for six points. "War" has 47,600,000 results, so it scores 47 points.

(Note: Google results will vary depending on which of their servers you hit, but should be within a point or two for all words.)

Add up all your words that got at least one point, and that's your final score.

4. Any word that scores over 1,000 points is disqualified. The only words I could think of that this applies to are "the" (3,000 points) and "com" (1,080), but I'm sure there are others.

5. New rule: You must have at least five words that score at least one point.

So basically, your challenge here is
a.) to figure out which words will score the highest, and
b.) to fit them into a 3x3 grid.

I really hate these word grid puzzles. For some reason, I totally suck at them.

Here's a sample:
My eight words are: bam, AOL, tab, bat, "aoa", MLB, Bob and Tom.

Scoring:
bam - 0 points (under 1,000,000 results)
AOL - 16 points
tab - 1 point
bat - 0 points
aoa - 0 points
mlb - 2 points
Bob - 16 points
Tom - 18 points

So my final score is 53 points.

(This is not a good score, of course... there are several words that would give more points on their own, but this will give you an idea of how it works.)

If I understand this correctly, it would work like this:

A N D
F O R
T H E


and - 2080 (I got 2,080,000,000 results from google)
for - 1170
the - 3220
aft - 1
noh - 0
dre - 0
aoe - 0
tod - 2

Total = 6473

Well done, but you missed rule #4:

4. Any word that scores over 1,000 points is disqualified. The only words I could think of that this applies to are "the" (3,000 points) and "com" (1,080), but I'm sure there are others.

You have the concept down, though,

WIG - 0
IOU - 0
NUN - 9
WIN - 31
GUN - 9
WON - 27
NOG - 9

TOTAL - 83

Notice I have IOU going both down and across. Would this count twice? Scoring for this particular case is irrelevant, since IOU results in zero.

Good point. I guess you'd need a rule for that, since otherwise you could use the same words down and across. Maybe you can only score points for a word once?

AAA
AAA
AAA


AAA - 3

That's ok. I generally ignore rules I don't like anyway. ;)

TEL
ALL
INC

TEL = 43
ALL = 456
INC = 98
TAI = 5
ELN = 0
LLC = 9
ILL = 8
TLC = 1

TOTAL = 620

Not bad for five minutes work. I'm sure someone will beat 1000 soon.

COM
INC
ALL

COM = 760
ALL = 456
INC = 98
CIA = 3
the rest are 0

TOTAL = 1317

Maybe we need a rule limiting he number of zero lines. That would make this a bit more challenging, I think.

Yeah... I thought about adding a rule that you get to multiply your score by the numbers of 1+ words, but I thought that might make the math component a little too steep. It's a thought, though.

By the way, I'm getting higher scores for the words you used. Are you searching with any sort of filters?

C O M
A L L
N O T

com 760
all 456
not 412
can 380

That's 2008 I think?

Note: I just used the com and all totals from Split.

CAR
ALL
NFL

CAR 53
ALL 540 (I know this is different from SP1's but I got it numerous times.)
NFL 6
CAN 303
ALF 0
RLL 0
CLL 0
NLR 0

Total = 902

I wonder if I had some sort of filter on. Now I get 536 for "ALL" and 904 for "COM". Odd.

My best so far...

who - 176
WWW - 644
web - 210
wet - 13
her - 141
others (obt, wrt, weo) - 0

Total: 1184

Now I get 1,200 for COM. I think there might be too much variance in the Google servers for this game to work.

That sucks because it is a good game/puzzle idea.

The results shouldn't vary by more than a million or two. Are you sure you don't have filtering and/or country-specific searching turned on?

I get 1,080 for COM.

Me too.

Here's another:


are - 518
not - 408
you - 381
any - 154

The rest - 0

Total of 1461, but only four words.

I'm thinking a five-word minimum might be a good idea. Or perhaps a 500 point bonus for each word over four, something like that?

5 word minimum sounds good to me.

Edit: As in at least 5 that score 1 point.

Done. Please not the new rule.

W E B
A L L
S E T

web 210
all 527
set 99
was 359
ele 5

total 1200 (according to my results on google - I noticed some have changed since I checked before)

Nicely done, Bee.

Top scores (five words minimum):
Bee - 1200
Leafs - 1184

Most words used:
SplitPersonality1 - 7

W A S
A R E
N O T

was 359
are 549
not 408
wan 3
set 99

Total - 1418

(I was surprised aro didn't get any points :()

was
are
you

was - 363
are - 521
you - 591
way - 105
aro - 0
seu - 9
yrs - 2
wru - 0

total - 1591

Looks like Bee and I are on the same path.

ARE
YOU
ALL

are = 521
you = 591
all = 532
aol = 20
rol = 2

TOTAL = 1666

you is a great word. :D

I got 632 points when I searched it.

www = 644
are = 518
sub = 18
was = 359
web = 210

Total: 1749

WWW
You
ARE

WWW-946
YOU-601
Are-527


2074

Problem is the results are subjective. I can get a high WWW score when others may not.

That's true Airhog. I was getting over 1000 for WWW about a half hour ago. Now it's down to 923.

yep. I'm getting various results too. :(

No backwards words allowed.

Yeah, I'm surprised at the variance. I get very similar results each time, and from what I know of google the results should be similar for everyone, but they're not.

I think the challenge is still there, even though it may not be possible to have official results.

oops I didnt see the no backwards rule allowed, Ill have to amend my score...

LAO
YOU
ALT

LAO - 1
YOU - 591
ALT - 18
LOT - 35
AOL - 20
OUT - 220

total=885

Not bad for a first attempt, but I have a ways to go.

Not the best score, but anyone named "Tucker" is OK with me.