Puzzle in Real Life: 4 Letter Cubes

[ralphmerridew]

Maybe they are; I just copy-pasted the first two that appeared; I didn't check whether one inverted to the other.

[Jack_Ian]

[B, N, B, N] [O, O, O, O] [O, O, O, O] [N, B, B, N] works for me

[ralphmerridew]

I modified the program slightly to forbid some rude words; the revised version gets at best 176: ([b, l, m, d], [a, i, o, u], [r, n, s, t], [e, k, s, t]) -> 176

[impossibleroot]

As always, thanks for all the work on this, everyone!

Puzzlescot, I presented your original solution (PART) to the artist, and barring the DICK (which we can live with), I think it's a very good one for the reasons you outlined.

ralphmerridew, I'm intrigued by this latest one you got -- let me run it through on my end and see if he likes it better.

As for the double-sided issue, I like the thought. Since the ultimate presentation will be 'artistic', a mix of capital and lower case letters would definitely be okay and a viable option.

The one wrinkle on that is that the piece is located at the end of the quad, highly visible from all over on the 'main side'. But the back side is up against an area that is usually roped off, reserved for the guy wires that support a wind-measuring tower (as we prepare to install a turbine next year). So not that many people go back there, and those who are spinning the cubes have been doing it from the front side.

All that said, if someone can come up with a fairly complete two-sided solution that used uppers and lowers, I would definitely bring it to the artist (who is named JP, so I will just start calling him JP here).

[ralphmerridew]

Okay, I ran the second inversion list (upper & lower case), with rude words blocked, and again couldn't get any better than 176.
All 170+ answers:
([b, d, l, m], [a, i, o, u], [n, r, s, t], [e, k, s, t]) -> 176.
([b, m, p, s], [a, e, i, o], [l, n, r, t], [d, e, s, t]) -> 172.
([b, m, p, t], [a, e, i, o], [l, n, r, t], [e, k, s, t]) -> 173.
([b, m, s, t], [a, e, i, o], [l, n, r, t], [d, e, s, t]) -> 172.
([b, m, s, w], [a, e, i, o], [l, n, r, t], [d, e, s, t]) -> 172.
([D, E, l, s], [R, l, n, t], [E, i, o, v], [b, l, s, w]) -> 172.
([D, E, l, s], [R, l, n, t], [E, i, o, v], [b, m, s, w]) -> 172.
([D, E, l, s], [R, l, n, t], [E, i, o, v], [P, b, s, w]) -> 172.
([E, K, l, s], [R, l, n, s], [U, i, o, v], [D, b, t, w]) -> 176.
([E, K, l, s], [R, l, n, t], [E, i, o, v], [P, b, l, w]) -> 173.

And I reran my program on forward only, blocking a few rude words and right off got
([b, m, s, t], [a, e, i, o], [l, n, r, t], [d, e, s, t]) -> 165.
([b, d, m, p], [a, e, o, u], [l, n, r, s], [e, k, s, t]) -> 165.
([b, m, p, t], [a, e, i, o], [l, n, r, t], [e, k, s, t]) -> 166.

I'll let you know if anything better comes up overnight.

[ralphmerridew]

Okay, 167 words without triggering my "rude words" list: ([b, l, m, d], [a, i, o, u], [n, r, s, t], [e, k, s, t])

[PuzzleScot]

I was having a look to see if it was possible to display an 8-letter word with the tiles aranged in the appropriate manner.

With my arrangement (the DICK arrangement) as
[MDPS]
[AIOE]
[LCRN]
[ETKS]
MALEDICT can be made, but not a particularly good 8-letter word..

Worth thinking about...

[Death Mage]

How many combination can you make that display two proper words, one upside down on the opposite side?
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[PuzzleScot]

With cubes as
[MDSP]
[AIOE]
[LRCN]
[ETKS]

we can have simultaneously
MALE/DIRT/SOCK/PENS
MART/DICK/SONS/PELE
MELT/DARK/SICS/PINE
May be other combos, or even a better arrangement...

[impossibleroot]

Nearly 2 years later, this piece is finally ready to happen in real life. Does anyone have strong opinions about the final combo of letters?

I like the ones that don't have repeat letters, and since it's on a high school's quad, avoiding rude words is key (or else we'll see them all the time!).

I'm thinking of going with: