Brain Teasers
Cryptic Order Connection
Language
Language brain teasers are those that involve the English language. You need to think about and manipulate words and letters.Language
Arrange the following list of words in the correct ascending sequence according to a special hidden characteristic shared among the words which you must discover.
adjourned
ambulance
cackle
culture
evolution
example
executrix
forfeit
harbinger
hypocrisy
inkwell
involve
jumping jack
junglegym
knack
laptops
memorial
ostensibly
pending
pizza
probable
quid pro quo
quixotic
thigh
tutorial
window
adjourned
ambulance
cackle
culture
evolution
example
executrix
forfeit
harbinger
hypocrisy
inkwell
involve
jumping jack
junglegym
knack
laptops
memorial
ostensibly
pending
pizza
probable
quid pro quo
quixotic
thigh
tutorial
window
Hint
Consider the fact that there are twenty-six words in the list.The number of letters in each word is irrelevant.
Answer
The correct sequence for the words is as follows:AmbulAnce
proBaBle
CaCkle
aDjourneD
ExamplE
ForFeit
junGleGym
tHigH
quIxotIc
Jumping Jack
KnacK
inkweLL
MeMorial
peNdiNg
evOlutiOn
laPtoPs
Quid pro Quo (also contains 2 u's and 2 o's)
haRbingeR
oStenSibly
TuTorial
cUltUre
inVolVe
WindoW
eXecutriX (also contains 2 e's)
hYpocrisY
piZZa
Explanation:
The words each contain two occurrences of each letter of the alphabet. The correct sequence is in alphabetical order, not by the words themselves, but according to each letter of the alphabet which occurs two and only two times within each of the words in the list. These letters are capitalized above for visibility.
So, there is a word in the list with two a's ("ambulance"), a word in the list with two b's ("probable"), and so on, all the way to a word in the list with two z's ("pizza").
Two of the words ("quid pro quo" with two q's, and "executrix" with two x's) also have two occurrences of other letters, as noted above. However, if you try to use these other letters as the basis upon which the words are arranged, then your answer will not work. In this case, you will be unable to account for the letters "q" and/or "x" since "quid pro quo" is the only word in the list with two q's and "executrix" is the only word in the list with two x's.
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