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Huinesoron · 03-16-2018, 09:12 AM

An update on the Perfect Password Square project: my generator (written entirely in Excel) has spat out its first candidate!

NGAW
ARCA
LOTR
ARAS

(With vertical words NALA, GROR, ACTA, and WARS.)

For obvious reasons, I didn't think it was worth saving up for use as a password...

Ngaw is an Elvish root word, Arca is Quenya, Aras is Sindarin, Nala is Khuzdul, Acta is Latin(!)... throw in an acronym, a dwarf, and a single English word, and we have our set.

The usability of the generator could, paradoxically, be improved by having less words to choose from. Not only did it take upwards of 15 minutes to come up with that (it starts from a random word, hence the initial N), but the wordlist consists of every 4-letter article name from Tolkien Gateway, plus the first word of every article that starts with a four letter word followed by a space (coming to around 1500 words, with repeats). Hence 'Acta', from Tolkien's Acta Senatus, a Latin report on a Latin debate in 1911.

But even so: I am pleased to confirm that a non-diagonal Perfect Square using Tolkienian words is indeed possible. ^_^

hS

UPDATE: Using a smaller and saner dataset (the Encyclopedia of Arda page-list, subjected to the same treatment), it is now merrily churning out perfect squares in a matter of seconds. Only one problem...

MAIA
AMAN
IANT
ANTS

... they're symmetrical!

Clearly need to check that column 1 isn't identical with row 1... back to the grindstone!

UPDATE 2: And now it's developed the trick of finding words that differ only by their last letter. It particularly enjoys when they're an a/e pair, because then it can use 'ents' and 'ants' as its Row/Column 4 results.

hS

03-16-2018, 09:12 AM	#3520
Huinesoron Overshadowed Eagle Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: The north-west of the Old World, east of the Sea Posts: 3,780	An update on the Perfect Password Square project: my generator (written entirely in Excel) has spat out its first candidate! NGAW ARCA LOTR ARAS (With vertical words NALA, GROR, ACTA, and WARS.) For obvious reasons, I didn't think it was worth saving up for use as a password... Ngaw is an Elvish root word, Arca is Quenya, Aras is Sindarin, Nala is Khuzdul, Acta is Latin(!)... throw in an acronym, a dwarf, and a single English word, and we have our set. The usability of the generator could, paradoxically, be improved by having less words to choose from. Not only did it take upwards of 15 minutes to come up with that (it starts from a random word, hence the initial N), but the wordlist consists of every 4-letter article name from Tolkien Gateway, plus the first word of every article that starts with a four letter word followed by a space (coming to around 1500 words, with repeats). Hence 'Acta', from Tolkien's Acta Senatus, a Latin report on a Latin debate in 1911. But even so: I am pleased to confirm that a non-diagonal Perfect Square using Tolkienian words is indeed possible. ^_^ hS UPDATE: Using a smaller and saner dataset (the Encyclopedia of Arda page-list, subjected to the same treatment), it is now merrily churning out perfect squares in a matter of seconds. Only one problem... MAIA AMAN IANT ANTS ... they're symmetrical! Clearly need to check that column 1 isn't identical with row 1... back to the grindstone! UPDATE 2: And now it's developed the trick of finding words that differ only by their last letter. It particularly enjoys when they're an a/e pair, because then it can use 'ents' and 'ants' as its Row/Column 4 results. hS Last edited by Huinesoron; 03-16-2018 at 09:58 AM. Reason: Update.