Match Game (solution)

by Patrick Blindauer with programming and suggestions by Andrew Lin

Reassembling the fragments yields five-word sets. In each case you overlap a two-word fragment with the top half of a three-word fragment, a two-word fragment with the bottom half of a three-word fragment, and then connect the two fragments.

ACTOR
INDIA
BASIS
ENTRY
ALIAS

DINGO
MIAMI
SWANK
HYENA
DELTA

PRIMA
EDSEL
EVENT
ADAMS
THETA

ETHEL
ALTAR
TIMEX
ELBOW
LEMUR

EXILE
TRYST
ELAND
ARGUE
CHASM

FABLE
SAINT
QUITS
WRATH
FINCH

GATOR
DITZY
YENTL
PESTO
GUMBY

HEDDA
LOFTY
HAFIZ
SULFA
WOOFS

ISUZU
ESSAY
LOSER
HAZEL
IDYLL

LANCE
LOOSE
NERVY
BRAVO
KEANU

METRO
MYRRH
RAOUL
BAMBI
STOLI

GAVEL
TIMID
HAGEN
NYMPH
NORAD

OZONE
OBESE
AESOP
TASTY
MERTZ

RAZOR
RAVEN
HEIDI
PONZI
WINDY

ROGUE
RHYME
LIFTS
VIOLA
MCFLY

SEVEN
VIRGO
PORGY
SKYPE
LEASE

TITHE
TUTOR
BEARD
ZELDA
SHE-RA

CANOE
THANX
PEKOE
TORSO
SHREK

VOGUE
NEPAL
LEHAR
FAGIN
VIXEN

In each column, exactly two of the words in each set have a common letter. Taking these letters gives a new set of 19 words:

ANTIS
DIANA
EDEMA
ELMER
ERASE
FAITH
GETTY
HOFFA
ISSEL
LEAVE
MAORI
NAMED
OESTE
RANDI
RIFLE
SERGE
TETRA
THROE
VEGAN

These words can make a chain (overlapping the first two letters and the last two letters) like so:

HOFFA
   FAITH
      THROE
         OESTE
            TETRA
               RANDI
                  DIANA
                     NAMED
                        EDEMA
                           MAORI
                              RIFLE
                                 LEAVE
                                    VEGAN
                                       ANTIS
                                          ISSEL
                                             ELMER
                                                ERASE
                                                   SERGE
                                                      GETTY

and the letters that aren’t overlapped (the middle letters) spell FIRST NAME OF AGT SMART, which gives the answer MAXWELL.

Charles L. Dodgson
Charles L. Dodgson