Zendo, play by forum

[Ramon]

Slightly disappointed that WOLOLO didn't make it into your guess list!

White koans:
  CASHMERE
  MERE
  SILKS
* WOLO
* WOOLO
  WOOLW

Black koans:
  CASH
  CASHME
  SILK
  WOOL
  WOOLS
* WWOOL

[Simon]

AKHTBN iff there exists a letter such that the letter reappears one or more times after its first appearance, and at least one of its reappearances is not immediately next to its very first appearance (but possibly next to other appearances, e.g., AAA will be white).

-- Simon

[Ramon]

I'm going to give you the enlightenment here, because shortly after the round started I realized that my intended rule could actually be massively simplified to a wholly different wording and it didn't actually produce very interesting white and black koans, making it substantially less fun to master.

I was thinking of: AKHTBN iff it contains a subsequence (minimum length 3) that is a palindrome.
Then too late I realized that is equivalent to something akin to your guess (it is sufficient for a koan to have the pattern ...x...y...x... anywhere in the koan), and while that is an okay rule, it strongly diverges from my original vision. Then I considered adjusting the rules to the effect that the letters of the subsequence each must be the same distance from each other, but that just feels like an arbitrary addition that could get frustrating.

But I did say I just wanted to make a quick one, so I'm not really bummed out

[Simon]

You can give the black counterexample ABCA.

But I agree that the round will be over quickly even then: If we re-guess with an exclusion for exactly 2 letters sandwiched, you'll give the white counterxample ABBA white. The worst is that we still won't see it, but we'll win by describing 3- and 4-length palindromes in a roundabout way. This is enough because n-palindromes contain an (n − 2)-palindrome.

It would have still taken work to drill through ABCDA, ABCABC, etc. I think somebody will find the description with palindromes before such drilling completes. It's not immediate even if we'll eventually describe it fully with with 3- and 4-palindromes only.

Thanks!

-- Simon

[kaywhyn]

Slightly disappointed that WOLOLO didn't make it into your guess list!

Oh yes! Best video game sound clip ever! Admittedly, I thought it was YOLOLO but nah, that was me remembering wrong

[Ramon]

You can give the black counterexample ABCA.

I don't quite follow. Under my rule, that would still be white (ABA and ACA are both palindromic subsequences).

But I mainly posted to give kaywhyn the green light for the second rule!

[Simon]

Ah, now I understand: Not a substring that is a (3-or-more)-palindrome, but a subsequence. You're allowed to skip the C in ABCA and have the subsequence ABA, which qualifies. Yes, indeed, that allows my easier wording.

And we had already seen that SILKS is white.

-- Simon

[kaywhyn]

Since Simon guessed your rule correctly, Ramon, I'll let Simon have his turn first if he likes. Unless he calls open floor again, then I pass it on to Proxima since he guessed mine correctly but decided to pass that time. If Proxima decides to pass again, then and only then I'll be happy to take my turn again so soon

[Simon]

All right, new round!

White koans:
  TRIFURCATION

Black koans:
  ASYMMETRIC

-- Simon

[Proxima]

FUN
TRICKY
TAXING
MAYHEM

[Simon]

White koans:
* FUN
* MAYHEM
  TRIFURCATION

Black koans:
  ASYMMETRIC
* TAXING
* TRICKY

-- Simon

[Silken Healer]

Is the words "new round" in bold a clue?

[Silken Healer]

SYMMETRIC
TRUNCATION
CONCATENATION
CAT
SIMON
TREE
FRUIT

[Simon]

No, "new round" is not a clue.

White koans:
* CAT
  FUN
  MAYHEM
* TREE
  TRIFURCATION

Black koans:
  ASYMMETRIC
* CONCATENATION
* FRUIT
* SIMON
* SYMMETRIC
  TAXING
  TRICKY
* TRUNCATION

-- Simon

[Silken Healer]

FUNCTION
AT
ACT